Leading in Context

JUNE 9, 2021

By Linda Fisher Thornton Developing ethical leaders and building ethical cultures have become critical business priorities. As if that weren't already challenging enough, managing ethics well also requires systems thinking and a broad understanding of ethical responsibilities.

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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 3, I dug into the importance of ethical awareness as the basis for ethical decision making.

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Leading in Context

JULY 19, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton Preparing leaders for ethical leadership is a long-term process. For example, what message are we sending when we separate ethics training from other leadership training? It requires careful thought about the messages we are sending.

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Leading in Context

AUGUST 31, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton In Part 1 of this series, I explored why it is important to develop our own internal warning system to alert us when we need to think carefully about ethical issues. In this post, I'll address why some leaders who want to do the right thing have not yet developed their capacity to detect ethical issues.

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Leading in Context

AUGUST 2, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton Welcome to Part 1 in the series “Ethical Thinking and Decision Making for Leaders.” Welcome to Part 1 in the series “Ethical Thinking and Decision Making for Leaders.” Ethical decision-making is not simply a task.

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Leading in Context

OCTOBER 28, 2020

By Linda Fisher Thornton Ethics is fundamentally about acting beyond our own self-interests. Can we be ethical without considering others and acting in ways that benefit them?

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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 3, let’s take a look at Complexity.

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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.

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Leading in Context

FEBRUARY 3, 2021

By Linda Fisher Thornton How well is your organization navigating the ethical pitfalls of the working world? Why is it so hard to navigate ethical minefields now? If you're finding it to be a major challenge right now, you're not alone. There is currently a "toxic soup" of factors at play.

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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.

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Leading in Context

MARCH 22, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton Leaders are in a unique position to make ethics a priority through their everyday actions, but simply modeling ethics isn’t nearly enough.

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Leading in Context

AUGUST 23, 2023

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.

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Leading in Context

AUGUST 24, 2022

When people make decisions in their daily rounds, though, there is no external alert or audible alarm to signal that they are stepping into an ethical issue or an ethical gray area and need to carefully consider ethical issues.

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Leading in Context

AUGUST 9, 2023

No matter how much effort it takes to understand the context, we can’t expect to make an ethical decision without taking that step. 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.

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Leading in Context

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

By Linda Fisher Thornton Ethical awareness may have been considered private in the past, but it has become easier to observe in a society that is always socially connected.

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Leading in Context

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton After I published “Prevention or Cure: Your Choice” about reducing ethical risk and creating a positive culture a reader asked for more information about the business case for prevention.

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Leading in Context

MARCH 15, 2023

By Linda Fisher Thornton Ethical Culture is a System of Systems Don’t assume that an ethical culture will just happen in your workplace. Even if you are a good leader, ethical culture is a delicate thing, requiring intentional positive leadership and daily tending.

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Leading in Context

AUGUST 30, 2023

In Part 5, I’ll describe how embracing Change helps us make ethical decisions. 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.

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Leading in Context

MAY 19, 2021

By Linda Fisher Thornton Ethical leaders can't really "control" organizations, but there are specific things they can do to bring out the best in others and teams to move the organization forward. Here are five things ethical leaders can and should control to have a positive impact on the organizations they lead.

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Leading in Context

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

Some people think about ethics as a theoretical concept that lives in procedures and regulations, but they're missing the point. Ethics is not just an esoteric concept. It's an actionable responsibility.

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Leading in Context

JANUARY 31, 2024

Here are 14 compelling reasons why we can never afford to cut back on investing in our own leadership development and competence: By Linda Fisher Thornton When we reach a certain level of accomplishment as leaders, it is easy to think we can slide into neutral.

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Leading in Context

AUGUST 19, 2020

"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.".

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Leading in Context

SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

By Linda Fisher Thornton Who is accountable for ethical artificial intelligence? I was recently invited to answer those questions in a guest blog post published on the EDUCAUSE Professional Development Commons and EDUCAUSE Review. There are ethical implications at every step of the process.

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Leading in Context

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

They struggle to deal with uncertainty and complexity and sometimes the most ethical choices are not obvious. In this kind of environment, we can’t assume that things are going well even when there are no lawsuits or imminent ethical crises. What we need to do is build an ethical workplace that will discourage ethical problems.

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Leading in Context

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

Each day brings new challenges that consume our time and require us to grow into higher levels of ethical awareness to avoid missteps and miscalculations. As we try to find stable footing in unstable times, ethical agility will be a factor in our success.

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Leading in Context

APRIL 13, 2022

This week I’m digging deeper into the multiplying and dividing effects of leader (in)competence, looking at how a leader’s ethical competence impacts trust, people, bottom line results and organizational adaptability: After reading the post, one reader requested that I write more on the topic.

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Leading in Context

DECEMBER 7, 2022

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

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Leading in Context

APRIL 8, 2020

By Linda Fisher Thornton This post is the first in a Series exploring 5 Ethical Dimensions of IoT Leadership as we approach IoT Day on April 14th. Unlike the software design projects of the past, working in the IoT takes us into completely uncharted ethical territory.

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Leading in Context

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

By Linda Fisher Thornton In part 3 of this series, I am sharing a clip from my recent talk at the Saint Anselm Center for Ethics in Society that answers the question "What happens when there is a serious conflict between two ethical values?"

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Leading in Context

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

This week, in Part 2, I'm sharing my response to the question, "Why haven't people agreed on one definition of ethical leadership?" from my recent talk at the Saint Anselm Center for Ethics in Society. By Linda Fisher Thornton Last week I shared a video clip of an overview of all 7 Lenses.

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Leading in Context

MAY 20, 2020

To confirm what those values are that should guide our choices, this week I'm sharing my Manifesto What Ethical Leaders Believe. This Manifesto frames ethical leadership in clear language, and is shareable under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License.

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Leading in Context

DECEMBER 29, 2021

By Linda Fisher Thornton Ethical leadership is evolving, and expectations are increasing. As we get closer to the New Year, here are some questions to ponder:

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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

MAY 6, 2020

By Linda Fisher Thornton Part 1 in this series introduced 5 Ethical Dimensions of IoT Leadership and the importance of ethical foresight. Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 explored the dimensions of Ethical Design, Legal Compliance. and Human Impact. Today's post explores a new dimension - Evolving Ecosystem.

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Leading in Context

APRIL 22, 2020

By Linda Fisher Thornton Part 1 in this Series on 5 Ethical Dimensions of IoT Leadership focused on the importance of Ethical Foresight. Part 2 introduced 5 Ethical Dimensions of the IoT and explored the 1st dimension - Ethical Design. Part 3 discusses Legal Compliance, the 2nd dimension.

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Leading in Context

DECEMBER 14, 2022

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

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Leading in Context

APRIL 15, 2020

By Linda Fisher Thornton This is Part 2 in a Series exploring 5 Ethical Dimensions of IoT Leadership in celebration of IoT Day on April 9th. Part 1 included an Introduction and the importance of Ethical Foresight. Part 2 explores the 1st Ethical Dimension of IoT Leadership: Ethical Design.

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