Unleash the Positive Power of Ethical Leadership
By Linda Fisher Thornton
This week I’m sharing posts that clearly describe what unethical leadership looks like, and caution readers about the risks of allowing it to continue. While I have always blogged about proactive ethical leadership, my posts on unethical leadership continue to be some of the most popular, so I know you’re looking for answers.
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?”
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.
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.
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.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Sometimes the terms Character and Integrity are used interchangeably, but they mean very different things. Let’s take a look at the two terms and how they are related.
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.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
My article, “Ethical Thinking Isn’t Automatic,” featured in the August issue of the Talent Development Journal, describes five culture gaps that inhibit ethical leadership. These culture gaps are common problems that organizations should watch for and avoid.
“For ethical leadership to stick, the culture needs an infrastructure that consistently supports acting on stated values…Ethical cultures treat ethical thinking as something that must be cultivated, demonstrated, and practiced over time.”
By Linda Fisher Thornton
As you begin to build your image of your future plans, I have 5 pieces of advice to share that may be useful. I wish someone had shared these life insights with me when I was a new graduate beginning the next chapter of my life.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
The “Keep it Simple” approach is good for many situations, but keeping it simple will set you up for failure in ethics. Using an oversimplified approach to solving a complex ethical problem just means you leave out variables you should be considering.
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.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
The first post in this series, “The Missing Domain: Ethical Thinking” explored WHY leaders need to fill the gap and help people develop ethical thinking. This post will begin to unravel HOW to do that.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Using the commonly taught types of thinking is very useful in life, and helps us be better professionals and business people. But there’s a catch.
Critical thinking can help you understand why a problem happened. It won’t help you find the most ethical solution to the problem once you identify it.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Part 1 of this series included the first 5 Quotes to Inspire Leaders in 2025. This week I’m sharing 5 more:
By Linda Fisher Thornton
This series includes 10 quotes (linked to blog posts) to inspire you and help you improve your leadership and leadership development as we head into the new year. Part 1 includes the first 5.
Leading in Context 