This past week the article, Why Leaders Lose their Way by Bill George crossed my desk and caused me to reflect more deeply on the concept of values-based leadership among his three reasons.
Bill George wrote: “Leaders need to devote themselves to personal development that cultivates their inner compass or True North. This requires reframing their leadership from being heroes to being servants of the people they lead.”
How does one cultivate an inner compass? Can one do it on one’s own? I don’t think so! It’s about who one is innately, both personally and professionally. It is about a committed effort to align one values with one’s position and that position cause and effect on those who the leader leads.
This effort of “values alignment” cannot be made by oneself. This “alignment” needs values based confidants, role models, exemplary colleagues and a process for ongoing discernment of one’s values and their implications in one’s leadership style. This discernment must be a proactive approach to one’s leadership effectiveness by having people that “are for you” as a person and colleague, as part of any leadership development initiative.
On the other of this issue is what are the obligations or responsibilities of companies to provide this type of “values support” for its leaders? Wouldn’t this be a very cost-effective investment to reinforce the importance and the priority of having values-based leaders in positions of authority continually?

fbucaro
Like you, business ethics and ethical leadership expert, Frank Bucaro has seen the challenges and problems of corporate leadership, particularly over the past few years in regards to poor decision-making, SEC violations, and record breaking financial settlements in a number of different industries.
With over two decades of executive training, speaking, writing and with real life experiences, his view and approach to ethics in the workplace is uniquely different. He emphasizes that ethics is a moment-to-moment choice and has little to do with position, titles, personalities or education. Ethics is everybody’s responsibility from the top down.
His goal is to help organizations to:
a. Strengthen their ethics training initiatives in order to significantly decrease the odds of an ethical/compliance violation.
b. Energize, train and motivate employees to understand the value of consistent “high road” behavior as a business advantage.
c. Support individuals and thereby the organization by contributing to its success by quality, ongoing values based leadership development.
Frank is known for his very practical, slightly irreverent, yet somewhat humorous approach to ethics and leadership development. His conversational style and real life stories connect with his audience in a personal, intense and practical level.
Companies such as Bayer Healthcare, BP, ReMax International, EnMax Energy, Danone, etc. have partnered with Frank when they want to proactively stress the message, tools, insights and practical applications that good ethics IS good for business!