Do leaders lose their moral compass or did they have a faulty one all along?

Recent news of international and national business and government leaders with faulty judgment have made the news and stirred conversation.

Here are my thoughts: 1) Many organizations (large to small; government, business or non-profit) have policies that reward those who deliver flashy “results”--regardless of harm along the way, who tell leaders what they want to hear, and who are willing to bend the rules. 2) Organizations brand as "not-a-team-player" individuals who have a less flexible moral standard. 3) Regardless of the "talk" of doing right, organization leader do not "walk" the talk. 4) Those who are rewarded for their "flexibility" and "team player" ability surround themselves with like-minded folks as they advance. 5) The process is self-perpetuating and those with a faulty moral compass continue to advance.

There are some who hold onto their beliefs and act based on their sense of morality. For example, I have long admired Senator Richard Lugar from Indiana. I believe he has a strong moral compass and uses it to guide his political decisions. And, no I don't support his political party or any other specific political party. 

In my 12 years in a large major corporation I saw those who got ahead by treading on others, by corruption, and by trickery. A few got caught along the way. Others did not. Frequently these individuals were on the "fast track" and were held up to the rest of us as examples to follow. I remember one entrepreneurial-spirited young man who used company time to build his own business over a period of two years; he then leave the company to run an already strong corporation. Many of the rest of us chaffed when upper management held him up as a positive example. 

Another “flexible” manager finagled his way into a top communications job by chicanery and was caught at last when the ad agency made public his demand for kickbacks. Yet, for years, the organization rewarded him instead of praising and promoting those who had a good moral compass along with skill and true dedication to the company. Many of us were aware of his outside “girlfriends,” yet we were helpless as he ruined the career of less “flexible” underlings and by-passed for promotion those with real talent who did not blindly praise him. 

Do I think the recent publicity will make a difference or make those folks change? No, absolutely not. They feel above the rules and do not feel badly about what they are doing. They do not think they will be caught because they are doing “nothing wrong," since they don't have a sense of right-and-wrong that we would recognize.

Until all organizations have a culture that “walks the talk” and has leadership that values skilled individuals who have a moral compass, nothing will change. 

One final note: please do NOT confuse having a strong sense of moral right-and-wrong with being “overtly, publicly religious” or with professing to be a follower of any specific religion. The two are not synonomous.