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ADAPTIVE, ETHICAL, AND
EMOTIONALLY AND SOCIALLY INTELLIGENT LEADERSHIP ADVISING FOR INDIVIDUALS & TEAMS
Wise and Effective Leadership draws from an interdependent and synergistic collection of leadership styles, disciplines, mindsets and skillsets that help guide you in making informed choices and taking appropriate actions to skillfully navigate, adapt, motivate, and inspire with resiliency, courage, and unbreakable integrity regardless of the circumstances.
Organizations that celebrate a culture of continuous learning and growth, and invests in transferable and sustainable “Soft”/Human practical employee knowledge and skills-building demonstrates they value their precious Human Resources. When that value is coupled with a culture of respect, ethical conduct, and integrity, the organization earns the reputation of being a great place to work where every employee, regardless of their position, naturally loves to come to work each day, and brings their best to every task, situation, interaction, and challenge.
I consider everyone a leader regardless of their position in a company, and who has the ability to learn and refine specific leadership skills, approaches, and styles and determine which is the most appropriate for whatever comes their way. We all lead by whatever example we extend in every sphere of influence we have, personally and professionally. The first questions I ask in all my Leadership and Advising work are: What example are you leading by now? and What kind of leader do you want to be? Then the actual adventure, work, and fun of learning begins.
Making honest assessments and taking complete ownership for the impact your organization has upon the People you work with and the products and services you offer to the public, the Planet we inhabit, and your overall Purpose (beyond Profit) through a wide ripple effect improves the odds you won't justify, excuse, or deny thoughts, choices, actions and behaviors that contribute to unethical decisions and practices and a toxic workplace culture.
However, a highly-competitive attitude can quickly make you vulnerable to making compromises in integrity in order to "win." Your ego trips you up on a regular basis by offering a bunch of "great sounding" excuses and justifications to not do the right thing- especially when you think you can "get away with it." A "what's it for us" inward-only focused mindset doesn't want to look at shadow behaviors, or unproductive and even harmful (to self and others) habits and patterns.
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To be totally blunt, this isn't very wise when it comes to the Big Picture.
​Since we live in a more secular world today – especially at work - leaders and managers experience organizational ethical conflicts and dilemmas more than ever before, but often struggle with how to address them in a way that won't offend anyone's particular belief system or religion so much that doing and saying nothing at all is often the default response. Coaches, trainers and consultants may skirt bringing to light any dark behavioral issues in an organization's overall culture, in an individual's behavior or within leadership norms because they don't want to open up a can of worms. Instead, everyone dances around elephants in mid-room and naked emperors in charge. Intimidation and outright fear of speaking up is understandable when psychological safety is not guaranteed, yet when issues exist with individuals in power within a family, social, organizational or institutional culture that adversely affects people in multiple ways, not acting due to concerns about repercussions tends to make matters worse. And while an ostrich burying its head in the sand is a myth, people do so metaphorically all the time.
"A culture of ethics and respect is organic – an expression in actions, words, symbols, stories and values that flows through an organization - from the boardroom to the mailroom and back again, and this expression doesn’t just instruct
employees to do the right thing, it encourages them to do so.
The culture empowers their actions; and their actions is what brings the culture to life." - NAVEX Global
Those in formal leadership positions are often challenged to determine what is right or wrong, what they ought to do and not do, and which perspective is most ethically correct and fair when multiple options are in front of them. We continually hear about the high cost that comes when trust is compromised by unethical leaders and even their employees and followers. But when not much happens as a consequence, the result is even greater distrust, rising cynicism and calls for change – even though it is often unclear what changes need to take place – or how to go about them.
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One thing is clear however. All the great-sounding excuses that people give as to why they avoid addressing workplace culture issues simply won't cut it any longer. As the saying goes, you can run but you cannot hide. Current and advancing technology has made it abundantly obvious that what we say and do can be captured on recordings and instantly displayed for the world to see - and now with AI can be manipulated by nefarious actors. Texts, emails, and internet searches are never entirely wiped away. Any past skeletons or behavioral discretions have a higher potential of being exposed than ever before, and more people are speaking up where they once were intimidated by threats and silenced by NDAs. The planet has become a small town, and if you ever lived in one, you're already familiar with having to keep your nose clean because your fellow townspeople know everybody's business and gossip is a form of entertainment.
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With all the calls for transparency, accountability and authenticity, it simply isn't smart to speak and act in ways that are not Ethically Intelligent, regardless of your religious, spiritual or philosophical beliefs, for as we know, those three do not always keep unethical beliefs, choices and decisions at bay, especially when people cherry-pick what they want to adhere to and ignore or distort what they don't like to fit their needs.
The status quo of dysfunctional cultures and leadership - no matter whether if it's at home, school, work, and as global citizens directly impacted by the actions of others isn't something we can ignore and just "hope" gets better all by itself.
Can you - or your organization - afford to have any part of your life be mindless and unconscious – regardless if it is within your personal life, your professional life, within your family and intimate relationships, your social world, within your faith or political beliefs, and how you acknowledge your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs – as well as those of others?
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How are you showing up in any given moment? What about your Team Members? What will be your legacy?
The good news is that just like Emotional and Social Intelligence, Ethical Intelligence can be learned and directly applied in all areas of your life, starting right now. In fact, Ethical Intelligence acts as a system of "checks and balances" to help ensure you don't use the other two to perpetuate a fear-driven, dysfunctional worn-out status quo that enables you to "spin" whatever you think, do and say as acceptable - even when you know in your heart it isn't. When all three are framed within an Adaptive Leadership approach, your toolkit contains interdisciplinary Life Smarts mindsets and skillsets that are proactive and sustainable and brings out the best in everyone isn't merely wishful thinking; it's entirely achievable.
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