Course Pages

Leadership - Section 1
Ethical Leadership

You are a leader.

The first place you find leadership is within you

in the interactions of the many different parts of you,

which make you whole, which make you human.

You must make your own decisions regarding what to say and how to act.

Leadership is found within us, the dialogue we have with ourselves

and the individual human experience.

It is found in our thoughts, and the conversation we have with ourselves.

It is found in the emotions we feel, and how we react to them.

It is found in the physical urges we experience as living beings,

and how we respond to them.

You lead your own life.

Leadership is also found in the connection between individuals,

and our interaction with each other.

Those around you observe your actions,

just as you observe the actions of others around you.

We imitate others and they imitate us.

In other words, we sometimes follow other’s lead and sometimes they follow our lead.

From an early age we learn more from watching what others do

than from hearing what they say.

Leadership is relational or found in the continuous interaction of human beings.

Each of us at times is a leader and at times a follower.

Our roles as individuals move frequently and fluidly between leader and follower.

This can be seen very clearly in changing cultural trends,

be they in fashion, music, music, theater, movies, etc.

It can be seen on a small scale, particularly among youth.

Someone in a social group will be the “cool” or popular kid

who leads the group for a period,

and then there will be a shift to another person.

On a larger scale, it can be seen most clearly in the changing political landscape.

We are social beings and develop our cultures together.

Each of us leads their own life,

in relation to other lives,

in a dynamic and ever-changing way.

Leading and following ebb and flow

with the tides of time and the winds of change.

Leadership is all around us, in every aspect of life,

and has been there since the beginning of human existence.

However, it is very challenging to predict and understand

the changing trends and ideas which people follow.

It is equally difficult to comprehend how specific individuals garner a following.

While there is a tremendous amount of literature written on the subject,

there is still mystery and magic involved.

The mystery is born of human free will

and the magic of the unique nature of every individual human being.

No two human beings are exactly the same

and thus, no two human beings have the same needs and desires, as a whole.

Much of the study of leadership is connected to management,

particularly as it relates to formal organizations,

ranging from the military and government world

to business and not-for-profit groupings.

Management is not leadership.

Because a person is put in front of a group of people, put in charge of them

or otherwise finds themselves directing the actions of a specific group,

does not mean that they are a leader.

Leaders

What we will be thinking about and discussing in this course is leadership

in its formal human and social sense.

Leading does not exist without willing individuals following.

Leaders do not lead without willing followers who,

if fully aware of where they are headed, would follow.

To lead someone means that,

the person or people following,

would willingly follow,

and would do so out of a belief that the person they are following,

will take them to a place in life which is good for them,

to achieve a goal which they would want to attain.

Throughout the course we will discuss this,

what I will call a rather pure definition of leadership,

and the many problems it presents due to human nature.

But it is important to emphasize that leadership does not exist without willing followers.

People follow a variety of people,

arising out of cultural developments which shift over time.

Some are good, some are bad, and some are neutral.

A leader must always work in the best interest of their followers.

A leader must take their followers to a place which is good for them,

a place where the followers would want to go.

Otherwise, a person claiming to “lead” others is just manipulating those who follow them,

through some form of deceit, for some purpose other than the good of the followers.

There are many names for this human tragedy,

from con-artist to toxic-leader, which try to capture the idea of the phenomenon.

Leadership, by definition, must be ethical. A leader must be ethical.

People will follow others for a variety of reasons,

but having people doing what a person tells them

does not automatically make that person a leader.

Legends and literary works such as that of the Pied Piper of Hamlin,

real-life history of deadly cult leaders,

and the wars and suffering inflicted by dictators, testify to this sad fact of life.

All too often followers are manipulated through lies, deception, deceit

and all variety of illusions, to the benefit of those perpetrating unethical behavior.

There are occasions where the leaders are truly trying to do

what they believe is in the best interests of the followers and are mistaken or misguided.

However, history is full of too many examples of the corruption of leaders,

brought about through the corrupting effect power can have on human beings.

Ethical Leadership

Ethical leadership is difficult and has many challenges.

Followers must put their trust in the person they follow;

trusting that the person they follow is honestly looking out for their best interest.

Two of the most difficult challenges of leadership are

first, trying to understand what is in the best interest of the people being led, and

secondly, dealing with variables,

such as the unknowns of the future,

the variety of needs of different people,

and helping followers understand what is in their best interest.

Leadership is not found in perfection,

but in trying to do what is in the best interest of followers,

and adapting as the future unfolds.

I can summarize the importance of learning to lead, and lead your life ethically

with two of my favorite quotes, which are something I live by:

“I am only one, but still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something;

and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

(Helen Keller)

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

(Mother Teresa)

This course is about Good moral leadership and how to change the world for the better.

What you do matters.

Leadership is a complex enterprise with few hard and fast rules.

Rather, there are principles and processes that can be studied, understood,

and applied in a variety of situations and contexts.

This class is designed to help you identify core knowledge and practices of leadership

and to make meaning of them in your own life and the world around you.

Hopefully this course can help you discover the leader in you,

your own leadership knowledge and ability,

and help you develop into an ethical leader.

I hope to help you foster your own unique leadership style,

help you understand the importance of looking out for the best interests of followers,

and grasp the importance of being a good follower.

Good and The Greater Good

Doing what is in the specific, best interest of another person is simple in principle

but it is not easy. It is not always doing what a person wants

or even what they think is in their best interest.

Examples are sometimes the best way to think if this challenge.

A child may think that it is in their best interest to eat candy and sweets at every meal.

However, a good parent, guardian and leader would know

that is not in the child’s best long-term interest.

All of the people in a nation may believe that it is in their collective best interest

to conquer their neighboring countries through an aggressive, unprovoked war.

However, a good leader knows that is not in in the best interests of the country

and knows the costs of war.

However, sometimes war, the defense of a country, may be necessary.

Of all the challenges facing leaders, military leadership is one of the most difficult.

Military leaders need to send soldiers into harm’s way,

knowing the risk of injury and death to their followers.

Sending a follower into harm’s way may seem contrary to the notion of

doing what is in the best interest of individual followers.

One way of considering how this military leadership challenge

can be understood is to think about the interest of the soldier,

or why going into battle could be in their best interest.

A soldier could be willing to risk injury or death to save their family and friends,

from the oppression of the group they are fighting,

from being killed by the enemy, or for other moral reasons.

The follower is willing to make a self-sacrifice for the sake of others.

Another reason a soldier could be willing to risk injury, or death,

is for the greater good, the belief that freedom, democracy

or some other moral cause is worth the risk.

The best interest of a person, or group of people, is a very personal and complex matter.

A leader must take into account the best interests of their followers,

as well as others affected by their actions.

The hindsight of history, as seen through the lens of improved ethical or moral beliefs,

highlights the difficulty of leadership.

What is in the best interest of one group may not be in the best interest of another group.

The various forms of slavery provide a stark example of this problem.

Leadership must be ethical.

That is the simple, overarching principle of leadership.

The complexity comes from dealing with the specific circumstances

of each and every individual involved and affected.

Risking harm for the best interest of the follower,

for the greater good, for a moral cause,

can be seen in all walks of life,

from police, firefighters and first responders,

to medical personnel,

volunteers working in dangerous communities

and many other countless ways.

In this course we will discuss ethics and morality at length.

It is in the effort to be good, to do the right thing, that moral excellence is found.

It is challenging.

The military example offers another good example of the difficulties of leadership.

The military leaders (sergeant, lieutenant or general, etc.)

in a country often serve under a political leader.

This can create a serious dilemma for the military leader.

If the military leader does not believe the cause is just,

that the sacrifice is not in the best interest of the soldiers or citizens,

how do they solve the conflict between their duty to follow the chain of command,

and their need to do what is in the best interests of those followers, soldiers,

directly under their command.

What do they do if they believe that what they are doing is not right?

The conflict between duty and moral good can be found

in leader and follower situations in any walk of life.

It is a challenge found in all moral decision making and will be addressed in this course.

You can learn how to be a leader.

Ethics and morality can be learned and developed into leadership and life skills.

Everyone needs to contemplate and learn about the importance of morals in leadership,

because every person is a leader, in leading their own life.

Ethics is the study of morality, right and wrong, good and bad.

Everyone needs to learn about right and wrong,

because everyone makes their own moral decisions.

The moral decisions we make individually come together

to make the kind of world we live in.

Collectively, we create the world of right and wrong, and good and bad.

Our individual leadership, how we each individually live our lives,

creates the moral part of the world we live in.

Those who lead groups of people magnify and multiply this creative process.

What you do matters.

Leadership

Leadership is an art.

It is a complex enterprise.

It is based on principles and processes that can be studied, understood,

and applied in a variety of situations and contexts.

Like other human arts, there are no hard and fast rules.

However, there are critical principles which make up the essence of leadership.

These are based on the principles of morality and ethics.

Leadership must be ethical.

A leader must be ethical.

A leader must always try to serve the best interest of followers.

A leader must lead followers to a place which is good for them,

a place where the followers would want to go,

a good place.

General Colin Powell gives a good explanation

of the relationship between leaders and followers.

He also explains what can be accomplished through the art of leadership.

General Powell’s definition, which he provides in this video clip, is that:

“The essence of leadership is about doing all that the science of management says you can with resources but taking that extra step and giving it that spark. That spark comes from getting people to trust you…”

What is powerful about this video clip is that it was not a prepared speech,

but rather in answer to a question,

something that came from his experience and his heart.

He went on to teach and write about leadership and his experiences.

The modified definition of leadership,

which came later in books and speeches, is equally powerful, that:

“Leadership is the art of accomplishing what the science of management says is impossible.”

About Colin Powell: In 1958 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. while serving in Vietnam he was awarded a Purple Heart and earned a Bronze Star for valor. After retiring as a four-star general, He continued in service to his country and was the first African American appointed as the U.S. Secretary of State and the first to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

About This Website

I started formal classroom teaching of ethics and leadership later in life.

One of my students helped capture what I believe I have to offer as a teacher at my stage in life:

“You are not old, you have just experienced a lot of history.”

I am a grandpa, married over 40 years and I grew up in a big, extended family.

I also grew up in the 1960s. I remember JFK, MLK, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War,

and watched as we landed on the moon.

In the 1970s, during the Watergate trials, I was in pre-law classes on a small college campus,

studying our political system.

Watching, and at times participating in the civil rights movement,

that was a major part of our cultural and political revolution,

I saw firsthand the power of people to effect change.