By Linda Fisher Thornton Ethical leadership requires growth, a willingness to acknowledge complexity and an understanding of the broader context in which we lead. Use these resources to improve your ethical awareness and learn about the importance of staying on…
Category: Complexity
Ethical Leaders Adapt (Part 1)
By Linda Fisher Thornton Ethical leadership requires growth, a willingness to acknowledge complexity and an understanding of the broader context in which we lead. None of those are easy. Today I'm sharing resources for understanding the importance of embracing complexity as the world changes.
Ethical Leadership: Adaptability is Essential
By Linda Fisher Thornton Ego-driven leaders want to be “right” even when the evidence shows otherwise. They see rightness as something fixed that they can control. Of course, it isn’t fixed and they can’t control it, but they may not want to be confused with the facts. Conversely, when ego is not driving the thinking process, leaders can adapt to changing information and circumstances and change their minds.
Leadership, Complexity and Control
By Linda Fisher Thornton Leaders who solve complex problems need a special blend of qualities – the curiosity to untangle the variables, the persistence to keep trying, and the openness to change beliefs and strategies as answers emerge from the chaos. But those qualities will only take them so far. They’ll also need to be great listeners and engaging leaders, so that they gather information from stakeholders and team members. They’ll need to be systems thinkers with a global mindset.
What is the Connection Between Ethics and The Human Soul?
By Linda Fisher Thornton Since the human soul is hard to define, we lack a blueprint for how it connects to ethical choices and actions. If you like digging into topics that some people think are difficult to define, read on.
Insights for the Class of 2024
By Linda Fisher Thornton Graduates, as you start to search for a job, I want to share some guidance about how to choose an organization that aligns with your values to enhance your work experience and likelihood of success.
What Role Does Exclusion Play in Hate and Violence? (Part 3)
By Linda Fisher Thornton One of the thinking traps that people fall into is putting people into categories. This may result in assigning a derogatory label to the category, and making blanket statements about how "all people" from that category are a certain way.
What Role Does Exclusion Play in Hate and Violence? Part 2
By Linda Fisher Thornton Moral exclusion includes using an insider mindset and thinking that others (who are not members of the group) as not worthy of protecting. If you're not yet familiar with moral exclusion, this post may be helpful background on differences in world views and selective inclusion.
What Role Does Exclusion Play in Hate and Violence? Part 1
By Linda Fisher Thornton Hate speech and violence do not adhere to ethical values. An ethical person will quickly rule them out due to the harm they cause to others. But even when someone wants to be an ethical person, there are problems with human thinking that can enable hate and violence to happen.
How to Tell What’s “Right” in a Complex Situation
By Linda Fisher Thornton To understand a complex situation, you first have to WANT to see it as it really is. This means letting go of preconceived ideas of what might be true, and being open to what may unfold as you learn more. After approaching the situation with this open mindset, you need to get more information. As you know from completing puzzles with lots of pieces, a few pieces do not show you the whole picture. As you complete a jigsaw puzzle, you start to see parts of the picture and begin to get a sense of it, but you're definitely still not seeing it as it really is.
Ethical Thinking and Decision Making for Leaders (Part 6)
By Linda Fisher Thornton This series has explored 5 important leadership spheres of Ethical Thinking and Decision Making. This week I’m summing it up in a checklist that will help you apply all 5 to your daily choices. When you are making a key decision, run it through the checklist to be sure you have considered all 5 important dimensions.
Ethical Thinking and Decision Making for Leaders (Part 5)
By Linda Fisher Thornton While change is a constant reality, it doesn’t always factor into leadership thinking. In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, I explored the Depth of our thinking, and the importance of understanding Context. In Part 3 and Part 4, I looked at embracing Complexity and the importance of full Inclusion. In Part 5, I’ll describe how embracing Change helps us make ethical decisions.
Ethical Thinking and Decision Making for Leaders (Part 4)
By Linda Fisher Thornton Who we include in our ethical thinking, and how broadly we consider our responsibility to others are both important elements of ethical leadership. In Part 1 of this series, I explored the Depth of our thinking, and in Part 2, I broke down issues related to understanding Context. In Part 3, I looked at embracing Complexity. In Part 4, we’ll dig into the importance of Inclusion.
Ethical Thinking and Decision Making for Leaders (Part 3)
By Linda Fisher Thornton Ethical Thinking and Decision Making require staying grounded in ethical values, but there is much more to do than knowing our values and living them every day through our choices. In Part 1 of this series, I explored the Depth of our thinking, and in Part 2, I broke down issues related to understanding Context. In Part 3, let’s take a look at Complexity.
Ethical Thinking and Decision Making for Leaders (Part 2)
By Linda Fisher Thornton In Part 1 of this series I looked at the importance of Deep Thinking. In Part 2, we’ll consider the Context. No matter how much effort it takes to understand the context, we can’t expect to make an ethical decision without taking that step.
Leading in Context 