Embodying Ethical Leadership

In an age when faith in our institutions—academic, corporate and government—is at an all-time low, it behooves leaders to “do the right thing.” Paraphrasing Charlamagne, “Right action is better than knowledge, but in order to do what is right, we must know what is right.” But how do we know what is right? From my perspective, “knowing what is right” goes beyond learning “about’ ethics or the ability to apply moral reasoning to resolve ethical issues. It is the process of “becoming” ethical—what Francisco Varela describes in his book, Ethical Know-How—an embodiment of what is “right.”
We can began understanding Varela’s admonition by differentiating among values, ethics and morality as follows:
Values: Our individual and/or collective notions regarding right or wrong, virtues or vices, allowed or forbidden, good or bad, just or unjust…
Ethics: Codes, principles, or standards that express the values.
Morals or Morality: Actions, activities, or behaviors of individuals and/or collectives that adhere to ethical codes, principles and standards and that play out in real time.
While clarifying, these terms are helpful in theory, but not necessarily in practice. We can turn to Huston Smith, who immersed himself in each of the world’s major religions and after practicing each one, described their concept of virtues from an embodied place. In his seminal work on the world’s wisdom traditions—East, West and Indigenous Cultures— he wrote that the western traditions, when taken together, espouse the following three virtues: humility, charity and veracity—as values to aspire to. The eastern traditions, taken together, espouse the following three poisons—greed or clinging, hatred or aversion, and delusion—as poisons to avoid. As can easily be seen, each of the three values has its polar opposite in the three poisons.
Smith proffers a set of three ethical principles corresponding to each of the virtues. Here, humility gives rise to the ethical principle that everyone is entitled to their fair share of the “pot,” but not more than their fair share. Charity gives rise to the principle that it is incumbent on everyone to make sure their neighbor gets their fair share of the “pot” too. And the principle derived from veracity goes beyond merely just truth telling, but to see the world in its “suchness,” meaning free of judgements, projections and the stories we make up about people, places and things.
While these virtues/poisons have served as the basis for ethical principles over millennia, do they still have meaning regarding ethical leadership in today’s business climate? And can they be embodied? These were questions that came up recently in my freshman ethics seminar and in my consulting practice. In aggregate, the following answers emerged as an expression of values: a set of guiding principles for ethical leadership:
Humility: Ethical leaders do not take credit for the work of others. They are not afraid to admit when they are wrong, have made a mistake, or that they don’t know something. And they can laugh at their own foibles.
Charity: Ethical leaders see to it that others succeed. They create a culture of belonging and inclusivity. They create an environment where people are made to feel they belong, their voices heard and their ideas considered, leading to more innovative and robust solutions to problem solving. Kindness, generosity of spirit, giving credit where credit is due, and sharing information and resources are all elements of charity in the business motif.
Veracity: Ethical leaders are honest and speak the truth, whether the message is good, bad or indifferent. They offer this truth with humility and compassion. Leaders see and accept others for who they are beyond the subjective judgements, projections, and stories.
While these three principles provide a basis for a knowing “about” ethical leadership, we’ve developed a set of characteristics congruent with our current complex, and often chaotic world as a step towards “becoming” ethical. These characteristics include: a shift in mindset from one of control to one of participation, an ability to be self-reflective and transparent to self and other, and flexibility and tolerance for ambiguity. In today’s dynamically changing world, where there is little time for deliberation, ethical leadership must be predicated on an ongoing engagement with the context and circumstances of each situation. We can express these characteristics as Holism, Transparency and Responsiveness that interact with and are reflected in each other.
Holism: An ethical leader is not separate from the “team” but a part of the team. A leader does not operate in a vacuum and recognizes that the whole (the team) is greater than the sum of its parts (the individuals) and acts in both the best interests of the team and the people making up the team.
Transparency: Transparency requires self-awareness and occurs through dialogue with oneself and other. Ethical leaders exchange information, share their decision-making process, and are authentic, courageous and curious. They recognize the signs of their own implicit bias.
Responsiveness: An ethical leader adapts to new issues and course-corrects based on recursive feedback loops via dialogue with the people they lead and the markets they serve. A leader reframes unforeseen challenges as opportunities for learning and growth, has confidence in identifying solutions to seemingly intractable problems, and has a positive impact on people.
These six values are aspirational—each leader can express them through ethical principles in alignment with their personal, professional and organizational aims and goals. As Varela states, when speaking of a virtuous person:
“Such a person does not act out ethics but embodies it like any expert embodies his know-how; the wise man is ethical, or more explicitly, his actions arise from inclinations that his disposition produces in response to specific situations.”
The principles I have described above can lead to an embodiment of ethical leadership in our modern society. They can point the way towards helping leaders embrace Charlemagne’s admonition to, “know what is right.”
Guest blogger:
William E. (Bill) Kastenberg, PhD is a Distinguished Professor of Engineering, Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. During the latter part of his academic career, he team-taught a course with his wife entitled, “Ethics and the Impact of Technology on Society.” During the Covid epidemic, he taught (remotely) a Freshman Seminar entitled, “Ethics in an Age of Existential Crises.” The seminar continued for three semesters, each with a different group of students. He has consulted with companies regarding the development of company values for use in recruiting, retention and marketing.
If you have any comments or questions for Bill, please use the contact form on the site.
More From Our Blog…
Reclaiming the Water
Why I’m in awe of the Howard University swimming and diving team By Gina Miller When we follow threads back through history, appalling origins or explanations for certain contemporary social issues / racial matters are often discovered. This was my experience when I...
Chances are your hiring process is riddled with bias
Inclusive hiring is the practice of minimizing bias and creating an equitable recruitment, application, interview, selection and offer process for a diverse set of candidates. It’s critical for attracting and retaining a diverse, engaged and innovative talent pool....
DEI Leaders are Burning Out
A recent article in Human Resources Director highlights something that we’ve been hearing a lot about - diversity fatigue. It’s a term from the 90s, but it’s back now and the reasons require serious consideration. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, there was...
The Day the National Guard Raided an HBCU Dorm
A portion of the bullet-ridden, exterior wall of Smith Hall still stands in commemoration at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Khadejeh Nikouyeh/News & ObserverThis is why Black history needs to be taught By Gina Miller, contributing...
Right Where She Belongs
How Lisette Martinez creates an inclusive culture and a world of opportunity as Jefferson Health’s Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer By Gina Miller The innate desire to belong The year was 1984 in Ypsilanti, Michigan when the world fractured in...
The Accessibility Journey
Accessibility is typically about providing the ability to access a building, a vehicle or a service. In our world of online eLearning courses, accessibility means enabling all learners to engage with a course in the way they need and prefer in order to gain the...
The 21-Day Plan for Disarming Microaggressions Wins Two More Awards
The Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts (AIVA) has recognized The 21-Day Plan for Disarming Microaggressions as a 2022 Davey Awards Silver Winner in the category of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The Daveys are an international award competition focused...
New! SunShower Now Offers the Most Modern and Flexible Formats To Meet Your Training Needs
Years ago, in a far-off time, SunShower delivered its training programs on VHS tape. All training rooms had tape players, TVs and projectors. Trainers would carry the training tapes, insert them into the machine and hope they wouldn’t be “eaten.” In those days, the...
Maslow’s Hierarchy and the Scientific Connection Between Belonging and Health
Humans have an innate need to belong. In fact, “love and belonging” are featured prominently in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This central model in psychology asserts that people are motivated by five basic categories of needs, and “belonging” (that is, the need to...
Diversity Is the Lifeblood for All Companies, but Is Diversity Enough?
“It's hard to imagine an economy driven by Latino and Latina growth when leadership at the board level and in the C-suite is far less than 5% Latino and Latina. That gap - between the face of leadership and the face of the economy to come - is a vast strategic issue...