Ethical Leadership

Ethical Leadership

Ethical leadership is an ongoing management practice—not just a set of stated values. It involves engaging stakeholders, listening to employees, acting on what is learned, and behaving consistently with what leaders say.

Core Practices

• Engage the broader stakeholder community: Understand stakeholders’ needs and consider how they affect the business and leadership decisions.
• Lead authentically: Practice self-reflection and self-awareness, and communicate transparently and honestly.
• Show empathy, humility, and compassion: Treat these as practical components of ethical leadership.
• Use dialogue rather than command and control: Transactional leadership says, “Do it my way.” Transformational leadership invites employee feedback and communicates openly.
• Walk the talk: Leaders’ and managers’ actions must align with their stated commitments. Contradictory behavior undermines trust and sends mixed messages.
• Stay engaged: Avoiding leadership responsibilities and leaving problems to others is a fundamental failure of ethical leadership. Listening can be difficult, especially when employee requests cannot be met. Leaders should explain constraints and discuss them rather than dismissing concerns.

Example Management Practice

At Magnetrol, the leadership team holds monthly meetings to review business performance and discuss what is going well. The meetings have expanded to include questions such as:

• What can I do to help you achieve your goals?
• What support do you need from me as president?
• What development opportunities are you seeking?

The company is working to extend this approach through its management ranks.

Actionable Takeaway

Build regular, two-way conversations into management routines. Listen to employees’ needs, respond where possible, and be transparent when requests cannot be fulfilled. Ethical leadership takes sustained effort and must be demonstrated through consistent behavior.

Presenter and source: John Heiser, President and COO of Magnetrol, in a discussion hosted by the Notre Dame Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership.