When Leadership Lifts Everyone Up: Ethics in Positions of Authority

(Illustrative Only)

Companies can encourage 
strong ethical leadership 
and move beyond 
profit to foster
the development of their 
employees and be positive
contributors to the world 
around them. They
know that employees take 
cues from leaders so
they meet to discuss the softer
qualities of selecting their next CEO.

The Tree of Life is
in the background for 
learning about the roots
of ethics. I will 
try and include
other societal systems
of values from different
 cultural and value lines.
It is important to 
understand the softer
aspects that make up
transactional assumptions
that lead to great organizations.

Leadership matters everywhere—organizations, governments, nonprofits, and even places of worship. People take their cues from whoever is in charge. When leaders model honesty and strong values, the people around them tend to act ethically too. When leaders treat ethics like a joke, others start cutting corners and gaming the system. It is important to be reflective within any organization of leadership and ethics.

Organizations exist so people can combine their skills for shared success. Yes, shareholders matter, but companies also depend on the knowledge, creativity, and integrity of their leadership team. Avoid treating employees like service providers instead of partners who help build something valuable for themselves and the organization. Even better if they build it for society. 

Your organizations survival depends on commitment from employees. Employees who feel they are part of a cause, mission, or doing something beneficial they feel good create opportunities much more than money alone. Employees want to be part of something and leadership fosters or it hampers employee sentiment.

Ethical leaders understand this. They respect the insights and abilities of their people, and they use that collective knowledge to create something great. It’s not just about money—it’s about valuing contributions, encouraging innovation, and rewarding those who help the organization grow, ethically and financially.

There are many good leaders out there. And of course, there are some bad ones. The trouble is that the bad ones can cause a lot of damage. So make sure you hire wisely and think about the softer side of leadership and management. It is the long tail of organizational development.

Ethical leadership, subordinates’ moral identity and self-control: Two- and three-way interaction effect on subordinates’ ethical behavior

• Ethical leadership encourages employees to behave ethically, but the effect is stronger when employees themselves have a strong moral identity.

• Self-control also plays a role: employees with high moral identity and good self-control show the strongest positive response to ethical leadership, while low self-control weakens that impact.