Ethical Leadership, Are Our Leaders Today Practicing What They Preach?

More than likely, there was a time in your life where you’re parent said ‘and if they jumped off a cliff, would you jump to?’ He or she was probably referring to you following a person or the crowd in doing something that you should not have been doing. But, when it comes to ethical leadership, you must ask yourself that same question in reverse: ‘if you know that others will follow you, will you jump off a cliff anyway?’

Just as there are ethical business practices and ethical behavior in general, there is also ethical leadership that must be considered. This pertains to any type of leader. You may be a leader in your church, in a civic organization, or in business, such as a network marketer with a down line that needs leadership. No matter what capacity you are a leader, you must learn about ethical leadership.

As you probably know, ethical behavior is simply a set of standards by which we live, play, and work. For instance, in life in general, telling a lie is unethical. In sports, cheating is unethical, and in work, allowing customers to purchase a product or service that you know does not live up to its promises is unethical. But how does one practice ethical leadership?

Have you ever heard the term ‘lead by example?’ This means that you conduct your life and your business in a way that sets good examples for those who are following you. This same concept applies to ethical leadership. For instance, if you are a leader of a civic organization, you would make sure that you were always in attendance at the meetings, and that you were always on time. You would take your responsibilities within that organization seriously, and of course, you would always be honest with the other members of the organization.

That is what ethical leadership is. You must go above and beyond what you expect from the people following you. If it is your job to assign duties to others, you must make sure that you are doing just as much, if not more, work than that which you are assigning. This is not only ethical, it is leading by example.

Ethical leadership means keeping the lines of communication between you and those that you are leading open and strong. Those that you are leading should feel that they can come to you to discuss any problems that they may be having concerning the job at hand, at the very least. They need to know that you will hear them out, and that you will always make the fairest possible decision. An ethical leader would never promise something to someone and not follow through with it. Furthermore, ethical leadership means that the leader never gossips about other members of the group, or shares any private information about them with others.

Ethical leadership means that you live and operate above reproach. It does not, however, mean that you are a perfect human being. Even great leaders know that they not only have to listen to the expertise of others, but that they actually have to ask for help from time to time. Are you practicing ethical leadership in your organization?

This and other topics that deal with corporate communications, business to customer relationships, and sales training through Collective Vision are just some of the topics discuss.

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From Jed A. Reay – The Communicator/Connector and Visionary Master Sales Trainer.

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Tags: ethical, leadership, dimensions, challenges