Reading “Why Ethical People Make Unethical Choices” by Ron Carucci had me reflecting on my knowledge and experience so far within the business school at NC State, as well as within my minor in Psychology. One section that particularly stood out to me was the lack of safety that can be felt to speak up when you may question something or have a concern. I think sometimes there can be stigmas around leaders being “untouchable” or “unapproachable” because they are simply categorized at a higher level than yourself. Even codes of ethics don’t need to be explained for those fundamental structures to be established. There are so many inherent fears surrounding speaking out about something you care about, whether it effects your coworkers, the organization, or yourself. I like the way the article describes the how to rise above this situation, saying “creating a culture in which people freely speak up is vital to ensuring people don’t collude with, or incite, misconduct (”Why Ethical People Make Unethical Choices”, p. 2).

While this article doesn’t describe the exact measures that can be taken to create this welcoming culture, I have thoughts on how this environment can come about. I will be approaching this from a solutions perspective that would prevent these fears from cultivating in the first place. When there is an environment where titles define each persons hierarchal status, there are bound to be inherent fears about speaking up; however, if you start an organization that prioritizes every single staff member as equally as possible and makes them feel like they are just as part of the team at its leader, I think true comfort and development can occur within an organization. Not only could this create a comfortable and approachable space, but it could develop a healthier and more productive company.

Carucci, Ron. “Why Ethical People Make Unethical Choices.” Harvard Business Review, 16 Dec. 2016, hbr.org/2016/12/why-ethical-people-make-unethical-choices. Accessed 29 Aug. 2025.

I enjoyed reading “Forbes – Top 10 Qualities That Make A Great Leader” by. Ted Myers because it made me reflect on how my own leadership style has developed organically. Before adding a Leadership: Cross-Disciplinary Studies Minor onto my degree plan at NC State, I didn’t have any formal leadership coursework, but I had been placed into leadership positions prior to this minor. One specific example is my role as the Program Director for a pre-college program, where I hired and led a team of 10 staff members through summer programming.

While this article discusses leadership more in the context of leading a team through a business venture, the key qualities it describes are very applicable to my work as a Program Director. I will be highlighting ones that stood out to me. The first trait is honesty. Honesty was by far the most important element of my role when working with my team and leading alongside other staff and Program Directors. It is vital to be clear about expectations and responsibilities up front and, as the article says, your employees “are a reflection of yourself” (Myers, 2016). Next is delegating. I found delegating to be so essential within my team, but even more important was understanding my team’s strengths and capacities. Delegating can only be effective if it is done to the appropriate groups or individuals, and the article re-emphasizes this when it says “the key to delegation is identifying the strengths of your team, and capitalizing on them” (Myers, 2016). The next and final trait I would like to discuss is communication. Having the ability to describe how you want something to be done or explain a concept I’ve discovered is a constant learning process. I think communication skills can only grow through experience, putting yourself into situations where you have to practice explaining. I would have students coming up to me at the end of my program telling me how they saw my public speaking skills improving over the time they were with me.

Overall, I’m learning through this article that I have come a long way as a leader, but there will always be areas for me to grow in through further experience. Moving forward, this list of traits will be helpful to build off of in our group simulations throughout the course.

Myers, T. (2016, March 8). Forbes – Top 10 qualities that make a great leader. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/forbes-top-10-qualities-make-great-leader-tedson-myers-cpa-mba/