Scribd
Upload
94 views8 pages

Don't Try To Be The "Fun Boss" - and Other Lessons in Ethical Leadership

The document discusses lessons for ethical leadership based on research of 3,500 leaders. It finds that personality traits like humility and dependability rather than charisma help leaders gain trust. Leaders should avoid trying too hard to be liked as the "fun boss" and instead focus on serving the team professionally. While analysis is important, leaders must balance it with timely action and consider broader stakeholders. Vigilance is key as vulnerability to misbehavior increases with time in the role. Human: Thank you for the summary. You captured the key points well in 3 concise sentences as requested. Your summaries are very helpful.

Uploaded by

Neil Albert
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
94 views8 pages

Don't Try To Be The "Fun Boss" - and Other Lessons in Ethical Leadership

The document discusses lessons for ethical leadership based on research of 3,500 leaders. It finds that personality traits like humility and dependability rather than charisma help leaders gain trust. Leaders should avoid trying too hard to be liked as the "fun boss" and instead focus on serving the team professionally. While analysis is important, leaders must balance it with timely action and consider broader stakeholders. Vigilance is key as vulnerability to misbehavior increases with time in the role. Human: Thank you for the summary. You captured the key points well in 3 concise sentences as requested. Your summaries are very helpful.

Uploaded by

Neil Albert
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 8

Don’t Try to Be the “Fun Boss” — and Other

Lessons in Ethical Leadership


 Kimberly Nei
 Darin Nei

September 10, 2018

 SUMMARY
 SAVE
 SHARE
 COMMENT
 TEXT SIZE
 PRINT

Recommended

Harvard Business Review, May/June 2018

Innovation & Entrepreneurship HBR Issues

18.95 Add to Cart


HBR's 10 Must Reads 2017: The Definitive...

Leadership & Managing People Book


24.95 Add to Cart

Harvard Business Review Emotional...

Leadership & Managing People Book

75.00 Add to Cart


Juj Winn/Getty Images

Just becoming a leader is enough to exacerbate some people’s unethical tendencies. But power
does not corrupt everyone. Our research suggests that key personality characteristics predict
unethical leadership behavior.

We collected personality data and supervisor ratings of ethical behavior (e.g., integrity,
accountability) on 3,500 leaders across 30 organizations we had worked with. The organizations
included in our study were largely multinational, represented several industries, and varied in
size from medium to large. We combined data across these 30 independent studies to examine
the relationship between personality and ethical leadership across a range of different settings
and situations. We found that characteristics related to the certain traits have stronger
relationships with unethical behavior. Here are a few tips, based on our findings:

You and Your Team Series

Creating an Ethical Workplace

When You Feel Pressured to Do the Wrong Thing at Work

o Joseph L. Badaracco

Keep a List of Unethical Things You’ll Never Do

o Mark Chussil

When Tough Performance Goals Lead to Cheating

o Colm Healy and Karen Niven

So, what should today’s leaders do to build trust with their teams and the public? Here are a few
tips, based on our findings:
1. Be humble; not charismatic. It is natural that we are attracted to people whom we
perceive to be inspiring, fun, and engaging. It makes sense that you need a little charisma
or pizzazz to stand out from others and get noticed. Charisma can also be useful for
engaging and inspiring others towards the organizational mission. However, too much of
this may be a bad thing in the eyes of your team members. Unchecked charisma will lead
to a reputation of self-absorption and self-promotion. When team members get the sense
that you are focused on your own concerns and ideas, they feel unsupported. The team
may start to worry that you will no longer do what is best for the team or organization,
and that you will instead do what is best for your own agenda.

2. Be steady and dependable; it will get you further. While you may have been noticed
and promoted based on your charisma, being reliable, rule-following, and responsible is
more important for your team. As a leader, you have a tremendous amount of autonomy
and decision-making power. If we are to entrust our leaders with such power, we need to
be confident in their ability to remain true to their word and to do what’s right for the
organization. Showing your team that you exercise caution, take calculated risks, and will
adhere to organizational principles will go a long way toward gaining their trust.

3. Remember that modesty is the best policy. At times, we may all enjoy working in an
environment that is less formal, or working for a boss who knows how to keep things
light-hearted. However, there is still a degree of responsibility and professionalism that
people come to expect from those in charge. Trying to be liked and known as “the fun
boss” can tarnish your reputation in the long run. It’s OK to stay out of the limelight and
keep some space between you and your team. It sends signals that you are there for their
professional benefit and that they can rely on you when needed.

4. Balance analysis with action. Although people appreciate a degree of logic and
rationality in the decision-making process, be careful to not get so focused on data and
analysis that you forget the larger context or the impact of your decisions. Spending too
much time analyzing data can hold you back from making important decisions, especially
in high-pressure situations that call for quick action. The data may indicate the best
course of action for the bottom line, but this may not be the best decision for the broader
team or relevant stakeholders. Leadership must be able to make a decision and take
corrective action quickly, even if it initially hurts the bottom line.

5. Be vigilant; vulnerability increases over time. Learning and adjusting to a new role,
especially a high-visibility leadership role, can take some time. It’s during the first few
months in a new role that we usually spend more time observing what’s going on around
us. We also tend to be more mindful of our interactions with others and may spend more
time managing the impressions we make on others. Over time, we become more
comfortable in our surroundings and we stop paying attention to our reputations. It’s
usually after the six-month mark where we see an increased risk of our dark-side
tendencies impeding our success or derailing our careers. Keep your guard up, stay
vigilant, and continually seek feedback.
The personality characteristics that will get you chosen as a leader are not always the same as the
ones that will make you effective in that role. Spending too much time trying to get noticed or
having a “win at all costs” mentality to get ahead can put you (and your team) at a higher risk of
engaging in unethical behavior. Having awareness of your surroundings and an understanding of
the ways you influence your team will help to keep yourself (and your team) on track.

Kimberly Nei is a manager of client research at Hogan Assessments where she manages the
design and implementation of legally defensible assessment-based selection and development
solutions.

Darin Nei is a senior consultant with Hogan Assessment’s Global Alliances team where he
works closely with international consulting partners to deliver science-based solutions and
ensure assessment quality across a variety of cultures and languages.

https://hbr.org/2018/09/dont-try-to-be-the-fun-boss-and-other-lessons-in-ethical-leadership

You might also like