Ethical Leadership: The Quest for Character, Civility, and Community (Prisms)

by Walter E. Fluker

We live in a leadership crisis. "In an age when incompatible worlds collide and when scandals rock formerly stable institutions," says Walter Fluker, "what counts most is ethical leadership and the qualities of personal integrity, spiritual discipline, intellectual openness, and moral anchoring." Fluker finds these characteristics exemplified in the work and thought of black-church giants Martin Luther King Jr. and Howard Thurman.

This volume, for leaders and emergent leaders in religious and other settings, sets forth the context and principles for ethical leadership, particularly for ministries and other professions whose mission directly advances the common good. Fluker's volume grounds leadership in story, the appropriation of one's roots, as a basis for personal and social transformation. He then explores the key values of character, civility, and community for ethical action on the personal, public, and spiritual realms. From these considerations he develops a model of the specific virtues that embody each realm of ethical leadership before applying them to the practical aspects of leadership and decisionmaking.

Genres: Leadership

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was likely the most difficult, regularly incomprehensible texts I’ve read in my graduate program. His use of academic jargon and irregular words, along with poorly constructed sentences and superfluous phrasing forces one to repeatedly reread his paragraphs in attempts to decipher his meanings. The text isn’t utterly void of insight, but the few pearls of wisdom require far too much excavation to make it a worthwhile read. Fluker has clearly done a great deal of research (his notations go on for 49 pages), but he employs so many quotations and others’ terminologies that his argument are commonly fractured and directionless. So much about this text is baffling. Unfortunately, a promising idea—using two highly ethical, inspiring, and faithful men as models for the exploration of the nature and practice of leadership—fails to deliver in its execution.

[Roderick Pounds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Book especially for Black American Pastors

I gave this book five stars because it speaks to the need to rethink leadership in America in general and the Black church in particular. At a time of chaos and division in America today, this book challenges traditional leadership models to explore a new way of thinking about where we going and who and what we're following.

[Lisa Ealy · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent.