The idea of being both moral as a person and as a leader is a great to remember as I go through my career. As a student, when I work in groups or teams for assignments or clubs, the best results came when I led with honesty and respect for my teammates. When I valued other people’s input, the whole group was more motivated to share ideas which led to better results. If a leader does not have strong moral values, then you cannot expect that to be implemented throughout the whole company.

This concept connect very strongly to the virtue ethics framework discussed in previous modules. Virtue ethics emphasizes developing traits like honesty, compassion, and courage. Waddock explaining moral leadership directly reflects this as he states that management starts with who you are as a person. This also reminds me of the virtue lens. The focus of it being that we should aspire to be who we want to be, not just show it by the outcome of actions. If you work to be that person consistently, then it will be normal to act that way and lead that way.

In the business world, it is important to have correlation between personal and professional ethics. Cook’s commitment to privacy and fairness show that ethical leadership can influence what a company values and their culture. We also see many examples when leadership has poor moral and ethical standards (Boeing). Companies must not emphasize profit over safety and culture. When leadership moves away from the companies value, risk is increased and more people begin to work unethically.

Waddock, Sandra. “Ethical Role of the Manager.” Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.