Ethical Leaders – So That’s What They Look Like!
Frank J Navran
We have all recently received a crash course in unethical leadership and we know how to recognize unethical leaders. They build multi-million dollar mansions in “homestead” states like Florida and Texas so even if bankrupted they can preserve a sizeable portion of their wealth. They willing vote to put aside their corporate codes of conduct so they can profit from off-the-books deals. They collude with their expert advisors to take advantage of every loophole and lapse in the law and regulation when it serves their personal needs – barely heeding the letter of such laws and regulations - while turning a blind eye to their spirit. They callously ignore the effects of their decisions on the lives of the innocent – be they employees, suppliers or shareholder’s content to serve themselves.
But what of ethical leaders? How do we recognize them? Is there more to being an ethical leader than simply not being unethical?
We know ethical leaders by several telling characteristics.
- While nearly every leader claims to have an open door – ethical leaders have an open door and an open mind. They are willing to entertain others’ ideas and demonstrate that most fundamental characteristic of respect for others – they listen. Through respectful listening they create a climate where people feel safe telling the truth, even when the news is bad. People trust that even the highest ranked individual in the organization wants the truth and will value the truth-teller, because truth and trust both emerge through respectful listening.
- Ethical leaders understand that it is not enough to do the right thing. That may be sufficient for the ethical individual, but leadership carries with it a greater responsibility – that of being an ethical role model, of communicating the organization’s expectations and standards through one’s visible actions. These leaders understand that it is important that they do the right thing in such a way that observers recognize that they did what was right and also realize that there was a deliberate choice do right versus wrong. One strategy for creating that awareness is to openly discuss the ethical challenges inherent in the decisions they make and in their struggle to find the best right answer to the many ethical challenges and dilemmas they face. While they may present their decision as the best right answer, they fully realize that other “good minded” people could easily have chosen a different right answer in that same situation.
- These same ethical leaders also make others’ decisions lessons in ethics. Not through preaching an abstract morality, but by confronting the ethical elements in the decisions brought to them for review and approval. Like my fifth grade math teacher, they see the review of another’s work as both a learning opportunity and a teaching opportunity. They teach by asking the others to “show me your work”. Help me understand how you reached the decision you are presenting. What were the questions you posed? What were the alternatives you considered? Why did you make the choice you did? They understand that people can make the “right” decision for all the wrong reasons just as well as they can reach the “wrong” conclusion by simple oversight or error. They know that they have to have this dialog regarding how the decision was made if they are to be effective in creating a climate where the ethical issues get due consideration and where they can be confident that others know and will use the ethical standards of the organization as a guide.
- Being an ethical leader also requires recognizing and stopping unethical action when it presents itself. That means a single standard or if there is to be a double standard the stricter standard applies to the more powerful. And perhaps even more significantly, it requires recognizing and reinforcing ethical behavior when it is present. Not just a “thank you”, though that is a powerful reinforcement from a credible leader. But a more substantive acknowledgement that the decision or action was not only proper and successful but exemplifies the leader’s sense of the “right” thing to do in the ethical sense. Recognition of ethical choices clearly communicates which decisions or actions are worthy of note and how all involved can learn from that example.
- There is yet another characteristic of ethical leaders that sets them apart from their less ethical counterparts. These leaders accept, actually cherish, the responsibility and accountability that comes with leadership. It is not authority they crave – the power to make others bend to their will. Rather, they recognize and relish their power to make a difference and see part of that as the obligation to be ultimately responsible for the actions and decisions of those they lead. They view responsibility as a reward rather than as a fearful consequence of leadership to be skirted or avoided if at all possible. This attitude is evident when they take center stage and accept blame for the failings of those under them, rather than the unethical opposite of shifting blame to those same subordinates. Ethical leaders see themselves as the protectors of those they lead – a buffer between these loyal followers and the pressures of the outside world. It is not paternalism, but a sense that the failings of others are in at least some sense a failing of leadership and thus, the leader.
- Ethical leaders are careful about what they promise. They see the virtue in “under promise – over deliver”. They recognize that trust is the residue of promises fulfilled and that without trust one can only be a leader in name, not in fact. After all leadership includes the ability to have others do what you want, how and when you want, willingly and enthusiastically, without force or coercion. We willingly follow those whose integrity, intelligence, competence and responsibility we recognize. With others we may go through the motions of following but they are not leading as much as we are allowing them to believe they are doing so for as long as it serves our purposes.
- Finally, ethical leaders visibly and obviously care. They care about the organization. They care about its employees, shareholders and partners. They care about the reputation of the industry and the customers that are served. They give a damn about something other than themselves, their own well-being, wealth, position, status and power. It is the lack of caring that we hear talked about in today’s stories about unethical leaders. Ethical leaders care.
So how do we know if we are dealing with an ethical leader?
- They listen
- They openly talk about what it means to do the right thing
- They hold others to that same standard
- They help others understand the ethics of their choices
- They welcome the responsibility that comes with leadership
- They keep their promises and are therefore are both trustworthy and trusted
- They care about more than themselves
Read the headlines. Which of today’s villains meet all seven standards? More importantly, which of the leaders in those countless organizations seemingly committed to doing the right thing the right way for the right reasons do not?