Leadership and Morality are inseparable!

Leaders are involved in one of the most morally significant callings on earth, and nothing the leader touches, is without moral meaning and importance. Our minds are constantly in a moral mode of thinking and reasoning. Our consciences demand attention, and we are continually observing others around us, for moral signals.

Laws and commandments are not enough, leaders require the possession and cultivation of certain moral virtues that allow leadership to happen. If the leader does not demonstrate these essential virtues, disaster is certain. Leaders are subject to the same laws, moral principles, and expectations as the rest of humanity, but the moral risks are far higher for them.

Truth telling is essential to leadership. One of the greatest temptations that comes to any leader, is the temptation to tell something less than the truth. Leaders know that telling the truth can be costly, and for that matter, downright awkward. Nevertheless, not telling the truth, is a certain recipe for calamity and embarrassment. Leaders must be ready to tell the truth at all times, even when it hurts. If followers find out that a leader is not trustworthy, the leadership is undermined, and often fatally.

Then the issue of loyalty. Without loyalty, human endeavours are doomed, and it remains essential. Loyalty starts with the fidelity to conviction, and the mission of the organisation. The movements that make history, are those that breed loyalty, and leaders who want to see that kind of loyalty, must first demonstrate it themselves. Do your followers see you living with less commitment to the mission, than you are asking them to have, if so, you can forget their loyalty? Loyalty grows where it is cultivated and admired.

Determination. You cannot lead without tenacity, and unconditional commitment to getting the job done. Followers, draw strength from the leader’s determination. Slogans, strategic plans, and flow charts cannot deliver determination, only a leader can. Tenacity of purpose, is what defines great leadership, and the greater the purpose, the greater the tenacity required.

Humility. Leaders will be humble … or they will be humbled. Humility does not mean that everyone has the same gifts, or the same level of giftedness. It also does not mean that everyone makes the same contribution to the mission, or that leaders are not invested with a unique level of authority and accountability.
Leaders have unique abilities, but they received those talents, and the ability to develop, the good and welfare of others.

Humour. Humour, is the virtue of allowing people, to see your humanity, and your comfort in being fully human, quirks and all, and that in itself is a virtue.

All these things comprise the moral virtues of a leader