Courage & Moral Leadership

Moral Background Issues

• Too easy to focus on bad examples. We know
what they are. Instead:
– Focus on ‘good’ examples.
– Focus on ‘maybe’ examples.
• Why are leaders more highly scrutinized?
• Outcomes associated with lapses:
– Difficult to attract & retain quality people.
– Morale, commitment & performance decrease.
 Moral Background Issues
• “The most dangerous obstacles for leaders are
personal weakness and self-interest rather
than full-scale corruption.” (Daft, 2008, p.165)
• How do we see this play out in sports?
– Exercise?
 Leader Behaviors
• A leader’s behavior shows what s/he values
and that message is then relayed to followers.
• Bad behaviors:
– Preoccupied with yourself.
– Hoard success.
– Hoard status symbols.
– Silence against the masses.
 Compare: Unethical vs. Ethical
Unethical
• Arrogant & Self-serving
• Excessively promotes self-
interest
• Deceptive
• Breaches agreements
• Deals unfairly
• Shifts blame to others
• Diminishes other’s dignity
• Neglects follower
development
• Withholds help & support
• Silence against the masses
Ethical
• Possesses humility
• Maintains concern for greater
good
• Honest & trustworthy
• Fulfills commitments
• Strives for fairness
• Takes responsibility
• Shows respect for individuals
• Encourages & develops
followers
• Serves others
• Stands up for what is right
 Act Like a Moral Leader
• “The single most important factor in ethical
decision making in organizations is whether
leaders show a commitment to ethics in their
talk and especially their behavior” (Daft, 2008,
p. 167)
• Values make the basis for our decisions.
• In sport & exercise level of participants or
competition is paramount.
 Troubles in Sport…
• Open door policies W/O repercussions.
• Establish clear ethic codes.
• Rewarding ethical behavior.
• Zero tolerance for violations.

• 100-0 score…
 Jeffrey Swartz
• Humanity, Humility, Integrity, Excellence.
• 4 Core values of his company
• 40 hours / year paid leave to volunteer.
• Who is on the Bus?
• Some empirical support for companies run on
moral principles success.
– Mom & Pop
– In sport…?
 Becoming a Moral Leader
• Acts, decisions, behaviors are NOT inherently
good or evil, they are neutral.
• Moral leadership:
– Distinguish right from wrong AND doing right.
– Seek the just, honest, good, proper avenue to do
right.
– Uplifts followers to be better than they otherwise
would have been.
• Even when we can’t choose what to do, we can
choose HOW to do it.
3 Levels of Personal Moral Development

Post-conventional:
Follows internalized
universal principles
Conventional: Lives of justice and right.
up to expectations Balances concern for
of others. Fulfills self w/ others and
duties & obligations common good. Acts
of social system. in an independent &
Upholds laws. ethical manner
Pre-conventional: regardless of
Follows rules to expectations of
avoid punishment. others.
Acts in own interest.
Blind obedience.
 Servant Leadership
• Servant leadership broadly defined:
encouraging followers to fully develop their
potential and promote the follower-to-leader
change.

• How do we do this in sport? Exercise?

– Non-compete clauses.
 Changing Leader Focus
Stage 1: Control Stage 2: Participation Stage 3: Empowerment Stage 4: Service

Authoritarian Participative Stewardship Servant

Self-responsible Whole employees

Obedient Team Players

Control centered in the leader Control centered in the follower

 Authoritarian Management
• Leaders are good managers that direct &
control their followers.
• Followers are obedient and submit to taking
direction.
• Power, purpose, privilege top-down.
• Leaders set strategy, rewards & path-goals.
• Standardization, numbers, analysis, routines.
 Participative Management
• Employee suggestion programs, participation
groups, quality circles.
– 70% adoption, but…
• Top-down.
• Leaders expect quality ideas to go up the
ladder but don’t bring them yourself!
– Good idea, failed execution.
 Stewardship
• Followers empowered to make decisions and
assume control over HOW they do their jobs.
• “Supports the belief that leaders are deeply
accountable to others as well as to the
organization, without trying to control others,
define meaning and purpose for others, or
take care of others.” (Daft, 2008, p. 175)
 Principles of Stewardship
• Reorient toward a partnership.
– Control shifts away from leaders. Ability to say
NO. Honest, open, responsible for vision &
purpose, accountable.
• Localize decisions and power to those closest
to the work and the customer.
– Point of attack people have a voice that is heard
and actions follow their suggestions.
 Principles of Stewardship
• Recognize and reward the value of labor.
– Rewards are distributed on basis of success as
group as a whole. Maximum rewards given across
the board.
• Expect core work teams to build the
organization.
– Front-liners define goals, maintain controls, create
a nurturing environment, and organize &
reorganize themselves in response to the
marketplace.
 Servant Leadership
• Servant leadership can be described as being
‘upside-down’.
• Servant Leaders:
– Transcend self-interest to serve needs of others.
– Help others grow and develop.
– Provide opportunity for others to gain materially
and emotionally.
– Top priority: service to others.
Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership Model
• 1: put service before self-interest.
– Helping others takes precedence over achieving
formal leadership, attaining power or control.
– Do what is right regardless of financial rewards.
• 2: Listen first to affirm others.
– Ask questions in order to listen and fully
understand problems of others & show your
confidence in their thoughts, opinions, answers.
– Use the vision of the group & further it.
Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership Model
• 3: Inspire trust by being trustworthy.
– Do what you say you will do, complete honesty,
give up control, focus on the well-being of others.
– Must give/show trust to see it returned.
• 4: Nourish others and help them become
whole.
– Spirit + Mind + Body.
– Willing to get close to people, thus exposing
potential vulnerabilities.
 Leadership Courage
• Courage has both moral and practical issues.
• “Don’t fail. Let someone else take the risk. Be
careful. Don’t make mistakes.” (Daft, 2008, p.
179).
– Sport examples? Exercise?
• Courage: ability to act in the presence of fear.
– Darwin example.
• In order act with courage, you must first
accept responsibility for something.
 Leadership Courage
• Courageous behavior often involves standing
independently.
– Willing to take risks for a larger ethical purpose.
• Comfortable is the opposite of courage.
– This is a fear driven concept. Think of the feeling
of your stomach raising up just before an
important phone call, meeting, asking for a date.
 Leadership Courage
• Ask for what you want, say what you think.
– Blunt, assertive, honest, ability to say ‘No’.
– Abilene Paradox.
• Fight for what you believe in.
– If you believe, stand up and be counted. Pursue
what it is you believe in.
 Personal Courage
• In order to be a courageous leader, one first
must:
– Know yourself.
– Understand your strengths & weaknesses.
– Know what you stand for.
– Not be afraid of nonconformity.
• “True power lies in the emotions that connect
people.” (Daft, 2008, p. 183)
• Courageous acts often include mixed emotions.
 Finding Personal Courage
• “We have been conditioned to follow the
rules, not rock the boat, to go along with
things we feel are wrong so others will like
and accept us.” (Daft, 2008, p. 184)
– Sport? Exercise?
• Seek out and utilize strength from others’
support.
– Exercise…
 Disney Said…
• “It’s important to have a good hard failure
when you’re young.” (as cited in Daft, 2008, p.
186).
– The failure isn’t the key, the response to the
failure is an opportunity to do larger things.