Selflessness as the key driver of Ethical Behavior – Philosophy behind Moral Leadership Part 2

Ethics through the prism of “Selflessness”

Project Management Institute (PMI) definition of ethics says that Ethics is the discipline of “how to do it best.”  In Bhagavad Gita we surprisingly find a similarity  – “Work without attachment and desire is the art of doing things in the most efficient way”.

By definition, the three components of ethics are: (a) Disposition - one's, customary manner of emotional response or temperament; (b) Character – moral strength, integrity, and fortitude; and (c) Attitude – a state of mind or feeling with regard to some matter. One or more of them are needed to comply with ethical norms and ensure successful business outcome and character is undoubtedly the most important one. But how are these components, esp. that of character, cultivated and inculcated?

As discussed earlier, the key drivers behind unethical behaviors are fear, greed, weak monitoring (environmental) and passion. If we critically analyze we’ll find that all of them are fundamentally selfish in character. Fear is the propensity to save oneself from immediate or impending danger or risk – may be a financial risk like investment loss or losing some incentives like key markets. Greed is extreme selfishness, it accumulates undue favor, often financial, at the expense of others. Greed also includes several sub factors in unethical behavior, like nepotism, corruption, insider information, a desire for fame or undue recognition etc. Absence of monitoring or a conducive environment is to sow the seeds of selfishness in a fertile land of opportunities. Passion in a negative sense is bad work ethics. It is simply too much attachment to the results, to individual success, often at the cost of others. Passion in a positive sense is whole-hearted devotion to work, but here we are more concerned with the stress on the outcome at all costs, often bringing in miseries for other stakeholders like the employees. Such a situation is again driven by selfishness – the leader's desire to establish himself or herself as the supremely important and indispensable person, disregarding all professional norms. A negatively passionate leader may, for instance, agree to an extreme condition thereby jeopardizing the social and personal life of the employee, just to ensure a recognition or a favourable selfish (not necessarily business) outcome. Ethical dilemmas across the board arise because the leader is driven by selfish desires, viz. name, fame, and fortune. Such desires propel him or her to a conflict situation where the very basis of his or her morality and character is tested. Only those having high character can come out of the situations unscathed, even though most of them may have a favorable disposition towards ethical norms or a positive attitude. But even for the persons of high character the dilemma is between two different types of pay offs – short term vs. long term.

 Ethical consideration is therefore driven by the timeline of realization of pay offs. To take an example, a certain leader has a choice to inform the key investors of a risk which if materialize would cause a potential loss to the organization, and which, if informed can lead to the loss of investment and confidence on the business model. The greater pay off here is a long term consideration – that even if the investment in hand is lost the investors may appreciate the honesty and integrity and come up with more investments in future, while the less payoff is obviously the situation where business continues and the information is suppressed, hoping that the risk never materializes. The leader who opts for the greater pay off here is obviously a person of character who is not afraid to make bold decisions. However the payoff is not immediately visible or realizable, i.e. intangible in nature. Therefore ethical decisions are so difficult. Kathopanishad describes this as choice between sreyas and preyas or beneficial vs. desirable. Obviously a man of character would chose one that is beneficial.

In other words, when it comes to ethical dilemma, the factor behind making right decisions is foregoing selfishness, i.e. becoming selfless. When one is confronted with a situation where an immediate benefit is weighed against long term uncertainties, when there is great pressure and compulsion to bow to the immediate needs, it takes a lot of character to stand up and adhere to principles, to the call of the spirit. This is what is defined as selflessness, where the fear is replaced by respect for self, where integrity is driven by love for righteousness under all circumstances. In this case the common drivers behind unethical behavior would be absent because

A) The leader will not succumb to fear, as selflessness and self-respect eliminates all causes of fear like loss of business opportunities.

B) The leader would not be greedy as selflessness and greed do not go hand in hand. By their own nature they are at the opposite ends of the spectrum. Greed as defined earlier is extreme selfishness.

C) The leader would never be negatively passionate, but rather would always lay greater emphasis on means than on ends. His or her primary consideration would be greater common good, than narrow self-preservation or selfish gains like recognition at the expense of others

D) The leader would not succumb to temptations or environment because he or she would have a high moral character to resist such overtures. Temptation is driven by desires and selflessness by definition is a trait that controls selfish desires