Leading with Ethics: A Moral Literacy Based Approach to Ethical Leadership

 

Questions about Ethical Leadership have been a central part of Western Culture since the time of the Ancient Greeks. Plato’s Republic, which is one of the most prominent and influential literary works of the Western Philosophical tradition, is devoted largely to a systematic articulation and defense of the view that genuine leadership is a moral vocation. Plato contrasts the controversial view of leadership he shares with his mentor Socrates to more common views, according to which it is a possession passed down from generation to generation by social and political elites, or it is something that is grabbed and maintained by the strong, ambitious, and power-hungry elements within a group.

Image used under Creative Commons licensing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Socrates_Louvre.jpg)

Bust of Socrates Displayed in the Louvre

However much things have changed in the more than two-and-a-half millennia since Socrates made a vocation of challenging the Athenian leadership, roughly the same general views of leadership remain live options for many of us today. Within contemporary societies, there are any number of practices that can be interpreted as expressions of the belief that being a good leader requires having the right background. Similarly, strength of will and personal ambition continue to be appealed to in many contexts where the characteristics of good leaders are under discussion. We also don’t have to look very far to see evidence of the view that leadership is a moral vocation that requires would-be-leaders to subordinate themselves and their own desires to the common good.

Despite the long history of discussions of leadership in academic settings, deciding which of these views to accept as one’s own or how to combine the strengths of each into a model for leadership is anything but a merely academic enterprise. It is a choice that potentially makes all the difference concerning how we will, quite literally, lead our own lives and how we will play leadership roles in the lives of the individuals and communities around us. The guiding ideas followed here are:

  • Good leadership is best understood as ethical leadership
  • Ethical leadership is a matter of leading with ethics
  • Leading with ethics requires that one be morally literate and seek to develop the moral literacy of others

Each of the modules presented here is designed to articulate aspects of an approach to Ethical Leadership that is based in a theory about Moral Literacy. Just as importantly, the exercise that is involved in reading, reflecting, and thinking critically about the materials presented is designed to help further develop the set of practically oriented skills that are involved in being morally literate. Thus, our focus will be on understanding and addressing questions about Moral Literacy, Ethical Leadership in general, and Ethical Leadership in a range of more particular contexts, in ways that are both theoretically informed and practically oriented.

Used with Permission under Creative Commons License

Module 1: Moral Literacy provides a basic overview of the theoretical approach of the course, while providing opportunities for self-assessment and further development of one’s own level of moral literacy.

Module 2: Leading with Ethics provides a contrast between the understanding of Ethical Leadership that is operative here and other ways of thinking about what Ethical Leadership involves.

Recent Posts