Leading in Context

Unleash the Positive Power of Ethical Leadership

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Every Decision Changes The Ethical Culture Equation

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

Ethics has a compounding effect on culture, and our leadership choices determine whether that effect will be positive or negative. Being diligent about ethics in every decision brings the culture ethics dividends. Being careless about ethics brings ethics penalties.

The tricky part about managing ethical culture is that every leader decision and action throughout the organization is changing the equation. The “ethical culture equation” is changing in real time, every day.

Making Decisions Like Global Citizens

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

Character is important, but leading ethically in the fullest sense requires much more than just demonstrate good character. In this 2 minute video, I describe 7 different perspectives that you may be hearing around the table as you discuss ethical dilemmas in your organization. Instead of being competing perspectives, each one is an important element of the full picture of what it means to lead ethically in a global society.

When is a Decision an Ethical One?

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

As we think about our decisions, which ones do we recognize as “ethical?” Complying with laws and ethics codes clearly has ethical implications. But what about these decisions?

What Kinds of Thinking Lead to Unethical Leadership?

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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.

Unethical Leadership: Convenient Beliefs

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

Sometimes leaders believe things that aren’t true because they haven’t taken time to investigate the truth. In other cases, they may have trusted someone who has misled them. But there’s an even more problematic reason some leaders may ignore the truth – claiming to believe the falsehood may benefit them in a tangible way.

What Causes Ethical Failures?

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By Linda Fisher

Ethical leadership failures can be caused by different types of problems that may compound. Some of these problems are individual and others may be embedded in the organizational culture. In 7 Lenses, I describe the kind of proactive ethical leadership that builds ethical cultures. The book is a road map for how to lead ethically in a complex world. While 7 Lenses is written from a positive perspective to help leaders avoid ethical problems and create ethical cultures, I often get asked “What causes ethical failures? What goes wrong?”

A Manifesto For Ethical Leaders

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

We are here to focus on what’s right and what’s possible, not on what’s historical or convenient. We are here to serve others, not to profit from their vulnerabilities.
We are here to make a positive difference, through intentional leadership and responsible choices.

Ethical Thinking is Multidimensional

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Our brains take shortcuts to save us time. We know this happens. If it didn’t, we’d have to re-learn to drive every time we left for work. But, how can we be sure that we’re thinking things through carefully and not just reacting on autopilot to the crisis of the moment?

Is our thinking on autopilot? Is that autopilot programmed to make ethical decisions?

In the process of writing my new leadership book, 7 Lenses: Learning the Principles and Practices of Ethical Leadership, I created a clear framework for learning to be an ethical leader. This framework replaces our autopilot (that will take us “who-knows-where”) with an intentional values-based thinking process.

How Do Ethical Leaders Think?

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

Today I’m taking you inside the mind of the ethical leader to explore ethical thinking.

What do ethical leaders think about? How do they make decisions?

They are guided by a desire to have a positive impact.

They think about what’s best for others, and seek mutual benefit. 

They think about ways to demonstrate their values in day-to-day leadership, even when faced with difficult challenges.

Ethical Thinking: Task Shortcuts Don’t Apply to People

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

What is flawed thinking? What harm can it cause? What can we do about it? 

This post looks at the harm we can do when we fall victim to our very human tendency to use flawed thinking about people who are not like us. If we don’t question an assumption or a piece of information, we may automatically “file it” and let it become the basis for decisions and actions that are unethical.

Seeing the Facets of Facts (Part 1)

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

Most of the time when we answer a question with a single response, that answer is only part of the picture. We have all seen leaders (who may feel a need to appear decisive) answer quickly without thinking through the implications of their response. When this happens, what they share is oversimplified and “partialized,” not a relevant or responsible interpretation of the complex issues involved.

Seeing Beyond Our Point of View: Essential For Ethical Leadership

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

Have you noticed the steady increase in the complexity of navigating our daily lives? It feels like we have too many choices, too much information, and not enough time. More information and more choices would be great if we had the time to research and decide, but the reality is that it’s difficult and time consuming to sort out which information is reliable and which is not.

On Patriotism, Nationalism, and Globalism

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

There has been a lot of recent discussion around nationalism. The term has been used in ways that seem to put it on par with patriotism. To understand how it’s different, I’ll take a look at nationalism, patriotism and globalism using an ethical lens. Without seeing them through an ethical lens, the differences are less clear. Using an ethical lens, we begin to see that what appear to be subtle variations are vast differences in intent and impact.