Effective AND Good
I came across this quote by Joanne Ciulla in her book Ethics: The Heart of Leadership and I just love it. It nicely captures a challenging distinction as we judge leaders. We can all think of individuals who were one or the other – what may be less common is people who embody both – can you think of any?
- In order for the statement ‘she is a good leader’ to be true, it must be true that she is effective and that she is ethical. The question of what constitutes a good leader lies at the heart of the public debate on leadership. We want our leaders to be good in both ways. It’s easy to judge if they are effective, but more difficult to judge if they are ethical, because there is some confusion over what factors are relevant to making this kind of assessment.
