WHY ETHICS ARE CRITICAL TO ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Leadership is one of those topics like Marketing or Strategic Management; Strategic Management was such an important topic when it was introduced that it became an essential in every business curriculum. It was a hot topic, but because it was such a hot topic there were so many that got involved in writing about it that it was inundated with content ranging from critical to mediocre (mostly) to useless. As the saying goes it was hard to see the forest because of all the trees, and it was so diverse that anyone and everyone was applying it to so many fields that it was either 1) extremely general and nebulous, or 2) so specific to certain situations that it was hard to navigate and find anything applicable and useful to one’s specialty. Leadership is the same way. There are so many good books that are really great to read and encourage us in the goodness of our profession, but my sense is that the difference between good and bad leadership was getting lost, becoming obscure, and was losing people from all the enthusiastic interest in the topic. This article may be controversial, but, even if so, it may re-spark some of that conviction that the subject is important and generate the effort on people’s part to stay with their pursuit in gaining a strong educational and experiential foundation in the subject and how it relates to their profession.

I had the benefit of a good and extremely challenging teacher for business ethics long ago in my undergraduate class and little did I know that he was laying the groundwork that would become invaluable in my doctoral studies. At first, I did not understand why we were spending time in the distant past and relating this content to modern articles, but in the disciplines of understanding the potential nature of knowledge and reality the connection is unquestionable. Over time, as I would look into and collect different texts on ethics as a secondary topic of interest, I noticed that the clarity of the systems used to appreciate and understand what the core issues were in ethical conduct of business were becoming more and more nebulous. This increasing lack of clarity and diminishing emphasis in curriculum are consistent with an impression that many have lost their way when it comes to what constitutes ethical behavior in business. But as leaders it is central to the health and vitality of our organizations because from the beginning at values, all principles, decisions, behaviors, processes, and characters of our organization begin to emerge and dictate the potential opportunities of the future. The same is true for individuals.

In investigating the influences on young, impressionable, and vulnerable populations (with a vested interest for my children) I have been considering the many voices that that exist in the world and the nature of those behind them. In the realms of education, self-esteem, economic independence, mental health, and social causes there are so many offering services based on their having a solution to their problems, so many industries have been created that there is a wide divergence among those who are genuine in their desire to do good for others and those that are perpetuating a functional profession to sustain an income, if not get rich. In commercial business we also are continuously seeking leaders who will bring out the maximum vitality and potential of our companies but we lack a clear vision of the critical differentiators to tell those that will genuinely be beneficial from those that pose great risk in the pursuit of future financial performance. It is clear that businesses should be viable, that is able to pay their bills and contribute a return for the investment made to sustain their existence, but as a community of people who are working to build a better world for ourselves, our neighbors, our children, and our posterity that are far off in the future, monetary maximization cannot be the only criteria.

While doing research on the subject of unhealthy influences threating vulnerable populations, I came across an article I must give credit to Hanan Parvez’s, “14 Characteristics of Cult Leaders” for being the catalyst from which the threads ran outward. In taking the most extreme version of predatory practices that people use with their own gain as the center of their objectives I worked to contrast this with what genuine and healthy leadership looks like that can be trusted to bring health and vitality to people and organizations. In viewing the extremes, it became apparent that those polar opposites did not include the majority of leadership professionals, and with a strong background in oppressed pedagogy I was able to develop a comparable list for those leaders that are selling the divisiveness that we experience today and whose qualities are consistent with some of the most pernicious social movements in history. Upon working this list, the question was left for those of genuine hearts who were trying to do good but were in the processes of learning the ropes in their quest, which includes most of us on the side of doing what is best, true to our profession, for our companies and those that we work with directly.

The result was a useful listing of different characteristics that can give insight into the critical things to look for when learning about leaders. In the process of hiring leaders this can be very challenging because those in the leadership profession that get very far have an intuitive sense of the qualities that should be displayed in situational contexts to potential employers, and the responsibility for making that choice usually has enormous scope, value, and accountability associated with the result. Because Leadership is one of the continuous threads of study throughout my career, I know the need for content that can be useful to those trying to do their best in selecting the next generation of leaders for their firms. This content is offered for consideration and reflection, but it is not advocated to be a conclusive authority (though I will be using for it for different purposes in the future).

PREDATORY CULT LIKE LEADERS (SELF-CENTERED SUPERIORITY)

PREDATORY PUPPET LEADERS (AMBITIOUS USEFUL TOOLS)

ENABLEMENT DEVELOPING LEADERS (VALUES-BASED ASPIRING PHILANTHROPISTS)

EMPOWERMENT LEADERS (AUTHENTICALLY DRIVEN SERVANT-BASED)

We have seen the news of the great failures of big companies, but we do not see the countless number of businesses that have closed their doors because of poor leadership. In the past I made entry into leadership because of my ability be useful to my seniors in leading the programs in the way they wanted, and I was plenty ambitious, I admit this, but it was in this context that I pursued my studies into graduate level work that enabled me to ask the hard questions about my motives and intentions and the effects of my decisions. Fortunately, I worked for people who were relatively sound, and I did not run into any traumatic ethical challenges until I was ready to face them as an independent agent accountable for my actions both organizationally and ethically. Also, I considered toning down the labeling and characterizations in this article to make them “less prickly,” but I decided against it because I have found that, in training situations, intense characterizations are effective in generating discussion, and for myself, if I had been challenged early on with these intense characterizations, I would have been moved into addressing the intangible leadership elements of my work much more quickly than the slow maturation process that did occur as they “gelled” over time.

If you have taken the time to consider these categorizations and lists of attributes and have thoughts and comments, I would be glad to see you share them or hear from you. As this is posted on LinkedIn, feel free to comment or message me, or if you have a need my email is [email protected].