Clinton Chisholm | Ethical leadership: definition and defence

Custos of St James, Bishop Conrad Pitkin, at his installation ceremony on Thursday issued a call for an ethics campaign, and according to The Gleaner, said, "I pledge that in this office, I will work hand in hand with you to continue instilling strong moral values and attitudes in our children and youth for them to be better-prepared citizens."

This call from the custos triggered my thoughts on the widespread need for ethical leadership, which goes beyond ordinary leadership.

If a leader is basically "a person who influences people to accomplish a purpose", leadership is basically the art of influencing people to accomplish a purpose. Critical then to the basic effectiveness of a leader or the cultivation of basic skills in the art of leadership would be qualitative development on the leader's part on three dimensions: the person dimension, the people dimension and the purpose dimension.

END AND MEANS OF LEADERSHIP

It should be clear that by this basic and traditional approach to leadership, there is nothing clearly stated or even implied about the nature of the end in view. Similarly, there is nothing clearly stated or even implied about the nature of the means that will be employed to achieve the end in view.

Based on this approach Adolf Hitler and Mother Teresa were equally deserving of compliments as successful and effective leaders, even though their purposes and means were radically different.

My working definition of ethical leadership then is "the net result of the power of a life lived consistently on high ethical principles impacting positively on other lives and influencing them to accomplish a wholesome purpose".

The awful reality is that unless leaders in the private and public sectors reflect a commitment in principle and in practice to wholesome, abiding principles, a society pays a high ethical price - trust will be killed or gravely wounded by cynicism and scepticism, corruption will become almost endemic, and national development will be delayed.

Character is like the stuff that goes into the building of a solid reinforced concrete wall. It is being good in essence (Gk. agathos). Image is like the attractive veneer of wood carefully painted to look like a concrete wall. It is simply 'looking good' (Gk. kalos). Ethical leaders are more concerned about character than image!!

When character takes priority over image, it fosters certain crucial leadership characteristics like:

COMMITMENT: openness to taking on and completing tasks agreed on as necessary for individual or group development.

PERSISTENCE: the ability to overcome obstacles while pursuing noble goals.

SELF-MASTERY: marked by a degree of discipline and self-control.

Wholesome character in leadership is absolutely fundamental. The fruit called public leadership and the fruit called private life spring from the same root - character.

"... Character in leaders is important for two key reasons. Externally, character provides the point of trust that links leaders with followers. Internally, character is the part-gyroscope, part-brake that provides the leader's deepest source of bearings and strongest source of restraint. In many instances, the first prompting to do good and the last barrier against doing wrong are the samecharacter." (Guinness, op. cit., p. 26)

It is not an exaggeration to say that the wellspring of ethical leadership is character with integrity as the initial evidence of character's presence. Nor is it an exaggeration to say that the malaise now afflicting and affecting Jamaican leaders in all spheres of the society is the other AIDS virus - acquired integrity deficiency syndrome.

Integrity deficiency is itself an indication of the need for transformation at the level of character.

We can only hope Bishop Pitkin's call will be heeded.

- The Rev Clinton Chisholm is academic dean at the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and clintchis@yahoo.com.