CREATIVE HUMANISTIC

PHILOSOPHY IN EDUCATION
 ETHICAL
LEADERSHIP
WHAT DOES ETHICS MEAN TO
YOU?

WHY IS ETHICAL BEHAVIOR

IMPORTANT?
 ETHICS
• Standards or principles of conduct that
govern the behavior of an individual or
a group of individuals
• Generally concerned with moral duties
or with questions related to what is
right or wrong
 ETHICS
• Ethics is knowing the difference
between what you have a right to do
and what is right to do.
 LEADERSHIP
“The nature of leadership should be
of
interest to all thinking people.”
John Gardner On Leadership
 LEADERSHIP
• Leadership is about shared purpose that is
supported by shared values. Leadership is about
things that matter to us, about taking action to
achieve a shared goal.
• Leadership is social influence based on consensual
interdependence.
• If leadership is about leaders and followers acting
together to achieve a common goal, then leaders
must take the interests and rights of followers and
others into account at all times.
 LEADERSHIP
• Leadership is foremost a relationship between leaders
and followers. The foundation of these relationships is
TRUST.
• Without followers there is no such thing as leadership.
• Leadership is a form of SERVICE to others, a stewardship,
a special trust, a duty, a social responsibility.
• Leadership and ethics must be unified.
 ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
• Ethical leadership involves both acting and leading
ethically over time all the time.
• “Leadership may be the single greatest influencer of
culture and ethical behavior.”
• Ethical Leadership is the way in which a leader behaves
to empower people to build up our civil society.
 ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
• Leaders must be ethical in their own decisions and
actions.
• Leaders also have a responsibility to influence
others to make ethically sound decisions and to
behave ethically.
• Laws are not enough
• Organizational/governmental policies are not
enough
WHY BEHAVE ETHICALLY?
• If you want people to act ethically when
dealing with you, you should act ethically
when dealing with them.
• Your organization’s name is one of its most
important assets.
• Because it is the right thing to do.
 WHEN AND BY WHOM SHOULD
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP BE PRACTICED?
• Ethical leadership should be practiced
all the time by anyone in a formal or
informal leadership position.
HOW DO YOU PRACTICE
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP?
General guidelines:
• Ethical leadership requires a clear and
coherent ethical framework on which
the leader can draw in making
decisions and taking action.
• Your ethical framework should agree
with the ethical framework, vision, and
mission of the organization or initiative.
 HOW DO YOU PRACTICE
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP?
• Ethics should be a topic of discussion.

• Ethics should be out in the open.

• Ethical thought must be connected to action.

• Ethical leadership is a shared process.

SPECIFIC COMPONENTS OF
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP:
• Put the good of the organization and
the general good before your own
interests and ego.
• Encourage the discussion of ethics in
general and of the ethical choices
involved in specific situations and
decisions as an ongoing feature of the
organizational culture.
• Institutionalize ways for people to
question your authority.
SPECIFIC COMPONENTS OF
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP:
• Don’t take yourself too seriously.
• Consider the consequences to others of
your decisions, and look for ways to
minimize harm.
• Treat everyone with fairness, honesty,
and respect all the time.
• Treat other organizations in the same
way you treat other people – with
fairness, honesty, and respect.
SPECIFIC COMPONENTS OF
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP:
• Collaborate inside and outside the
organization.

• Communicate.

• Work to become increasingly culturally and

interpersonally competent.
SPECIFIC COMPONENTS OF
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP:
• Take cultural sensitivity and cultural
competence seriously.

• Work to be inclusive.

• Take your leadership responsibility seriously,

and be accountable for fulfilling it.
SPECIFIC COMPONENTS OF
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP:
• Constantly strive to increase your
competence.

• Don’t outstay your usefulness.

• Never stop reexamining your ethics and

your leadership.
OUR ETHICAL
FITNESS
 AS A LEADER
• Increase your ethical –
• Commitment…boost your desire to do the right
thing.
• Consciousness…being aware about how ethics
control our choices and actions.
• Competencies… skills to act ethically.
 WHAT ARE ESSENTIAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
21ST CENTURY LEADER?
 IDENTIFY THE TOP 5
CHARACTERISTICS OF
• Determined LEADERS
• Competent • Inspiring • Caring
• Forward-Looking • Imaginative • Intelligent • Self
Control
• Fair-minded • Independent • Ambitious
• Broad-minded • Cooperative • Courageous
• Supportive • Loyal • Mature
• Honest • Straightforward
CHARACTERISTICS OF
ADMIRED LEADERS
• Honest (85%)
• Forward-Looking (70%)
• Inspiring (69%)
• Competent (64%)
• Intelligent (43%)
LEADERSHIP & ETHICAL
BEHAVIORS
• Certain ethical challenges or dilemmas are
inherent in the leadership role. If you
choose to become a leader, recognize that
you accept ethical burdens along with new
tasks, expectations and rewards.
WHAT ARE UNETHICAL AND
ETHICAL BEHAVIORS?
UNETHICAL BEHAVIORS
• Working for personal gain. • Lying •
Scapegoating & blaming
• Stealing. • Damaging goods.
• Yelling at a co-worker. • Not treating everyone
fairly.
• Wasting goods and your time at work.
• Not helping with organization changes. •
Gossiping.
• Not keeping co-workers safe. • Playing it safe.
• Refusing to help others.
 ETHICAL
BEHAVIORS
• Being honest. • Being respectful of
others.
• Maintaining confidentiality. • Following rules.
• Operating within the “spirit” of the rule or law.
• Taking responsibility for your actions.
• Doing what you say you will do.
• Creating trust with others.
• Respecting limits. • Being fair with others.
• Owning up to your mistakes.
• Learning from mistakes. • Speaking up when
you see something
• “Ethics is knowing the difference between what
you have a right to do and what is right to do.”
-Potter Stewart

• “An ethical person ought to do more than

he’s/she’s required to do and less than he’s/she’s
allowed to do.” -unknown
WHY DO GOOD PEOPLE MAKE
UNETHICAL DECISIONS?
KERN’S DERAILERS
• No Professional System Misaligned
Incentives
• Unclear or unstated values Unapproachable
• Poor Persuasion Skills The Need to be
Liked
• Unrealistic Optimism Hyper
Competitiveness
• Low Maturity Satisfying
• Rationalization Lack of Straight Talk
What Do You See in
Others?

What Do You See in

Yourself?
“Notice that ‘I’ is at the center
of the word ‘ethical.’ There is
no ‘they.’ Achieving the ethics
of excellence is our individual
assignment.”
- Price Pritchett
 FOUR SOURCES OF
UNINTENTIONAL UNETHICAL
DECISION MAKING
• Implicit
• In-Group Favoritism
• Over-claiming Credit
• Conflict of Interest
•“Don’t take people by what
they say – watch what they
do.”
-Fred Meijer
Ethical Road – Meijer Ethics,
2011
 Trust
“You must earn the right to
lead others…this comes as a
result of your care and
building of trust with others.”

Jason Barger, 2012

WHAT DOES TRUST LOOK
LIKE?
ATTITUDES & BEHAVIORS
• Trust involves optimistic expectations…believing the other party
will carry through on promises.
• Put themselves in a vulnerable position…they depend on the
behavior of others and have much to lose if these individuals
break their commitment.
• Trust is willingly offered. Those entering into trust relationships
hope to increase cooperation and generate benefits, not only for
themselves, but also for the group as a whole.
• Trust imposes an obligation or duty to protect the rights and
interests of others.
• Trust is hard to enforce.
 ETHICS OF TRUST
• Think of someone who you need to
work with where the trust has been
strained.
• Why is the trust strained? What had
“happened.”
• What are the implications of your
resulting behavior with them? Their
 WHEN WE
EXPERIENCE
• Acknowledge what happened.
BETRAYAL
• Allow feelings to surface
• Get support from others
• Reframe - What can you learn from the experience
• Take responsibility if you had a role (unintentional or intentional)
• Forgive yourself and others
• Let go and move on
ETHICAL COMMUNICATION
COMPETENCIES (JOHNSON, 2012)
• Mindfulness
• Effective Listening
• Emotional Intelligence
• Trust Building
•“Your ethical muscle grows
stronger every time you
choose right over wrong.”
-Price Pritchett
 Despite the codes of ethics,
the ethics programs, and
special departments,
organizations don’t make the
ultimate decisions about
ethics…