CORPRATE LEADER

CORPORATE LEADER

BY: JOHN CAFRENE. BAPRM 42567

What does it take to be an ethical corporate leader?

One typical response to the “ethics crisis” in business is a clarion call for more “ethical leadership,” yet there are few explanations of what exactly is meant by the term. Many executives and business thinkers believe that ethical leadership is simply a matter of leaders having good character. By having “the right values” or being a person of “strong character,” the ethical leader can set the example for others and withstand any temptations that may occur along the way. Without denying the importance of good character and the right values, the reality of ethical leadership is far more complex and the stakes are much higher.

Leaders see their constituents as not just followers, but rather as stakeholders striving to achieve that same common purpose, vision, and values. These follower and stakeholder constituents have their own individuality and autonomy which must be respected to maintain a moral community. Ethical leaders embody the purpose, vision, and values of the organization and of the constituents, within an understanding of ethical ideals. They connect the goals of the organization with that of the internal employees and external stakeholders.

Leaders work to create an open, two-way conversation, thereby maintaining a charitable understanding of different views, values, and constituents’ opinions. They are open to others’ opinions and ideas because they know those ideas make the organization they are leading better.

As a corporate leader, you need to find the best people and develop them in order to achieve the main visions and mission of your organization in whole. This task is fairly standard in different models of leadership. Ethical leaders pay special attention to finding and developing the best people only because they see it as a moral imperative helping them to lead better lives that create more value for themselves and for others. Finding the best people involves taking ethics and character into account in the selection process.

Create a living conversation about ethics, values and the creation of value for stakeholders. Too often business executives think that having a laminated “values card” in their wallet or having a purely compliance approach to ethics has solved the “ethics problem.” Suffice it to say that Enron and other troubled companies had these systems in place. What they didn’t have was a conversation across all levels of the business where the basics of value creation, stakeholder principles and societal expectations were routinely discussed and debated. There is a fallacy that values and ethics are the “soft, squishy” part of management. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are some concrete steps about how best to develop ethical leaders within the framework that most global businesses find themselves. The first step is to bring life to a conversation about how the organization benefits its stakeholders and about understanding the organization’s values.

So being an ethical corporate leader demands one to find best people and develop them together with creating a living conversation about ethics, values and creation of values with the stakeholder