Hallmarks of Ethical Leadership (Part 3)

By Linda Fisher Thornton

In Hallmarks of Ethical Leadership Part 1and Part 2, I shared 6 special qualities, behaviors and outcomes that define ethical leadership. This week I’ll share three more. These are intentional actions ethical leaders take to stay competent as things change around them.

Ethical Leaders ADAPT

Treating learning an every day goal, not a set of scheduled events
Treating change as an essential element of staying relevant and ethically aware
Scanning trends and doing constant research, using credible sources, to stay adaptive

Ethical Leaders SEE MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES

Accepting paradoxes and seeking to understand them as part of good leadership
Deals with highly complex challenges with multiple variables without getting thrown off an ethical track
Seeing through many ethical lenses (and meeting the needs of multiple stakeholders) when making decisions

Ethical Leaders GROW

Treating the leader’s comfort zone as something that should be stretched, not a boundary
Staying open to learning from others, even when opposed to their opinions and choices
Showing growth in maturity and moral awareness over time

Ethical leaders know they need to adapt and they are willing to do the work to stay firmly grounded in ethical values while adapting as times change. Throughout this three-part series I have shared 9 qualities that help identify a leader who is making it a priority to stay ethically aware and make ethical choices. Take a moment to reflect on this question – Do you recognize all 9 in yourself?