Good leadership requires moral courage

Saturday, 01 February 2025

Dr Matt Beard  photo
Dr Matt Beard
Program Director, Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership
    Current

    The secret to good leadership is having the moral courage to act in spite of the potential risk.


    Moral courage enables a person to do what they know is right, despite the risks, difficulty and potential personal costs. It’s the difference between knowing what needs to be done and actually seeing it through. Without moral courage, ethical progress happens at the speed of convenience, rather than at the pace of what’s possible.

    Most people assume they’re of good ethical character and have the moral courage to do what’s right when the situation demands it. Unfortunately, the best evidence tells us many are wrong. How can directors know whether they and their board are showing the moral courage their role requires?

    One option is to look for evidence in the culture and activities of the company — are they consistent with moral courage? If there are gaps, this might indicate areas of improvement for the board and across the company.

    1. A brave board enables an ethical, imaginative, proactive company

    When was the last time you saw a proposal from the executive that was truly unconventional, that challenged fundamental assumptions about the company’s business model, or forced the leadership to confront underlying ethical tensions?

    Leaders who exercise moral courage are more likely to receive ambitious, creative and innovative ideas from their people, because they’ve signalled to them they are open to defying convention in favour of doing what is best. By contrast, when leaders fail to show moral courage, they instil less confidence in the people around them that they’re willing or able to persevere through the challenges genuine transformation requires.

    The history of innovation is littered with examples of “also-rans”. Blockbuster had the concept for a streaming service well before they declined the opportunity to purchase Netflix. But their leadership couldn’t forgo the revenue the company made through late fees. Lacking the courage to forgo profits in favour of customer experience, the company lost both.

    If you feel your company’s leadership is going through the motions and failing to challenge itself to do things differently, ask how the board reacted the last time a somewhat revolutionary proposal was tabled. Was it met with open-mindedness and curiosity, or with risk aversion and a preference for the status quo?

    2. Directors who practise moral courage tend to admit they’re wrong or say they don’t know the answer

    There’s a reason we often describe curiosity as “childlike”. Qualities like inquisitiveness and a desire to experiment, explore and understand are often drummed out of people whose survival in a corporate environment has been based on their ability to know answers rather than ask questions.

    Admitting you don’t understand a topic or are unsure of what to do in a professional setting leaves you exposed and vulnerable. Many prefer to “fake it until they make it” rather than to admit limited understanding. As a result, decisions can sometimes be made by people who don’t have the requisite knowledge and the board unwittingly stops acting in a company’s best interests and acts on instinct and insecurity.

    Often, a board is willing to admit, behind closed doors, that it made an error in judgement. It’s far less common to see boards publicly admit an error, take responsibility and offer a genuine apology. Yet, this is when boards can signal to their companies that to err is human. Moral courage makes it easier to break the veneer of professional perception that so often impedes companies from admitting their core issues or calling attention to ethical failures, risks or blind spots that boards and leaders should understand.

    3. Lack of courage leads to hypocrisy, which leads to breakdowns of trust

    How much do staff and key stakeholders trust the company to do the right thing? Is there a perception boards expect staff to “do as they say, not as they do?”

    It’s perfectly reasonable for a board to expect senior leadership to model and embed a company’s values and ethical commitments across the organisation. Boards must also work to ensure those same values are embedded in their own conduct and decision-making.

    Leaders who lack moral courage can lack follow-through. Their people tend to lose faith in the strategy and vision of the organisation. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy — what change ever happened without the support of the people?

    Practising moral courage doesn’t guarantee a leader’s success or popularity, but when leaders exercise courage and are willing to invest and risk their reputation, bonus or personal legacy in pursuit of what’s right, they’re more likely to secure the trust of their stakeholders.

    4. When leaders practise moral courage, others don’t have to

    Companies whose leaders fail to exercise moral courage are ones where staff feel greater pressure to do so themselves. Having been abandoned by their leaders, they now face their own ethical dilemmas. Do I follow through on an unethical request? Do I call attention to an injustice in our business model? Do I report misconduct despite knowing it might come back to haunt me?

    The practice of moral courage is easier spotted by its absence. It’s measured in situations that never occur. For example, the whistleblower who doesn’t need to decide whether to go to the press or not.

    Yet, here lies the ultimate test of moral courage for leaders. If your actions will require someone else to exercise more courage than you, it’s probably a sign you should be acting differently.

    Dr Matt Beard is program director of the Vincent Fairfax Fellowship at Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership.

    This article first appeared under the headline ‘Captains courageous’ in the February 2025 issue of Company Director magazine.

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