An Introduction to the Virtues of Ethical Leadership Part 9 – Putting the Pieces Together

Putting the Pieces Together
by Chad Weinstein

This is the 9th and final part in a series on The Virtues of Ethical Leadership.  Find links to earlier parts here.  https://ethinact.com/blog-post-series/

We have just described the virtues and their features individually, which we hope serves as a starting point for developing a deeper understanding of each trait.  Every virtue contributes to effective leadership, and every feature represents an observable, concrete aspect of a virtue.  The real power of the Virtues of Ethical Leadership, however, is found in the way they work together to drive effective actions.

We have described the optimal expression of a virtue as moderate, which might be considered a means between extremes.  We have considered conditions where they were expressed inadequately, and where they were expressed excessively.  Another way to look at the moderate expression of a virtue, is to consider how it is expressed in concert with other virtues.

Very often, the excessive expression of one virtue happens because of an inadequate expression of other virtues.  Suppose that Larry, a newly appointed district manager of a chain of restaurants, become single-mindedly focused on changing the way his store managers report their nightly results.  His team members – the store managers, and his fellow district managers – observe that the current process is both effective and efficient, and they conclude that Larry’s proposed changes seem to be differences without real improvements.  This may be understood as Larry expressing an excessive level of Creativity, with a misplaced desire to change something that would not benefit from the changes.  If that is so, Larry would also be wise to consider whether he might also be expressing an inadequate level of Clarity, Competence, or both.  Perhaps if he understood the current processes better, his zeal to change them might diminish accordingly.  When we recognize that one Virtue has become dominant, it is a good time to consider what other Virtues should be guiding us more strongly.

The same can be said when we recognize that a Virtue is under-expressed.  To follow the same example, if there really would be a benefit in changing the way results are reported, and Larry’s team members do not recognize it, it may be that Creativity is under-expressed among those team members.  At the same time, it may be that they could bring other Virtues – Competence or Creativity, or even Courage – to bear to change the situation.  When we see a shortage or excess of one virtue, we ought to reflect on how we are being guided by others, as well.

Understood in this way, the combined set of Virtues becomes a quick, simple process for problem-solving:

• What challenge(s) am I facing here?
• Are my thoughts about these challenges less than clear and helpful? How?
• Are my actions less than optimal? How?
• Might I be making things worse? How?
• What virtues are currently showing up in my actions and thoughts?
• What virtues could be missing from the situation?
• How do these insights influence my thoughts and actions here?

This framework only works when we consider the Virtues as an integrated set.

Using the Virtues to Understand Other Leadership Traits

The Virtues of Ethical Leadership do not include some leadership traits which appear as central features of other excellent approaches to leadership development.  Humility and compassion, for example, are important leadership traits that are not explicitly named among the Virtues or Ethical Leadership.  Please be assured: this is not because we discount their importance.  Rather, in building our model based on our study and work with leaders, we believe that Virtues of Ethical Leadership include the substance from which those traits arise, and that our model provides a useful framework for understanding and developing those traits, as well.  A look at humility and compassion in terms of their underlying virtues also provides additional insight into how the virtues interact to enable effective leadership.

Humility
Humility is a critical quality of effective, ethical leaders.  What we mean by humility here is a deeply internalized, realistic sense of one’s place in the world:  that we are not larger or more important than others, and neither are we smaller or less important.  The humble leader does not automatically consider herself to be the smartest person in any room she occupies; she does not act in ways that aggrandize herself.  She does not make her leadership primarily about her.  By the same token, humility is not meekness, so the humble leader assumes a central role when appropriate and takes decisive action when it is called for.  She steps up not for her own purposes, but for the shared purposes of those whom she leads.

As we will see in the next section, humility also promotes leadership development.  We must be able to accept our own limitations in order to grow.  We must embrace our own fallibility so that we can learn from our mistakes.  These capacities are aspects of humility.

In Good to Great and in his subsequent works, Jim Collins provides an excellent account of humility in his concept of the “Level 5 Leadership,” a quality that he found among the CEOs of great companies.  He observed that these leaders were not timid, in fact, that they were driven and assertive.  At the same time, he also noted that the focus of their drive was not on their own achievement, but on that of their teams.

To exhibit humility of this sort, a leader must have the Clarity to understand their complex role, and the Competence to use it to empower others.  The Virtue of Service calls on this leader to focus on goals that are not self-serving, and to seek deep understanding about the perspectives and situations of those around them.  Understood in this way, humility becomes a consequence and a sign of leadership virtues working in harmony to guide outstanding leaders.

Compassion

Compassion is our concern for others: their circumstances, their conditions, their well-being, or their emotions.  It is a critical disposition for leaders, because it enables us to connect with those around us.  Demonstrating compassion inevitably builds trust, as people understand that we genuinely care about them and their situation. Compassion can also temper our harsher judgements of others, or at least lead us to pause before we act on those judgements.

As a scholar and the principle translator of the Dalai Lama’s work into English, Thupten Jinpa describes compassion in terms of three components:

• Cognitive: “I understand you.”
• Affective: “I feel for you.”
• Motivational: “I want to help you.”

The power of compassion for leaders should be obvious: we are much more likely to trust and follow those who care about us, especially in these ways.  As one nursing assistant put it, “The managers I like working for show that they care about me as a person, not just as a resource.”

Cultivating compassion as a leader begins with the Virtue of Service, especially empathy, which frankly mirrors Jinpa’s cognitive and/or affective components.  We say “and/or” here, because sometimes our empathy is primarily cognitive, and at other times it is more grounded in emotions.  Different circumstances may call for different expressions of this feature of Service.  Compassion also touches on Clarity, especially the feature of Morality: do our words and actions express our respect for the humanity of others?  Do we care about others, and do our actions reflect that concern?

Finally, even when we are unable (or unwilling) to access compassion, we can still demonstrate patience and respect.  There are times when we are guided by justice, which calls us to respect the dignity of others, even when we are not emotionally moved to care about their feelings.  Compassion is an important capacity is a leader, which can be expressed in terms of multiple virtues, as we have shown.  Even when we struggle to experience compassion, we can still act honorably and lead effectively.

Make the Model Your Own

We have chosen two examples of important leadership qualities that are explained by the Virtues of Ethical Leadership, but not included explicitly within that model.  There are many other leadership qualities that can make us more effective at bringing out the best in others.  We believe that the Virtues of Ethical Leadership encompass an essential set of such qualities.  However, we also believe that each individual leader must develop their own priorities for character development.  Thoughtful leaders can, and should, adapt the model as they see fit.  As such, you should set the priorities for your own virtue development.  You should also feel free to add virtues or features to your own practice of leadership, and to align them with the ELA Virtues of Ethical Leadership.

Let us consider how other qualities can be developed alongside the Virtues of Ethical Leadership.  If you regard compassion as a critical leadership trait, then you may choose to frame that trait as a virtue, and to pursue it directly, as follows:

• Consider the ability (skill) and desire (will) components of compassion. Write your own definition or adopt one that you believe to be correct.
• Identify what a moderate expression of compassion looks like to you and contrast it with excessive and insufficient expressions.
• Consider how compassion relates to other virtues. For example, what Competencies are required to act from compassion, and what happens when compassion is expressed in the absence of Courage?

This exercise may also help you to internalize how focusing on virtues can both guide our actions and strengthen our character over time.

As this approach demonstrates, the Virtues of Ethical Leadership model is flexible and adaptable; at the most basic level, it provides a framework for understanding our experiences and gaining insight into our character, for the purpose of strengthening that character – and our capacity for ethical leadership – over time.

In this section we presented a detailed discussion of the entire model: all 5 virtues and their 15 features.  We showed how the virtues work together, and how other key leadership traits can be understood in terms of the Virtues of Ethical Leadership.  In the next and final section of this Guide, we will provide you with a toolkit for developing those virtues: immediately and over a lifetime; alone and in relationships with friends, mentors, and teammates; and in ways large and small.

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