Please provide a response using the below references cited in the text of the response.

https://www.businessinsider.com/marcus-aurelius-on-being-a-good-leader

Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE.

As stated by Northouse (2022), ethics involves what types of morals and values an individual or a society finds fitting or preferable, coupled with the integrity of individuals and their personal motivation (p. 422). Northouse (2022) also explains that ethical leadership is described as respecting others, serving others, showing justice, manifesting honesty, and building community (pp. 433-439). Using this reasoning, I initially thought that unethical behavior is not justifiable for a person in a leadership position. However, I do think that due to research in this field being relatively new it could be argued that there are gray areas. A leader may be put in a position where their personal ethics may not align with organizational ethics, but they are told to act in accordance with the organization anyway. An example of a gray area could be a doctor leading a clinic being told a specific procedure is no longer allowed, but they perform it anyway because they do not agree with the justification from those above them. In this instance, the doctor is working according to their own personal ethics, not the ethics of others. They are going against what they have been told is ethical but for them, it is justifiable. For the doctor, this decision embodies what Marcus Aurelius would describe as being a guardian for others (Nudelman & Feloni, 2016). The doctor is working ethically for and taking care of others, even if those in arguably higher leadership positions do not agree.

In my personal experience, I have not had direct experience with a leader I would consider unethical. In local government, everything we do is subject to scrutiny by the general public. We need to be able to justify our actions for the good of the community and are held to the highest of standards. This does not mean that unethical behavior does not happen behind closed doors, but it is not something I have witnessed myself.

References

Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE.

Nudelman, M. & Feloni, R. (2016, October 5). Marcus Aurelius' 10 rules for being an exceptional leader. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/marcus-aurelius-on-being-a-good-leaderLinks to an external site.