Leading in Context

DECEMBER 20, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton Thank you, friends, for reading and sharing this Blog in 2023. I appreciate all the ways you have helped forward the movement toward authentic ethical leadership. Only by bringing out our best as leaders are we able to bring out the best in those we lead. As we head into this holiday season, I wish you hope. Hope is what keeps us going when problems seem impossible to solve, when time is short, and when solutions are distant.

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Leading in Context

DECEMBER 13, 2023

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.

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Leading in Context

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton There have been several great leaders who helped me grow, and who inspired me to want to lead others.

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Leading in Context

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton How do we help young people become ethical leaders? This is an important question because our long-term future depends on how well we prepare young people to make positive ethical choices and honor multiple dimensions of ethical responsibility.

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Leading in Context

OCTOBER 11, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton This post is Part 4 in a series. In Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 I explored 9 different traits that help you recognize ethical leaders. In Part 4 I will address the importance of leading in ways that eliminate fear. One of the hallmarks of ethical leadership is that it is a fear-free zone. Fear is insidious. It changes how we see the world and how we treat others.

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Leading in Context

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton How do you recognize an Ethical Leader? Today I’ll share 3 special approaches to the leadership role that are central to ethical leadership. These are ways that ethical leaders understand their roles and responsibilities in relation to others and world.

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Leading in Context

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

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.

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Leading in Context

AUGUST 30, 2023

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.

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Leading in Context

AUGUST 16, 2023

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.

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Leading in Context

AUGUST 9, 2023

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.

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Leading in Context

JULY 26, 2023

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.

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Leading in Context

JULY 5, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton While some people think of rights, responsibilities and freedom separately, in a compartmentalized way, I believe they cannot be separated, and according to John Courtney Murray, freedom was always intended to be grounded in ethical values.

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Leading in Context

JUNE 21, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton "The issue of the overwhelmed employee looms large" according to Josh Bersin, Bersin by Deloitte. (Are You an Overwhelmed Employee? New Research Says Yes, LinkedIn). Employees are having a hard time managing an overload of information and tasks, and the problem is not getting any better.

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Leading in Context

JUNE 7, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton I wonder what our workplaces would be like if every leader cared. Most leaders care about their own well-being. But what if every leader cared about others? How would things be different? In an organization where every leader cared, wouldn’t we experience improved employee engagement and customer retention? Wouldn’t it be easier to recruit and retain talented and dedicated employees?

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Leading in Context

MAY 24, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton Using an ethics of care changes how we think and act as leaders. It helps us remember that each person is important and that treating each other with care is part of our shared human experience.

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Leading in Context

MAY 10, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton Authenticity has become a common term used to describe a level of human growth or attainment. I previously wrote about the multiple dimensions of authenticity and how they relate to living an intentional, aware, and ethical life. I became curious about how authenticity relates to measures of human development and Maslow's concept of self-actualization.

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Leading in Context

MARCH 29, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton I have written a lot about ethical culture building, but there is one simple concept that is a game changer that many leaders overlook. It is the importance of simultaneously managing two things well in order to shore up both sides of the system.

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Leading in Context

MARCH 8, 2023

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.

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Leading in Context

FEBRUARY 15, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton Our successful shared future depends on how we raise children now, as they will become our future leaders. There is no way to know which children will be the ones to solve the problems our current leaders are unwilling and/or unable to solve in the future. How we teach and inspire them now will impact their ability to interact with others and lead others in ethical ways.

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Leading in Context

FEBRUARY 1, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton This week I’m sharing The Last 10 Years of Top Posts on the Leading in Context Blog. It’s a time capsule of the issues you thought were most important over the last 10 years. For each year, I have selected a theme that reflects the topics and focus of the reader's most read posts.

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Leading in Context

JANUARY 25, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton What will 2023 be like? We've been through so much over the past few years. Will things be better? Whatever happens, the start of a new year is a great time to take stock of our leadership strengths and areas for improvement. Regardless of the leadership challenges we may face this year, there are important things we should be doing to make it easier for others to succeed, and our teams are counting on us to do them so that they can do their best work.

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Leading in Context

DECEMBER 28, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton The focus of this week’s post is on Ways to Inspire Leaders to Lead With Positive Ethical Values. Here are 3 ways to inspire leaders to reach for positive values – that also help you “do good” in your organization, community and world. .

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Leading in Context

DECEMBER 14, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton The first post in this series addressed ACCOUNTABILITY. The second asked you to evaluate your IMPACT. This week's four ways to advance ethics in your organization focus on MANAGING THE SYSTEM.

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Leading in Context

DECEMBER 7, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton The first post in this series addressed ACCOUNTABILITY. In this second post we’ll take a look at IMPACT. Here are 3 ways to Advance Ethics that also improve the impact of your organization and your leadership.

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Leading in Context

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton Have you noticed that the current fray about what to teach about difficult subjects has been focused on teaching "one way or the other?" "Are you for it or against it? and "Which side are you on?" This approach completely misses the point that the purpose of education is not to teach students what to think. It's to teach students how to think, and how to navigate differences respectfully.

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Leading in Context

NOVEMBER 9, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton Nonviolence provides a higher order mindset that helps us provide lasting solutions to global problems. In the process of human development, we reach a point when we become increasingly concerned about our impact on others and society. We begin to consider our impact more broadly and use a long-term perspective when we approach problems.

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Leading in Context

OCTOBER 19, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton We have a "spin" problem in the media and it's out of control. Unfortunately, many media channels have decided that clicks, and the dollars they generate, are more important than journalistic integrity. So we end up with people getting what they think is "news" when what they are actually getting is from sources of "infotainment," and using that bad information to make bad decisions and even in some cases commit crimes.

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Leading in Context

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton In Part 1 of this series on Recognizing Ethical Issues, I addressed the gaps in our thinking that require us to develop an ethical alert system. in Part 2, I explored why some leaders who want to do the right thing still don't "do the work" to learn how to do it. In Part 3, I dug into the importance of ethical awareness as the basis for ethical decision making.

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Leading in Context

SEPTEMBER 21, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton In Part 1 of this series on Recognizing Ethical Issues, I addressed the gaps in our thinking that require us to develop an ethical alert system. in Part 2, I explored why some leaders who want to do the right thing still don't "do the work" to learn how to do it. In Part 3, I dug into the importance of ethical awareness as the basis for ethical decision making.

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Leading in Context

AUGUST 10, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton When we change our position on an issue, sometimes it is because we simply can't decide. But when you look at mind-changing from the perspective of human growth and development, you can see that there is often more to it than that.

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Leading in Context

AUGUST 3, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton Today I'm sharing an article from Virginia Business called Future Shock that includes my recent interview with John Blackwell. His article focuses on how leaders are navigating through the many challenges of returning to in-person work after workers have enjoyed the increased flexibility of remote work during the pandemic.

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Leading in Context

JULY 13, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton What it means to "win responsibly" in business has changed. .

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Leading in Context

JUNE 22, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton Building on last week's post about Seeing the Facets of Facts, this week I'm digging into the dangers of "Partialized Facts." When I say "Partialized Facts" I refer to treating one perspective on an issue that is only part of the picture as the whole truth. I have seen it happen so many times. It's time to call it what it is.

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Leading in Context

MAY 25, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton I have a special message for our 2022 graduates. The pandemic risk may be lower than it was at this time last year, but sorting out the way forward as a new graduate is still going to be a challenge. How can you gain a clear focus on your future to move ahead?

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Leading in Context

MAY 4, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton More commitments than time. Six or more meetings a day. Eating at your desk. Does any of this sound familiar?

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Leading in Context

APRIL 13, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton The post “Leader Competence: Will It Be A Multiplier or Divider?” generated some great discussion on social media. Here’s a quote from the post: “Leader competence is either going to be a multiplier or a divider. When you have it, you multiply performance and trust, with exponential results. Without it, you divide your possible results by the incompetence factor.

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Leading in Context

APRIL 6, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton Some leaders take the view that it's important to plan for the worst case scenario. Others prefer to keep it positive and focus on the best possible outcomes. Which is better leadership?

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