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The imperative of being ethical

The world is challenged today by the unethical behaviours of leaders. But is it just at the top that we have problems?

Organisations (governments, businesses, sport and community groups, any type of organisation) can create an environment conducive to ethical behaviour.  It all comes down to how people – both inside and outside – perceive the way they are being treated by the organisation and its leaders, and the extent to which they can influence what happens.

Three factors come into consideration.

  •  Purpose:  use values, hopes, and a clear purpose statement to determine what is acceptable and unacceptable (fair, reasonable, responsible) behaviour.
  • Preparedness (Professional):  by knowing as much as we can about our job/role/reponsibility and striving to perform effectively we develop an identity with the purpose and pride ourselves and of our organisation.  Knowing what is at risk can help you resist temptations to behave unethically. Making certain that you are informed and as knowledgeable as you can be.
  •  Perspective: be reflective in our practice. Make time to pause and reflect, make yourself aware of what is going on around you. See the big picture and all the impacts. Respond and adjust, using purpose as your reference point. Be aware of how you and what you do and say impacts on others.

There is a lot to unpack in the following quote from Ludwig DC and Longenecker CO (1993)  The Bathsheba syndrome: the ethical failure of successful leaders. Journal of Business Ethics 12(4):265-273

Ethical leadership is simply part of good leadership and requires focus, the appropriate use of resources, trust, effective decision making, and provision of model behaviour that is worth following.  Once it is lost it is difficult if not impossible to regain.

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Christopher Wren’s convictions, not his structural columns, support London

The noted English architect Sir Christopher Wren once built a structure in London.  His employers claimed that a certain span Wren planned was too wide, that he would need another row of columns for support.  Sir Christopher, after some discussion, acquiesced.  He added the row of columns, but he left a space between the unnecessary columns and the beams above.  The worthies of London could not see this space from the ground.  To this day, the beam has not sagged.  The columns still stand firm, supporting nothing but Wren’s conviction.  Leadership is much more than an art, a belief, a condition of heart, than a set of things to do.  The visible signs of artful leadership are expressed, ultimately, in its practice.

De Pree M O (1989)  Leadership is an Art.   Melbourne: Australian Business Library, Information Australia. pp.   135-136  

Think about it:  The visible signs of  leadership are expressed in its practice.

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This moment is your life

If only we looked at now
If we looked, only, at now
Now?
This moment is our life
But as I sit and reflect
in comes regret
Why?
What is it about “what could have been been”?
Or “might be”
As I sit and reflect
in comes regret
and doubt……………………………………..
Why rehearse the past
And create what should have been
It’s gone, the past, gonenot forgotten
Just gone
Now is where I live
As I sit and reflect
Enjoy, don’t regret
The future is yet to emerge
Unknown at first, but ….
But what of now?What do I observe?
Not the past
Note the future
Just now, here, at this moment
What do I see
As I sit and reflect
I neglected
to observe
to make sense
to know what it is that I do
when I do what I do
Don’t sit and reflect
Observe, then reflect
Make sense of now
Live…………..
My life is this moment
Shaun Coffey 17 September 2014
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Thoughts of Thursday: Want to be successful at innovation? Be a good story teller

At its heart, innovation is a profoundly social phenomenon. More often than not, it is the story that makes the innovation, rather than the other way around.

Story Telling is a forceful tool.  Enjoy these quotes from Bill Fisher – Every Innovation Needs a Story 

My experience is that it is easier than most think, and that you can tell your innovation story in three parts: Why? What? How?

In order to rally the troops around your idea, there needs to be a shared awareness and agreement that doing something different is a good idea. Otherwise, we all find inertia to be a powerful force opposing innovation.

Repeat after me: it makes no sense at all to consider a changing business environment (why?), and a different way of going to market (our innovation; what?), without acknowledging that we may have to change the way we work, as well. Once you pitch the “what”, the evaluative portion of your audience will immediately be thinking “how are we going to make this work?”

‘A story has to be something that is unexpected. What is predictable is never material for a story. “ (this is often about the “why?”)

“Stories are all about discovering the mundane in the exotic and the unusual when all of it is predictable.” (this is typically about the “what?”)

“Storytelling must be about the audience. Stories have to leave some role for the audience. They persuade the audience to suspend their disbelief.” They also speak to the audience’s principle concerns or hopes. (this often speaks directly to the “how?”)

Edison realized the importance of story-telling to the innovation process, when he indicated by the observation “Inventors must be poets so that they may have imagination.”

Let us all be poets in our roles as innovators.