3.2 Moderation in ethical leadership?

In grappling with how to respond to ethical challenge, Ladkin (2015) engages with the work of the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, particularly his Nicomachean Ethics. In this system of ethics, it is virtue that matters. This relates to how people act, whether they’re together or alone. Aristotle’s virtues were courage, self-control, gentleness and modesty (Ladkin, 2015, p. 129). Self-control refers to how you can keep your vices under control. Gentleness means having an even temper. The case made is that to act virtuously when faced with an ethical situation, you need to think about ‘mean’ ways of achieving these virtues – not mean in the sense of ‘nasty’ but as a ‘mid-path between extreme reactions to situations’ (Ladkin, 2015, p. 128). Each virtue has an excess and defect – the table below outlines these, and how they should be avoided.

Ladkin points out that taking a mean path does not necessarily involve always taking a middle way between extremes, but involves careful consideration of both the situation and one’s own tendencies. In terms of your own tendencies, it’s important that you exercise self-awareness about how you tend to act and feel. For example, if you are someone who is usually very shy, you may need to dial down the modesty and practise pushing your strengths forward. Likewise, if you are someone with an excess of control, self or otherwise, you may need to practise showing people that you can also let go and trust their judgments, thereby respecting their autonomy.

With these thoughts on ethical practice, you have reached the end of this course on Black leadership. You can now move on to the concluding quiz.