Servant-leadership – KNOW Yourself: Ethics

Imagine visiting an African game preserve. Hot. Sometimes windy. Often oppressively still. There, you are introduced by your guide to the Wildebeest or Gnu – a species of the Antelope - with horns sloping forward, its head looks very much like an ox, a mane like a horse, and a long tail. These strange looking creatures run in huge herds, creating a tremendous roar as they soar across the African plains.

From time to time, you may catch a glimpse of a carcass of the Wildebeest lying on the parched African earth, stripped of most of its flesh. Ask any guide, “What happened?” and you will learn that one strayed from the head and became a lion’s meal. The lions are watching carefully, always looking for that one or two that will stray from the pack.

Christian business leader, you and I face a “roaring lion” whose aim is to devour us. We are in a war! A battle for our foundational beliefs. Our understanding of eternal purpose. Our values. Our ethical framework

Many unprepared “Christians” in the business community are losing battles fought in the trenches of practical business decisions. Distracted – Dismayed – Discouraged – they have strayed from the herd.

The herd, in this case, may simply be a shared values system: sharing made more difficult now by three things: the assimilation of diverse cultures who have NOT become part of the “melting pot” that once defined being “American;” the eroding of the family and marriage; and the use and glorification of situational ethics promoted by the entertainment media. More and more pressure is put on the “grounded” businessperson to become shaped by this new pluralistic, postmodern culture - rather than shaping it.

As a leader, have you wrestled with questions like:

• Where are your values and ethics derived?

• What principles are non-negotiable and drive you?
  
  
• What is the ethical basis for your beliefs about:
  
  • How you treat other people?
  • The source and importance of truth?
  • The role of your obligations – are they binding or can they be changed?
    

Where does the business leader find his value system? There is an answer. I’ll explore that in a later blog.

Are you shaping your team, organization or company’s culture? Or are you being shaped?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Change Is Constant: Direction of Change is a Choice

Proverbs 9:9 (AMP) Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser; teach a righteous man (one upright and in right standing with God) and he will increase in learning.

The acquiring of wisdom is a journey, not an event. The journey is not only revealing about “self” but also about the shape and expression of a leader’s ethics.

Our progress in life is a result of our choices and our willingness to learn from them. Employees and customers often teach us about the ethical framework (righteousness) we use to respond to “change.” Customer service, for one example, is a practical expression about a leader’s heart.

Servant-leaders must learn to discipline her/himself to continue to learn. These leaders work at body, mind and spirit congruence. They actively acquire the skills they need and hone the ones with which they have been endowed by their Creator. They become aware of the patterns of their behavior and the impact a behavior has on others.

The result for the Biblically based leader? They will behave in a way that:

• Expresses love for God (obedience)
• Demonstrates their love for the “neighbors.” (Isn’t that the essence of customer-service – looking out for their needs, before our own?)

An outcome? Their leadership will be clothed in justice and righteousness. Employees will be free to make customer-oriented decisions that benefit the firm. Customers will be attracted to companies that “do business right.” Families will be nurtured and grow the love God.

Are you consistently learning and growing? Or, have you become stagnate?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell