1 / 34

The Wise and Ethical Leader

The Wise and Ethical Leader. Tony Aretz, Ph.D. Academic Vice President aaretz@cbu.edu. Why should we be ethical?. March 16, 2005. American Ethics (Recent Harris Poll Data). 89% say it is important to be ethical 41% say their current supervisor or boss is ethical

timothy
Download Presentation

The Wise and Ethical Leader

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Wise and Ethical Leader Tony Aretz, Ph.D. Academic Vice President aaretz@cbu.edu

  2. Why should we be ethical? March 16, 2005

  3. American Ethics(Recent Harris Poll Data) • 89% say it is important to be ethical • 41% say their current supervisor or boss is ethical • 42% of 18 to 24 year olds, and 78% over 64, think it is wrong to keep excess change • 51% of adults under 25, compared to 72% of those over 64, believe it is wrong to exaggerate one’s resumé • 68% think senior corporate executives are less honest today than ten years ago

  4. What’s going on?

  5. A Leadership Problem? “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” Rev. Martin Luther King

  6. The Culture Wars • Hedonistic Culture • Overemphasisof Private Goods and “The Individual” • Values wealth, power, and pleasure • Uses Machiavellian Leadership • Ends justify the means • Grounded in a scientific view of human nature • Ethical Culture • Emphasis on Public Goods or “The Common Good” • Values fairness, justice, and humanity • Grounded in a spiritual view of human nature

  7. Are We Smart Rats? • Running the maze • Learn the job well • Work for reinforcement (food) • Earn money as secondary reinforcement • Avoid punishment (electric shocks) • Avoid getting fired • What does it mean to be human? • Has leadership theory become too scientific?

  8. Ethics and Spirituality • Are ethics possible without a spiritual or transcendent view of human nature? • How do you define right & wrong, good & evil? • Without transcendence, all ethical principles boil down to the political “Will to Power,” or Might equals Right

  9. Leadership Paradigms • Great Leader Theories • Some people are born with leadership traits • Scientific/Management Theories • Focus on efficiency of behavior • Behavioral Style Theories • Leader uses a combination of task or relationship behaviors • Situational Theories • Leadership behavior changes with different situations • Charismatic/Transformational vs. Transactional Theories • Emulation vs. exchange of contingent rewards • Ethical Leadership • Focus on spiritual and moral principles

  10. What is Leadership? • Leadership is… “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.” Northouse

  11. What is Leadership? • Leadership is… Leadership is a process whereby an individual inspiresa group to achieve a common goal by the power of their integrity and wisdom.

  12. Inspiration Giving voice to an ennobling vision already present in people’s hearts and minds that motivates selfless contributions to achieving the common goal.

  13. Inspiring Visions “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.” John F. Kennedy

  14. Inspiring Visions “I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one. The horse will disappear from the highways, the automobile will be taken for granted.” Henry Ford

  15. Inspiring Visions “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

  16. Inspiring Visions But so did Hitler, Manson, Jim Jones, and Osma bin Laden Washington, Lincoln, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King also inspired people…

  17. Inspiring Visions • What allows one vision to save the world and another to terrorize the world? Ethics

  18. Ethical Leadership Leadership is a process whereby an individual inspiresa group to achieve a common goal by the power of their integrity and wisdom.

  19. Ethics • The kinds of morals and conduct we find desirable or appropriate • “Obedience to the unenforceable” • England's Lord Justice of Appeal John Fletcher Moulton • “Self-imposed law” • Pursuit of virtue

  20. The Early Philosophers Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato, over 2000 years ago, recognized that the only path to a just and effective society is for citizens and rulers to be virtuous.

  21. Early America “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.” Benjamin Franklin

  22. Ethical Leaders • Are ethical role models • Sustain an ethical climate that creates trust • Promote the ethical development of their subordinates

  23. Ethical Leadership Leadership is a process whereby an individual inspiresa group to achieve a common goal by the power of their integrity and wisdom.

  24. Wisdom • The application of intelligence, creativity, and experience toward the attainment of a common good, through the balance of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and extra-personal interests—all mediated by values [or virtue]. • Derived from Robert Sternberg’s WICS Leadership Theory (Wisdom, Intelligence, Creativity, Synthesized)

  25. Why Smart People can be so “Dumb” • The unrealistic optimism fallacy • “It’ll work out in the end” • The egocentrism fallacy • Self-centered and selfish: “What’s in it for me?” • The omniscience fallacy • All-knowing: “I have all the answers” • The omnipotence fallacy • All-powerful: “Might equals Right” • The invulnerability fallacy • Cannot be conquered: “Let them try to get me” • Robert Sternberg

  26. Wisdom • “As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.” Socrates • “It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom.” Gandhi • “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” Shakespeare

  27. Ethical Leadership Leadership is a process whereby an individual inspiresa group to achieve a common goal by the power of their integrity and wisdom.

  28. We Are Not Rats • Always treat people as though they are ends in themselves and not only as the means toward an end. Immanuel Kant

  29. Becoming a Wise and Ethical Leader • Read, Read, and Read • Think broadly and deeply about ethics • Set an appropriate ethical example • Make serving others (not your career) your top priority • Lead from trust and respect, not power & authority • Delegation and shared responsibility • Listen to and facilitate others • Find a mentor and be a mentor • Bottom Line • Are your people growing as effective leaders themselves?

  30. Leadership development is a life-long journey, not a weekend trip John Maxwell

More Related