Power, Ethics, and Leadership

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Power, Ethics, and Leadership

• As a first principle of good stewardship we will
  ensure that no person has reason to look back on
  their association with us with anything but
  pride. It would be a failure of leadership if our
  soldiers and civilian workforce looked upon their
  service to this organization with a sense of
  shame.

George E. Reed, Ph.D. george.reed_at_sandiego.edu 619
-940-4102
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Agenda

• Thoughts on Leadership
• Fostering an ethical climate
• Character or situation as drivers of individual
  behavior?
• Bathsheba Syndrome- Screwing Up Big Time

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Americans hold the military in a position of
extraordinary trust and confidence
Rosenthal, S. A. (2011). National Leadership
Index 2011 A National Study of Confidence in
Leadership. Center for Public Leadership, Harvard
Kennedy School, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
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Leadership Style
The pattern of leadership behavior as perceived
by others.

• Style always matters.
• Video trumps audio.
• Leaders should do more listening than telling,
  more understanding than directing.

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Speaking up and listening down

• People desperately want to please you.
• Every action has a reaction.
• It is lonely at the top.
• There is no such thing as a casual conversation.
• The boss can never have a bad day.

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Discussion What can you do you?

• What specific actions can you take to foster an
  ethical climate where straight-talk flows up and
  down the organizational structure?

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Fostering an Ethical Climate

• Reward and develop the straight-talkers protect
  the mustangs.
• Celebrate those who take principled positions.
• Receive bad news well never shoot the messenger.
• Be a role model for speaking truth to power.
• Two ears, two eyes, and one mouth- use them in
  those proportions. Watch for weak signals.
• We dont do that here equals success.

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Fostering an Ethical Climate

• Tolerate some level of failure for the sake of
  learning and experimentation.
• Conduct after-action reviews, not post-mortems.
• You dont have to pretend to be the smartest
  person in the room.
• Avoid giving the answer before you ask the
  question.
• Praise in public, criticize in private.
• Dont be a toxic leader.

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Charting the ethical slide- Red Flags

• Failure to note the situational imperative
  (systems and pressures). Ethical breaches are
  chalked up to individual character flaws.
• Rules and guidelines become a game to be won or
  lost.
• This is a new environment that calls for new
  rules the old rules no longer apply.
• Ethics becomes the purview of the lawyers instead
  of the leaders.
• Mission/resource mismatch.
• Its all about the rules (minimalist approach)
  and not about the values (inspirational approach).

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Charting the ethical slide-Red Flags

• Principled positions are not celebrated.
• There is no one who will listen when an ethical
  dilemma or transgression is pointed out
  whistleblowers are destroyed.
• Values are simply posters and bumper stickers
  Do the right thing.
• The results are all that is important and there
  is no discussion about how the results are
  achieved Just get it done.
• There are conflicts between espoused values and
  enacted values.

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Ripped from the Headlines
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The Bathsheba Syndrome

• Ethical violations are the by-product of success.
• Successful people become complacent and lose
  focus.
• They have privileged access to information,
  people or resources.
• They have an inflated belief in their personal
  ability to manipulate outcomes.
• Temptation comes with success and privilege.

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The Character Project

• Calls for self-mastery and habituation to the
  higher good. Traits and virtues. (Aristotle).
• Unethical behavior is the result of weakness,
  pathology, undeveloped character, or lack of
  moral fiber.
• We see this in character development programs
  (indoctrination, exhortation, values).
• Prominent in leader development and legalistic
  approaches.
• Locus of control sits with the individual moral
  agent.
• A world of good apples and bad apples.

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Issues

• We just arent very good at influencing
  character.
• Mostly based on armchair theorizing.
• People are remarkably inconsistent in their
  character and personality traits good today, bad
  tomorrow, or good in one context and bad in
  another.
• Situation and context influence human behavior
  much more than we think.

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Its Not About Character
all
Stanford Prison Experiment Obedience to
Authority Experiments The Helium Stick Eyes on
the cup experiment
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• Dan Ariely- Just How Moral Are We?

Start at 418 Stop at 1310
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Golden Nuggets

• The profession of arms is one of significant
  moral hazard.
• Leadership is a key variable in promoting unit
  climate.
• Bad stuff happens. The question is, just how fast
  will you hear about it and have an opportunity to
  intervene.
• Peer behavior has a powerful influence on ethical
  behavior.
• Our conduct is influenced by subtle psychological
  and social cues.
• We cannot rely on character.
• We can and should prepare leaders for temptations
  inherent with power and authority.

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Keep in touch

• George E. Reed, Ph.D.
• 619-940-4102
• george.reed_at_sandiego.edu
• george.reed_at_us.army.mil

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Discussion Questions

• What can we do to ensure that we will hear from
  those who have moral misgivings about whats
  going on in their unit?
• What can we do to encourage the expression of
  alternative views, doubts, and loyal dissent?
• What techniques and tips can you recommend to
  ensure that your colleagues are working in a
  manner consistent with Army values.
• What can we do to encourage collaboration and
  flow of information across organizational
  boundaries?