Joseph Badaracco
Harvard Business School professor and expert in business ethics (pictured right).
Key books
Defining Moments
(1997)
Defining moments are two possible “right-versus-right” decisions:
- doing one right thing stops you doing something else that’s right.
- doing right involves doing wrong.
These defining moments lead to “dirty hands”
problems which are conflicts between:
- the values demanded by managers, customers and shareholders.
The solutions are:
1.Sleep-test ethics
Deciding a decision’s morality by how well you sleep after it.
2. Character
Character building from:
- being true to your values and responsibilities.
3. Intuition
Wise intuition comes from good character.
4. Wiggle room
Interpreting your morals flexibly to balance the tensions between your personal conscience and work.
Key quote on business
ethics
Become who you are
Leadership and the Quest for Integrity
(1989)
Leaders must:
- practise values (like integrity, honesty, fairness and courage/determination to do what's right)
- inspire employees to do the same.
This is values-driven
leadership and creates a philosophy that enables leaders
to be successful in their other key roles:
1. Political
leadership
Getting results from others
2. Directive
leadership.
Achieving the organization’s objectives and strategy.
To motivate people and avoid cynicism, the organization must have the same values and aims as each individual
employee.
Key quote on business
ethics
The ideal organization... is ethical and inspiring.
The power of executive leadership rests not so much on the personality of the individual as on the power of the
ideas, purposes and values he or she represents.
Leading Quietly
(2002)
Quiet leaders are best who aren’t heroes but act with quiet effectiveness.
They have three virtues:
- restraint (self-discipline).
- modesty (about who they are and how much they
can do).
- tenacity (whilst being “flexible, highly pragmatic and often opportunistic”).
Key quote on
leadership
The most effective leaders... do what is right – for their organizations, for the people around them, and for
themselves – inconspicuously and without casualties.
|