By Linda Fisher Thornton If we are leading others, we need to be asking the questions of leadership – about our motivation, our authenticity and our ethics. Continually asking ourselves these questions keeps us sharp, focused and aware of our greater impact on others, organizations and society.
Tag: ethical leader
How is Critical Thinking Different From Ethical Thinking?
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.
The Missing Domain: Ethical Thinking (Part 1)
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.
Top 10 Posts of 2023: Leading in Context Blog
By Linda Fisher Thornton Of the 52 weekly posts published on the Leading in Context Blog in 2023, these 10 were the most popular. See if you notice a theme that connects these new topics that readers accessed most frequently:
Leading For Ethical Performance (Part 3)
By Linda Fisher Thornton I was driving recently when the car beside me started to veer over into my lane. I was able to avoid an accident, but it made me think about what happens when employees start “crossing the line” in organizations. When someone becomes aware that another employee is doing something that goes against the company’s values, what happens then? There are things leaders can do. Unlike the car example, the conditions needed to avoid a problem when an employee starts to cross the line are more complex. And the potential problems that can happen (if an employee crosses the line and does something unethical) are numerous. Under the right conditions, employees may nudge each other to stay in the lane, and a positive, high trust culture helps create those conditions. Employees Nudge Each Other to Stay in the Lane
Leading For Ethical Performance (Part 2)
By Linda Fisher Thornton The components of an ethical leadership performance management system are mutually reinforcing and must be closely aligned. If just one element shown on this graphic is missing, then the rest of the components will not work effectively. For example, clear communication about expected ethical behavior is important, but it isn’t likely to lead to ethical behavior unless you also holding people accountable for meeting the expectations.
Leading For Ethical Performance (Part 1)
By Linda Fisher Thornton Discouraging Unethical Leadership One of the most important responsibilities of the senior leadership team is to discourage unethical behavior and build an ethical culture. Senior leaders need to work together as a team to create an organization where ethical leadership is rewarded and unethical leadership is quickly corrected. Modeling Ethical Behavior To build an ethical company, every senior leader needs to model the ethical leadership behavior that is expected, and promote ongoing conversations about how to lead ethically. Leading Organizational Ethics Beyond modeling expected ethical behavior, each senior leader also leads the ethical aspects of their role for the organization as a whole. For example, the Chief Human Resource Officer also oversees the ethical performance management system, and the The Chief Learning Officer works to build the organization’s ethical understanding and ethical competence.
10 Leadership Lessons From Pokemon Go
By Linda Fisher Thornton
I resisted playing the wildly popular game Pokemon Go as long as I could, but the world was playing it (including my teenagers) so awhile back I decided to give it a go. As I learned the basics of the game I noticed that its structure is aligned with some of the principles of good leadership. Whether that similarity is accidental or intentional, I can't say, but I am sharing my observations in this post.
What Drives Our Thinking?
By Linda Fisher Thornton When we talk about "ethical leadership" we are talking about the intersection of multiple connected variables that affect our choices. We choose our approach based on a number of variables that are influenced by our level of learning, growth and experience. Here are some of the variables (which may be influenced by learning and development) that converge to define our sense of what "ethical leadership" includes.
Ethical Thinking: Sifting For Values
By Linda Fisher Thornton Most people think about ethics, at least some of the time. Ethics comes to mind during ethics training, ethics conversations, when people are thrown into ethically complex situations, and when trying to understand current events. While we may think about ethics from time to time, ethical thinking is different. It is the process of actively considering how our choices align with ethical principles, and how those choices could impact our constituents. It is proactive, intentional and consistently applied.
Leadership Isn’t Cushy (Human Development Required)
By Linda Fisher Thornton There's a powerful connection between responsible leadership and human growth and development. It's not easily visible to leaders, so today I'm digging into how these important variables intersect and how they should inform our approach to leadership development.
Pandemic Leadership: 3 Questions To Ask in the New Year
By Linda Fisher Thornton Each year I raise questions that help leaders stay current as ethical expectations change. Here are three new questions to ponder as we head into a New Year. They are important questions about our ethical intentions, action and impact that will help guide our choices in the coming year.
5 Ways to Avoid Opinions That Lack Insight and Understanding
By Linda Fisher Thornton Lately we've been seeing too much content that is not grounded in understanding. Some of it is intentionally misleading and some of it is well-intentioned but misinformed.
Human Leadership is the Leadership We Need
As we struggle with compounding challenges around the world, people are more and more frequently seeking information about human or humane leadership. Why is the topic so timely?
Ethical Leaders Are Fixed and Flexible at the Same Time
Ethical leaders are fixed and flexible at the same time. They stay anchored to ethical values AND adapt as the world changes. Both are critically important aspects of ethical leadership success.
Leading in Context 