Sunday, April 24, 2011

how leaders develop their ethics?

Many people today fail to understand the differences between ethics, morals, values and character. Sometimes, people think all these things all explain the same concept, but have different names. However, this is not the case because all these things are different from each other though they all work together to make an effectively moral and upright leader. While Values is an individual’s beliefs, morals is their perception of right and wrong, Ethics is a universal and globalized rule of right and wrong and character is the individuals personality and identity. A leader without ethics cannot be an effective leader. This type of leader is a toxic leader. Where do leaders attain their ethics from? How do their affect their decisions as a leader.
                A leader can develop ethics from numerous sources but I believe the top three sources of a leader’s ethics are: their family, their environment, and Religion. A person’s family has an immense impact on their lives from birth till adulthood. As we grow from a young age, we learn the things that our parents do, what they say, and how they act. On a more personal perspective, there are some ethics and values that I still maintain and that I got from my family. An example of one of these ethics is the fact that I grew up with the notion that I could never call an older person without using a title of respective in front of it; also that I could never call an older person by their first or maiden name. I also learned the value that a woman was virtuous and honorable and there were certain behaviors that a woman wasn’t supposed to possess.  These value and ethic I learned from my family has taught me to show respect and be a respectable individual and this would help to become a better leader. It will teach me to respect towards all and this is an important leadership quality.
                Also, most individuals learn their ethics and values from their environment and who they surround themselves with. We all grow up and learn that stealing is wrong and there are legal precautions for it. We also learn that there are certain actions and things that aren’t acceptable in society and there are certain punishments for each of these “illegal action”. These are all things that we gather from the media and from society that help us to become moral and upright citizens and it impacts our judgments and behaviors as leaders.
                 An important ethic and value shaper is the religious systems. Our different religious systems control out outlook and behavioral patterns in society and as leaders. We grow learning from our pastors and the bible’s directions. Our religious faith is what controls our life priorities; many Christians like me put God and the church as our first priority because we learn that “God is a jealous God”. An example of how my religious system impacted my ethical values in life is the fact that I don’t use profanity because I find it unchristian and against the bibles message. Another example is the Jehovah’s Witness religion that doesn’t celebrate Christmases or birthdays because they are taught that these actions defy the bibles message.

No comments:

Post a Comment