 For a leader to be effective three criteria must be met. First, people must accept and buy into the leader’s vision. Second, they must believe that the leader has the competence to successfully achieve that vision. Third, the leader must be a role model who exemplifies the values and principles that underpin the vision.
The ethical imperative of leaders is to personally live their vision and values. Character is the term that describes this principle. People assess the character of their leader and then accept and believe in his vision…or not.
In that spirit I offer ten commandments of ethical leadership. These principles hold true in the private, public and non-profit sectors. They are what we expect from our elected and appointed officials. These guiding principles should be the standard against which we assess and value those who lead us.
Human beings need hope to survive and thrive. When hope is lost, spirit perishes. We want leaders who will provide us with a vision of hope and promise – a vision of a better life, greater prosperity and the opportunity for personal meaningfulness and happiness. We must also believe that the vision can be attained – it may not be easy and it may not be precise but we can capture enough of its essence to take personal meaning from it and see our place in helping it become our reality.
We are blessed to live in a country where we can achieve success and prosper. It is unlawful and unethical to give or receive bribes, to steal, cheat, commit fraud, extort or embezzle to be successful. There is no excuse for such behavior. Leaders must be diligent to ensure that they personally obey the law of the land should expect that all who represent them or their organizations do so as well.
Leadership requires creating a vision and building alignment to that vision. Alignment cannot occur if people do not understand the vision, the strategy for implementing it, the tasks requiring action and their role in the process. This requires communication at all levels. Furthermore, each inconsistent or contradictory message requires that the process start all over again.
Leaders must take assertive action to ensure that their message is clearly communicated and understood. The other part of communications is the ability of a leader to listen – really listen – and take what has been said under consideration.
Candor, honesty, openness and transparency are essential elements of effective leadership. If a leader lies, purposefully withholds information, intentionally misleads others, tells partial truths or otherwise speaks with less than full candor and openness the trust between that leader and his followers is lost.
Truth is one essential ingredient required for trustworthiness. The second is meeting commitments, fulfilling what was promised. Leaders must tell the truth honestly and completely and live up to their word and their pledge if they are to be respected and trusted by others.
No one said this better than Harry Truman with his famous desk plaque: “The buck stops here.” Conversely, Bill Clinton lost a significant amount of his credibility and loyalty when he attempted to avoid personal responsibility for his behavior by arguing over the definition of “is.”
Leaders must accept full responsibility for all that occurs on their watch. This is why corporate culture and values are so essential – they are the only tools that will guide behavior consistently without excessive use of policies, rules and controls.
Customers understand when they are valued and when they are being taken for granted, or even exploited. And they respond in kind. Leaders are responsible for creating a culture that honors customers and understand that a loyal customer base may be an organization’s greatest competitive advantage.
Honoring a customer means providing a product or service with the full intention of delivering the highest quality and service possible. It further means honoring and respecting the customer beyond the immediate transaction – caring about and developing a sustaining relationship that maintains customer loyalty even when there is a service failure.
Competition is good. It forces us to be at our best. It illustrates our weaknesses and shortcomings so that we can continuously improve our product and service offerings. Good competitors are worthy adversaries. They challenge us just as we challenge them.
Competition creates the playing field for a market-driven economy. Honoring and respecting legitimate efforts by all contenders in the field is part of what makes everyone stronger. Leaders treat their competitors the same way that they want their competitors to treat and speak of them.
When Henry Ford first created the assembly line business model that turbo-charged the industrial revolution, human beings were simply one of the factors of production. Over time capitalism evolved to a different psychological contract that exchanged employee loyalty for a promise of long-term employment by the employer.
The work contract today is one of mutual value. Employers support employees as long as they add value to the enterprise. Employees stay with an employer as long as they believe that they are receiving fair value in return for their time, efforts and contribution. When either party believe that the equation is not equal, the relationship ends.
Leaders understand how critical productive employees are to their success, and create an environment that nurtures them, resulting in top-performing employees and high productivity.
 No leader can be successful alone. Leaders require a peer group against whom they can test their beliefs and from whom they can gain insights.
Leaders need a senior team that is honest and works well together. The leader’s role is to support the work of these colleagues both as individuals and as a team. Mutual support builds the senior team during prosperity and adversity.
This may seem like a strange commandment but it is an essential condition for leadership. Stephen Covey says it eloquently: no money, no mission.
A vision is of little value if there are no resources to achieve it. Caring about employees doesn't amount to much if their employment must be terminated due to lack of funds. Serving customers doesn't mean anything if the organization no longer exists to respond to customer needs.
Leaders must have the wisdom to develop a successful business model and the fortitude to take the actions required to achieve it. When these commandments are fulfilled the result is inspirational…and sustainable. |
6. Leaders shall honor their customers.