The Question of Moral Leadership

I’ve had a few questions come to me over the past few days about the nature of leadership.  Mostly from friends, these questions have caught me a bit off guard and called me to reflect on my leadership practice as well as the practice of those around me.

Through my thoughts, I’ve come to a deep realization of the necessity for leaders to be patient, clear, reflective and forward thinking.  More importantly, I’ve come to a realization that all of these characteristics are directly correlated to the morals of the leader who employs them.

Leadership in itself, in many ways, is an innate quality.  Some people simply have the x-factor that provides for them a distinct edge when it comes to being a good leader. Whereas some people have to work their entire life to create this x-factor within themselves.  This being said, the mark of the true leader, regardless of the innate x-factor, is their ability to remain true to their morals despite the agenda that may be set before them.  Their ability to reflect deeply on these morals and keep them at the fore of their decisions.

For some reason, I’ve gotten myself into a few jobs over the last 12-ish years that have me questioning leadership to its very core.  Few leaders I have met have managed to remain true to their morals in moments of adversity, challenge, planning and change.  Most have succumbed to the temptations of leadership ineptitude and have let the better part of this ineptitude complicate their decisions to no foreseeable end.  

This has left their followers (mainly me in this case) scrambling to tap into the moral strata that bought them into the leader’s plan in the first place.  Scrambling to remain committed to their own values while upholding those of the organization they love and care for.  Scrambling to compromise their own values for the sake keeping a semblance of peace with their leader.

But the real tragedy lies not so much in the betrayal of the followers of the leader, but the betrayal of the organization itself along with its constituents.  And herein lies the most challenging part of leadership: the accountability.

An easy path for a leader is that which lacks accountability, and too frequently, this is the path taken.  But inherently this path brings into question the leader’s morals, effectiveness, and their status as a leader.  At its heart, this lack of accountability to accountability speaks to the fundamental moral integrity of the leader.  It speaks to the leader’s motivation and his/her vision for the future.

Developing this moral fortitude is not for the light of heart and thus making leadership not for the light of heart.  This must be something that leaders consider before entering upon their respected profession…

For me, the path to discover the scope and sequence of my own moral leadership has been (luckily) less-than-arduous. It has been through the guided steps of terrific mentors, consistent reflection of my own and a continually-sufficient number of morality hours that i have even come close to remotely discovering anything of a moral strand in the fiber of my psyche.  

I have no claim to actual moral leadership.  These likes are reserved for those in the ranks of the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela.  Not myself.  I do not even shake a finger at true moral leaders.  I only hope to work to hone my own doctrine along the way.

The trick of this situation is that no matter how many people try to create some sort of manual or college course or guide-book or speaking series, there is no true way ‘teach’ moral leadership.  it is simply a path that must be facilitate by as many different capable mentors as possible…

then and only then can i or anyone hope to be a promising leader…