Developing the Moral Component of Authentic Leadership

Recent ethical scandals in the business world point to the growing need for developing leaders who consistently demonstrate the highest levels of ethical behavior. The goal of this article is to propose a blueprint for fostering sustainable authentic moral behaviors in leaders. This blueprint is based on research from the ethical decision-making, leadership, positive organizational behavior, and positive psychology literatures. For leaders to display sustainable authentic moral behaviors, they must first see their roles as including an ethical responsibility to all of their stakeholders. Authentic leaders will have developed a unique perspective to looking at problems that allows them to recognize moral dilemmas and address them in an open way. These authentic leaders demonstrate a deep commitment to their own personal growth and the growth of those around them. Each dilemma they encounter is reflected on, each lesson learned is internalized, so they become better equipped for the next challenge that must be confronted.