By Linda Fisher Thornton Ethical thinking and critical thinking are both important and it helps to understand how we need to use them together to make decisions. Critical thinking helps us narrow our choices. Ethical thinking includes values as a filter to guide us to a choice that is ethical. Using critical thinking, we may discover an opportunity to exploit a situation for personal gain. It’s ethical thinking that helps us realize it would be unethical to take advantage of that exploit.
Tag: ethical thinking and action
Unethical Thinking Leads to Unethical Leadership
By Linda Fisher Thornton As humans, we are flawed thinkers who easily fall victim to biases and traps. The biases and traps we so easily fall into reshape our thinking in ways that can lead us to make bad decisions. As you review the list of leadership traps below, think about how each can lead to unethical thinking and actions.
Sensemaking
By Linda Fisher Thornton Richard J. Cordes write in Making sense of sensemaking: What it is and what it means for pandemic research (Atlantic Council), that "Sensemaking is our brain’s response to novel or potentially unexpected stimuli as it integrates new information into an ever-updating model of the world." While the research on Sensemaking is deep and complex, there are some practical questions leaders who are trying to make good decisions and help others make sense of a torrent of information can use to begin to identify and map out meaning. Leaders who make sensemaking a priority will not only make better decisions themselves, they'll also help employees make better decisions. People don't just need leaders to share relevant data, they need them to share observations and insights about what data means and why the meaning is important. They need leaders to make sense out of information.
What Leadership Legacy Will You Leave?
By Linda Fisher Thornton What kind of leadership legacy will you leave? It's a powerful question that we don't often stop to think about. Here are some questions to reflect on to assess your legacy, as it stands now, and determine whether that's the "message in a bottle" that you want to leave for future generations.
A Message About Connection
By Linda Fisher Thornton We'll remember this year for a long time and we will tell future generations about the challenges we endured as we tried to stay safe and well during a global pandemic. One lesson we can take away from this experience is the power of connection.
The Gut-Brain Axis (Ethical Questions)
By Linda Fisher Thornton
I am a long-time advocate of systems thinking. It has risen in importance as an increasing number of our greatest human challenges can't we understood or resolved without it.
Today, I'm taking a look at new findings on the human microbiome, which is known to impact the brain in important ways. You may have already seen the recent news about advances in our understanding of the Gut-Brain Axis.
The Complexity of Ethical Thinking and Decision Making (Part 3)
Embracing Complexity is Part of Leadership
Complexity has become a way of life. To make ethical decisions, we must embrace it and incorporate it into our thinking process. That means digging in to issues until we understand their multiple dimensions, connections and contradictions. It means being intentional about decision making and avoiding making snap judgments.
They’re Trying to Tell Us Something
By Linda Fisher ThorntonSince I started researching ethical leadership, I have begun to notice just how many different people are trying to steer us in the right direction. Their ethical messengers cross geographic and time boundaries and professions. The messages they leave are compelling. They are trying to tell us something important.The messages are packaged in a multitude of different ways including books, music, quotes and stories. People who have realized important insights about ethics are leaving a trail for others to follow. But to follow, we have to notice.
5 Years of Top Posts: Leading in Context Blog
By Linda Fisher Thornton
This week I'm sharing selected Top Posts By Year from the Leading in Context Blog. It's a time capsule of the issues you thought were most important over the last 5 years. For each year, I have selected a theme that reflects the topics and focus of the top posts.
Leading in Context 