It starts with moral failure...

 

 

Morality refers to a generally accepted set of standards by which people associate with each other in society.  These values change over time but remain as guiding principles and expectations by the majority.

Now pause and think back to a time when a leader that you know/knew started to become ineffective.  I am not referring to that individual who was blatantly incompetent but rather to the one whose performance ceased to be worthy of a leader.

I’ll bet that in most instances their decline came at a moment of moral or ethical failure that impacted their ability to perform at the levels that others had come to expect.

There have been some high profile examples that speak to this point. 

Bill Gates was ‘asked’ to step down at Microsoft.  Steve Easterbrook at McDonald’s was fired.  Neither was incompetent at their jobs but both had moral failings that compromised their ability to lead. 

Dennis Muilenburg at Boeing was replaced.  His moral failing was pride that he could lie about the performance of the 737 Max hoping to get away with it.

We see it in the area of government, entertainment and religion as well.  How many politicians have been forced out of office because of moral or ethical failures?  Across a broad range of faiths, leaders have been compromised by moral failings resulting in their removal from office.

How many ‘Harvey Weinstein’s’ are still out there?

We have seen similar events happen with Boy Scouts and now, in Canada, Hockey Canada. 

In most instances the activities have not been illegal.  They have been serious breaches of the standards of behavior or conduct that society has rightly expected.

Some of these leaders thought that they were clever enough that they could fool their constituencies.  Few have proven that assumption to be true.

I don’t know how or when a leader begins to believe that they are above the rest and that the expectations do not apply to them.  In some small way perhaps we are part of the problem because we have tended to elevate leaders in all aspects of society.  And the human condition is simply not built to be worshipped…

Leaders need to keep that oversized mirror of self-awareness front and centre at all times.  Seek activities that breed humility to counter those that daily feed the ego in all of us. 

The old adage that says ‘…pride goes before the fall…’ is one that was crafted from experience, not from a fortune teller.

Lead with integrity and others will follow. Honour the faith and trust invested to you by others.

Maintaining the moral and ethical high ground never was a bad recipe.