In our professional and personal lives, ethics play an important role in sustaining lasting, healthy relationships with others.  Living, practicing, and aligning core values in both work and family life is important in order to develop authentic relationships.  Leaders must focus on their responsibilities to the whole organization or movement, not simply on their rights.

     In Howard Gardner’s book, Five Minds for the Future, he states, “Followers listen to what their leaders say, and, even more carefully, they watch what their leaders do” (2008).  As an ethical leader, one must raise the standards and practice ethical actions and ethical responses to crises.  To become an ethical leader, one must be highly relational.  One must also value diversity and inclusion.  Making ethical decisions can be difficult and unpopular.  Abraham Lincoln once said, “I desire to conduct the affairs of this administration in such a way that at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, and I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall have at least one friend last, and that friend shall be down inside of me.”

  It is important to focus on strengthening and learning about the discipline of leadership and leadership programs, while, at the same time, balancing work and family life.  Leaders are often challenged to find balance in their professional and personal lives.  Gardner says, “Individuals need to be aware of the limits of mastered discipline, when to draw on them and when to temper or shelve them” (p 42).  Creating space and time to relax and ponder can allow our minds to cross think of ways to improve the day-to-day space, while still thinking ethically about what is best for both the work and family. 

     Gardner states, “At a time when the United States is calling on other societies to adopt democratic institutions, it behooves us to model and engage citizenry.  Otherwise, advocates of “democracy elsewhere” appear to the rest of the world simply as hypocrites.  Good work may begin in the bosom of the individual, but ultimately it must extend to the workplace, the nation, and the global community” (p.151).

 Engage, empower, and inspire others by living, practicing, and aligning core values with your life’s work.

Reference

Gardner, H. (2008). Five Minds for the Future. Boston: Harvard Business Press.