Essential Mindset Traits of a Leader #2

 

Essential Mindset Traits of a Leader #2

 

• NEVER A LOSS, ALWAYS A LESSON!

Life is too short to spoil time by pondering over the things that we fail to accomplish. However, great leaders learn from the mistakes that they had made in the past and make it a lesson from which they learn something worthwhile. When you try something, only two things can happen. Either you succeed or you learn. Failure is never an option as long as you conceive it with right attitude.

Failure is important because it always teaches you a lesson. Therefore, it is said that success is a lousy teacher. Failure is more about analyzing your performance as a leader in our organization and to see what went wrong. Failure is about learning from mistakes.

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is one of the riches women in the world with a net worth of about $1 billion. But before publishing her first book, she experienced personal failure on an epic scale. Her manuscript was rejected by 12 publishing houses. However, it didn’t stopped her and she learned from failure and published her book.

In her inspiring 2008 speech, she spoke about the benefits of failure. She said, “ It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way.”

True leaders never get disappointed by failure because they know that failure always brings a lesson with it from which they learn and grow themselves.

 

LEADERS PERCEIVE DIFFERENTLY

 

A good leader always knows the importance of having a perception other than just what the situation might seem. Most of the times, many leaders have a misconception that other people in the job are their competition. However, sometimes the competition comes from a completely different area of life. A leader must perceive the competition not just from their viewpoint but from the opponent’s perception as well. To put this into perspective, let’s consider the case of Remington Typewriters:

 

The first commercial typewriters were introduced in 1874 and became common in offices after mid-1880s. And the very famous Remington typewriter quickly became an indispensable tool for practically all writing. It was widely used by professional writers, in offices, and in business. However, Remington typewriters always thought that Brothers typewriter was their competition. But they never saw the advent of the personal computers and never adjusted themselves to it which led to the fall of typewriters.

 

This example clearly shows us that a leader should not confuse ‘competitor intelligence’ with ‘competitive intelligence.’ They need to be aware of the needs of the people rather than focusing too much on their competitor. Because it gives them a new perspective to the same situations. They must learn to look at the game from opponent’s perspective !

 

THEY KNOW WHAT RISK IS

 

One of the biggest challenge for a leader of the millennium generation is the Risk Management. Well, what is risk for you? Risk for me is when you don’t know what you are doing or doing it because of strain usually by the people or their expectations of you. It is necessary for a leader to take risk in there are of expertise or should they play safe by avoiding the risk factor whenever possible?

What could be best to describe misconceptions about risk other than looking at the investment world?

Billionaire American Investor, business tycoon, and philanthropist Warren Edward Buffet answers it the best way. He was a sober risk-taker from the beginning of his investment career. He took a risk by buying 7% of the Coca-Cola company shares in 1987 when it was not sailing so smooth opposing to what we see it today. He made many risk investments like in GEICO and American Express. Buffett was simply willing to take risk. He knew that it might be possible to lose his investments but if he had not taken a chance, he wouldn’t have gained all those profits!

Leaders can learn from this example by applying the principles of taking and managing risk. Buffet knew what he was doing and the job that he took in his command. Risk Management is an important factor in the success of any organization and leaders must have an understanding of the perfect timing to take risk rather than doing it any time haphazardly.

It is important for leaders to understand the situation carefully and take calculated risks accordingly keeping in mind the needs of the market or their industry. If you don’t take risk in your management, you might be deprived of the advantage that you can have over your competitor and the milestones that you could accomplish. The key is to identify whether the risk is acceptable or not. So leaders, don’t shy away from taking risk simply because of risk.

 

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Essential Mindset Traits of a Leader

 

Essential Mindset Traits of a Leader!

Leaders are the foundation of any sustainable organization and the strength of the company depends on them. It is therefore, important for leaders to maintain their level of thinking and align it in the direction where they need their organization to follow through. Here are some of the qualities of a great leader:

THINK BIG!

As a Man Thinketh, So is he.

James Allen, the author of “ As a Man Thinketh” explains the importance of thinking big to achieve success. He explains that you are only going to become what you think about yourself all day long! That means it is your responsibility as a leader to inculcate a positive thinking attitude in yourself and your team.

In a 2013 TED Talk, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk revealed his secret source to achieving extraordinary achievements. He reduced all things down to thoughts. He explained that he failed many times earlier in his career but never allowed the circumstances to overpower his thoughts and dreams. And now, he has a number of impressive accomplishments under his belt.

Rather than playing a ‘wait and see’ game and never getting anything done, they follow through on their ideas and thoughts and make them reality no matter how big their dreams or thinking is. To be a successful leader you need to sell yourself and your team, believe you can succeed and you will. If you think that you will fail even before you start, well you probably will! Most leaders hold themselves back not because of what they think they are, but because of what they think they are not and cannot become. Leaders must know the importance of thinking big and applying it in their lives.

So make sure that you think right. Think bigger, better and Bolder!

OPEN-MINDEDNESS

Change the way you perceive

Leaders with an open-mind have been time-tested to benefit their organizations than those with a fixed mindset. An open-mind is not only important for a leader in an organization but also for every individual they lead. An open-minded leader never stops growing.

Always learning: Great leaders are life-long learners. They are always committed to improve themselves. They never set a standard for their growth or their organization.

Consider the example of Bill Gates. When asked about the secret of success in one of his interviews, he simply said, “ I read 50 books a year”. He told that it’s important to keep learning all the time even after you succeed. A leader must be a reader and maintain a learning attitude towards everything life. This reminds us that  even though we do great work, there is always an opportunity for improvement.

Perception: An open-minded leader looks at things differently from others. While others are frustrated when faced with a  difficult circumstance in their life  or their organization, an open-minded leader is busy figuring out the solution to that problem. They have different attitude towards their life and with this attitude, they create a good work-ethic in their company.

An open-mindset for a leader is necessary for their improvement and for the people they lead and ultimately their organization. Difficulties in life can only be converted into opportunities to do great things with an OPEN-MIND!

 

WINNERS FAIL FORWARD!

Much of today’s management literature fosters warm feelings and unimportant results. It has good intentions but it leads to sterile outcomes. Though the age-old natural human impulse is to recoil from failure, it is important for leaders to understand failure and use it effectively to achieve success. Perception of failure must be changed in order to manage failure effectively.

Perception of failure: Often, failure is seen as end of the road to our destiny. Failure is therefore, perceived as something to be avoided and not to be managed. Failure must only be seen as an interruption or a detour to your success. It should never be considered as a permanent problem. Failure provides the opportunity to the leaders to analyze their shortcomings and learn from their mistakes that they have made in the past.

Colonel Sanders was in his late 60s when he founded the Kentucky Fried Chicken(KFC). He suffered many failures and misfortunes. He tried to franchise his restaurant. His recipe was rejected 1,009 times before anyone accepted it. But he saw failure as just an interruption, never gave in and finally expanded his franchise internationally! He learned from his failures and used that wisdom to succeed. Leaders must learn from this example of Colonel Sanders and make it a testimony in their life.

It is not important how great you fail, but what matter is how you comeback after that failure. Winners will fail over and over again until they succeed!

 

 

 

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The Kaizen Way!

 

The Kaizen Way!

The Kaizen Way

Are you a Kaizen believer? Kaizen is a Japanese concept which means “change for the better” or continuous improvement”. It first started as a business philosophy but seemingly, it could be executed in almost any other area of life with the exact precision. This means continuous improvement in your preferred or areas of competence regardless of the odds against you.

It’s better sometimes to change the things if they don’t work appropriately or as per your requirements and keep on making the process better and more efficient. Toyota has even established the ‘Kaizen Way” as one of their principles to become better with each passing year. Many athletes & their coaches use this concept and produce astonishing results. So, how does it work? Let’s dive into it further:

The Kaizen Way

This is akin to 80/20 rule in some way. The improvements at the beginning may appear to be small but the results after a long or tedious process are mouth-watering. One of the reasons why most people don’t get to their goals is primarily because they want the end result but don’t feel it necessary to go through the required and necessary process. But the predicament is that you cannot achieve big results without small & continuous improvement every single day for these small & sustainable improvements add up to the BIG CHANGE!

The Kaizen Way

The Compound Effect is another idea that has the potential to manifest the real YOU if understood and then applied in the right context and set of circumstances. An Ukrainian pole vaulter, Sergey Bubka who first broke the world record in 1984 is famous for breaking his own world record 35 times- each time breaking his own previous record. And in less than 2 years, he improved his own previous mark—an astonishing 14 times! His final record remained unbroken for almost 20 years. I am sure you will be able to relate this anecdote to Kaizen and the compound effect. You can have a huge advantage over almost every body else if you could just keep learning everyday for the rest of your life which adds up to your skill sets or knowledge.

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Leadership in changing Global Environment

LEADERSHIP IN CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

Leadership in changing Global Environment

Even in the age of globalization and the internet, brand adaptation to foreign markets can be a tricky business. There may be less geographical distance in business terms, but cultural and linguistic distances still may remain. The differences in cultures in another community may sometimes prove to be an obstacle for leaders who aspire to expand their business Empire. But a true leader is the one who understands these differences and prevents them from hindering their growth in the business. Understanding the cultural diversity in another community allows a leader to think on the requirements of that particular community.

There are both positive and negative implications to these diversifications. The positive side is that if you understand the true nature of your targeted audience as a business leader, you have the opportunity to manage & grow your services because its not alienated to you. But the worst scenario is when you fail to adapt yourself to the changing environment.

 

Leadership in changing Global Environment

IMPLICATIONS OF LEADING WITHIN A CHANGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

 

You may have heard the Darwinian saying “Survival of the fittest”. It does not only apply in terms of evolution but also in leadership. A leader must know, understand and have the wisdom about the need to adapt to the continuous changing environment of diversity. If you just limit your thinking to a specific group of people then  you will only be confined to that smaller section.

Adapting in a different business environment also require you to apply proper strategies such as effective communication, motivating the team for team work and cooperation. It has been found that by adapting to a changing business environment, it is possible to cooperate between team members allowing greater responsibility and responsiveness in meeting the needs of the people & providing profit to the company ( Henrich & Betts, 2003). Leading your team in a changing business environment requires you to meditate about the proper implementation of the organization’s resources to succeed in managing different aspects of change.

Adapting to the changing business environment not only secures your present entity but also gives you a competitive edge in the future. The need to e adaptive isn’t new. Businesses have always faced challenges from competition and vicissitudes of the market. But the new thing in the contemporary market is the speed and flexibility with which the companies must respond to the change to secure their vision.

 

Leadership in changing Global Environment

TEAM LEADERSHIP MODEL AND HOW IT RELATES TO THE CURRENT BUSINESS PRACTICE

 

Team Leadership Model is an example that could be applied to such business transitions by keeping in accordance with the needs of the organizations and the individuals. Managing the levels of stress, building relationships, effective communication and crisis management comes under this leadership business model. The team leadership model is similar to the current business practices because it inculcates the exact level of thought leadership and mindset for growth and development of the organization.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of the leaders of each team to manage and coordinate the resources keeping in mind the purpose of the organization and by collaborating with one another. Rather than focusing their attention too much on the differences, they should work more on their common goals to establish a positive working climate.

OUTLINE OF POSITIVE ASPECTS OF GENDER, DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND TEAMWORK ON OVERALL BUSINESS PERFORMANCE.

Leadership in changing Global Environment

 

The barrier of diversity and differences can only be overcome when proper strategies are implemented. It is important for leaders to embrace and respect the individual identity of team members. It has been shown that by honest appreciation of the work that your team members do, they are more likely to like you, work with the company and put their genuine effort to advance the organization with teamwork (Carneige, 1936). Take into consideration the positive aspects of gender diversity, culture and teamwork that can improve overall business performance. By recognizing the positive aspects of diversity, it can help you to improve performance through collaborative work of team members and provide a learning opportunity for yourself ( Zaccoroet al., 2001, Heinrich & Betts, 2003).

APPLICATION OF MOTIVATIONAL LEADERSHIP WITHIN A DIVERSE CULTURE

 

True Leadership is all about influence. It is therefore, the responsibility of the leader to keep the team motivated by leading from the front. By leading by example, leaders can win the trust of their employees and influence their team members to do greater works even in a diversified culture. A leadership position is usually given to people because they have Leadership Potential ( Maxwell, 2011). And realization of this potential is what helps leaders to motivate their team to be united even in a diverse business culture.

 

                                                 

 

     REFERENCES:

• 1.   Henrich & Betts, Adapt or Die: Transforming your supply chain into an adaptive business Network, Pub. 2003

• 2.  Dale Carneige, How to win friends and influence people, Pub. 1936

• 3.  John C. Maxwell, The 5 levels of leadership, Pub. 2011, Pg. 71 

 

 

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Authority of Learning & Mentorship

 

The Authority of Learning & Mentorship

Authority of Learning & Mentorship

Mentorship is arguably one of the most important aspect of leadership. Many leadership thoughts, theories & plethora of research even indicates that the greatest act of leadership is mentoring. While it cannot be ignored that you get a lot of opportunities to mentor, coach or help others become better in a position of authority. However, it is also true that you don’t require any position or title to raise or help someone to reach a higher level in some areas of their life.

It’s critically important not only to mentor others but to be open for help when needed and heed it, in yourself. Sir Isaac Newton, is knows for having a poor start at his early age. Despite that, he was a man who assiduously learned from the work of his best predecessors and eventually, many of his work attracted enormous attraction. Once Newton said of his work, “If I have seen a little farther than other men. It is because I stood on the shoulders of giants”. ^[1]

If you could just persevere & keep learning all your life, you would probably end up being one of the very few competent people in the world. And history has proven it time and again. The key is to become a continuous learning machine! The advantage that you get by learning from the work done by the best people before you is just very broad. A wise man learns from the follies of others but a fool wants to experience them all by himself.

Developing the whole student often requires identifying unique needs and helping the mentee recognize when they need mentoring, coaching or advising. While mentoring, coaching or advising are all developmental interactions, their scope, purpose & utility in leadership development are distinct.

The purpose of taking leadership advice is to develop your ability to acquire knowledge, skills and self confidence to become a better leader. Hallmarks of mentoring practice include a dyadic environment, long term dedication by mentor & mentee, regular interactions and both formal & informal investments in personal growth, career development, psychological development as well as leadership empowerment.

Taking leadership advice is a process and not an event or end, thus, mentoring is not designed for short term skill development. However, mentoring relationships could evolve from short term leadership skill programs or organizational experiences. Because mentoring involves investment in personal investment. Additionally mentoring cannot always be confined to scheduled meetings, but requires a willingness to take advice and execute it in the personal & professional life.

•      Accept your need for advice: The very first step and important step in getting mentoring or leadership advice is to accept that you are really in need of advice. Don’t look for what people say, think of feel that you need advice. Ask yourself whether you really need leadership advice or not.

 

Authority of Learning & Mentorship

•           Be responsible for your own learning: Do not set unrealistic expectation from your mentor. Be clear in approach and remember that you are responsible for your own learning. A mentor is just someone who acts as a catalyst to help you identify your potential. You are the only person who have to make sure how much you learn and act on the information provided by the mentor. You can get as much knowledge and understanding from the mentor but as long as you do not apply it in your personal, corporate and professional life, it is worthless. It is you who have to apply the knowledge, understanding and wisdom of the mentor. A mentor can only give you some advice but you are the one who needs to act on that advice. A mentor acts in the best interest of the mentee and a mentee needs to have this realization that whatever the mentor teaches him or her, it is for their benefit and must be seen soberly and conscientiously by them.

 

 

•        Accept your need for advice: The very first step and important step in getting mentoring or leadership advice is to accept that you are really in need of advice. Don’t look for what people say, think of feel that you need advice. Ask yourself whether you really need leadership advice or not.

References:

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[1]	MARIA POPOVA. (2020, December ) brainpickings. [Online]. https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/02/16/newton-standing-on-the-shoulders-of-giants/

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Leadership & Stoicism

 

Leadership & Stoicism

Leadership & Stoicism

Stoicism is probably one of the most eminent discipline of study in philosophical context. And its roots can be found starting from the Greek mythology to Roman empires. Many great minds in the history have argued and tried to give their euphoria to the study of Stoicism. So is Stoicism confined to a contended living or does it teaches us some lessons in leadership context? As contrary to what may appear at the macro level to most of the people, stoicism is not as ubiquitous as it may seem.

The roman emperor Marcus Aurelius  probably holds his place as one of the most earliest people in history who contributed to stoicism and ancient philosophy and mentions it profoundly in his book ‘Meditations’. In fact, stoicism can certainly not only make you a better individual but also a good leader in many aspects of it. Marcus Aurelius being a roman emperor has maintained the reputation for being the ideal & wise leader whom Plato called the “Philosopher King”. His Meditations has provided the necessary and timeless wisdom & presents various ideas that leaders of different generations or cohort can execute. These ideas must be digested & assimilated by a aspiring leader or even leaders at some level in their areas of competence.

Leadership & Stoicism

Stoicism presents a numerous lessons which can be executed by a leader to be more effective. These teachings not only confine to some sober & conscientious people or thinkers. But even a layman with no prior conditioning in philosophy can apply these timeless lessons to be more effective.

·     Expressing Gratitude:

 

 Now you might be wondering, “How the hell will Gratitude help me become a better leader?” Well, if you lead your organization or people but always take them for granted, it is time for you to reflect on those attitudes and follies of the past. Dale Carnegie in ‘How to Win Friends & Influence People’ presents the idea to look at people’s circumstances from their perspective and to talk more about them rather than bragging about yourself or your position, title or past accomplishments. ^[1]

 

•         Change your Interpretations:

 

 I have already probably talked about this aspect in previous posts, but still it is so relevant and vital in life, that it cannot be discarded from being a rigid principle in itself. Life is not necessarily how you interpret it to be. Now, that being said, do not take the above statement literally.

                                                         I meet some people and they constantly keep saying, “Well, you know, this positivity thing doesn’t help. This does not change your position in life at all!” And I agree to their assumption ( yes! Because most of them do not even try) to some extent, but it never implies that you need to have complete dominion or control over tough and turbulent times. It only signifies the truth that you can always correct your perception towards it. And ultimately, there is a complete alteration in your response to the same situation (Isn’t this exciting? )

Leadership & Stoicism

•         Don’t get Influenced with others opinions ( that includes praise or criticism):

The truth about you is more important than other people’s opinion of you. We see it often that a person gets approval and praise when he/she starts influencing some or other areas of life and when they are caught up in a demeaning act or some character flaws, people make life hell for them. And that’s gives a very strong reason why stoics are never bothered or even touched by what people perceive them to be. They are more concerned in doing their business to the point that they do not even use their time in thinking of these frail things.

Leadership & Stoicism

The above mentioned were some of the things which I shared from my learning of stoicism and how it can be put to test in leadership styles to lead yourself into becoming the kind of person you were supposed to be. The rest of the lessons will be shared in the upcoming posts. Share your thoughts on why stoicism proves to be an effective way of living life!

Bibliography

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[1]	Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends & Influence People.: Cornerstone Publishing, 2005.

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A Leader is a Reader

A Leader is a Reader!

A Leader is a Reader 

A great philosopher and a roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero once said, “ A man who does not know what happened before he was born, goes through life like a child’. ^[1] This statement explains some of the most prevalent problems in our society. People are influenced in their areas of life where they are ignorant whether in politics or in religion. When they see ignorance, they immediately seeks to take out advantage of their fellow men. And to prevent it from happening, the best way could not be other than reading.

A Leader is a Reader 

If a person desires to lead in their areas of gifting or talents, that is a noble task to do but it’s not manifested without understanding and wisdom. Unless one gains and assimilate the concepts regarding their areas of competence, they cannot lead from the front. And perhaps we already know it but I want to clarify it again that leadership is not merely about influencing & impacting ‘other’ people.

And yet time and again many people believe that its just about other people and less about themselves. Leading yourself & influencing your actions is again about leadership. And probably the most important criteria of a leader is that he or she is a reader. You cannot lead if you are ignorant in your areas of competence. I don’t understand why some people have this notion of eschewing reading and compare it with age. They say that they are too old to read. And perhaps that’s the reason why they are too old to lead!

A Leader is a Reader 

When you read, you are actually RE-ADDING to your existing knowledge and the result is that you end up being more competitive, arguably smarter and less ignorant. I remember Mark Twain quote which goes like this: “He who does not read is not better than he who cannot read”. And I can’t agree more with him. He is absolutely correct in portraying and even exposing the fact that the modern education system has a defective definition of a literate man. They consider you literate, when you can read and write in a particular language. But Twain is trying to signify some different meaning. How can this be so? Probably this is the time that we need to change the definition of a literate man.

The problem is that if your information is erroneous, you are going to pass it onto others and this chain creates a bunch of asinine people some of which are zealous about their erroneous information. So it’s not just about reading, it’s about deciding what’s the right thing for you to read. When you read, you are going to learn some things which you never really knew existed before. Here are some stats on how much successful people read: Elon Musk used to read for 10 hours when he was young, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates read a book every week. Warren Buffett spends 5-6 hours a day reading, Mark Cuban often reads 3 hours  a day. ^[2]

A Leader is a Reader 

All in all, reading influences in ways we can’t even comprehend. Research proves that reading changes the way humans solve problems, store information, tell stories, interpret the world, and think about themselves. Whether you are an avid reader or whether you never really finished reading a book, the fact remains that reading can empower you in a multitude of ways.

Change in your mindset and beliefs starts with a simple and powerful act. Pick up a book… open it… and start reading… so that you can start growing in ways you never imagined before.

 

Bibliography

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[1]	Marcus Tullius Cicero. (2020, December 19) goodreads. [Online]. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/18978-to-be-ignorant-of-what-occurred-before-you-were-born
[2]	CHRIS WELLER. (2020, December 19) Business Insider. [Online]. https://www.businessinsider.com/what-successful-people-read-2017-7

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Ethical Leadership

 

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

Ethical Leadership

The ethical part of leadership has been sharply questioned particularly by leaders who failed to live by some intact principles & standards. But the question is: Is it helpful to fully manifest your potential as a leader by remaining ethical? Or should you run into the same cat & mouse race as is done by some corrupt and unethical leaders? The answer to the former question is an absolute YES! Because leadership is an act which involves trust of the followers. And in any given scenario, if you violate that basic entity which is the very foundation of a stable relationship between a leader and a follower, you have uprooted yourself from being a transformational leader to merely an authoritative leader.

HOW TO BE ETHICAL?

Ethical Leadership

Followers are motivated by the leaders promises, praise and rewards, or they are corrected by their feedback, reproof or some disciplinary course of action. In other words, there needs to be some authority which generally acts as a lighthouse for others and sets the standard. And that somebody should be the leader himself.

·        Stay Actively Engaged: When leaders engage in active management-by-exception, they monitor followers performance and correct followers mistakes. The number one advantage of staying actively engaged with the followers is that you can monitor their growth and the use of resources.

But when the leaders engage in passive-management-by-exception, they wait passively for followers mistakes to be called to their attention before taking corrective actions with negative feedbacks. And the result is that they end up disconnecting themselves with the followers and the latter’s trust in the former collapses eventually.

·        Focus on being effective not popular: Do you know why most leaders perpetuate against their principles and ethical boundaries? Most of them do it because they focus too much on being a people’s person. And the argument is that if you align yourself away from your ethical standards, you will always be misguided. Why? Because different people will have different opinions about you. They will have different set of beliefs for your accomplishments. And if you indulge yourself in petty popularity, you will end up moving away from your ethical considerations and lose the trust of people you lead.

Ethical Leadership

·        Build a strong character: The key here really is to understand your beliefs and values which you will never compromise even in the advent of adversity. That means, you become a convict of your own convictions. Leadership is a tough business and requires the leader to be morally & ethically stern, so that he do not gets carried away when the tough & turbulent times strike him. Great leaders of the history like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and many others showed an exemplary character which formed the foundation of their leadership abilities. No wonder why vast majority of the people trusted and followed them. They had this unique quality of leading the masses that separated them from the crowd and helped them make a mark on their followers and on the world.

                                           The important thing to note here is that character should never be perplexed with charisma or even reputation. It doesn’t mean that you are acting a moral figure in public but doing immoral stuff in private. If you aspire to be an effective leader, your intent should be to stay envisioned on developing a strong & genuine character.

·        Focus on yourself first and not on others: In Plato’s Philebus dialogue, Socrates argued the point that people look absurd when they try to know obscure things before knowing themselves. The generalized concept is that if you always keep yourself occupied in looking faults or problems faced by other people, you don’t have the time to check whether you are still on the ethical spots or not. Therefore, always keep in touch with yourself and readily make changes when you notice any deviation from your standards.

 

·        Share your values: This is generally one of the best practices that a leader must inculcate in order to stay ethically sound. Although this part comes in the transformational leadership also, but mainly it is based on the idea of creating an environment or culture within the organization where the followers, managers & the leaders have same belief patters & value system.

The core values are an integral part of sustaining and thriving an organization. And that’s the reason why core values must be assimilated by the leaders beginning from day one. And then shared with the followers. As the Roman philosophy goes, “if you can make a large group of people believe in something, you are actually creating a culture’. And if the culture in your organization is based on its core values, there is no better alternative than that. The inputs that you feed into your people, they return it in the form of their performance and help in thriving the organization and sustaining it in times of crisis because of the trust that has been established.

CONCLUSION:

The conclusion is very plain. There are not many complexities in staying ethical if a leader really wishes and desires to do so. Is it worth staying ethical? Yes, we have seen leaders who made a difference just by not compromising on their standards and staying ethical. You can check and maintain your ethical behavior by following these prerequisites:

·        Stay Actively Engaged.

·        Focus on being effective not popular.

·        Build a Strong Character.

·        Focus on yourself first.

·        Share your values.

If you keep in touch with the above points, it will help you to stay ethical and lead in a much better way.

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