What do you think?
Rate this book
The Ethical Leader: Why Doing the Right Thing Can Be the Key to Competitive Advantage
Ethical behavior in and by businesses is often seen as a bolt-on extra--something that is nice-to-do but not must-do. Morgen Witzel argues that by flipping this view--and making ethical behavior the cake and not just the icing--businesses can gain long-term competitive advantage.
Trust and respect among key stakeholder groups, especially employees and customers, cannot be overstated in their importance to an organization's success. Trust engenders loyalty and good reputation, which in turn builds brand value. The Ethical Leader provides a practical introduction to some key concepts in ethics, including how to deal with ethical paradoxes and how to make ethical decisions.
Ethical behavior is the key to trust-building, but it needs to go deeper than something managers do out of a sense of moral duty. The Ethical Leader show why ethics needs to be the platform from which to build a strong and enduring business, and it provides the necessary tools and insights for how to make this happen.
Trust and respect among key stakeholder groups, especially employees and customers, cannot be overstated in their importance to an organization's success. Trust engenders loyalty and good reputation, which in turn builds brand value. The Ethical Leader provides a practical introduction to some key concepts in ethics, including how to deal with ethical paradoxes and how to make ethical decisions.
Ethical behavior is the key to trust-building, but it needs to go deeper than something managers do out of a sense of moral duty. The Ethical Leader show why ethics needs to be the platform from which to build a strong and enduring business, and it provides the necessary tools and insights for how to make this happen.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published February 12, 2019
5 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 20, 2020
“Ethical behaviour by businesses, or their staff, is often seen as the corporate and social responsibility icing on an organizational cake – something that is nice to do but never really essential. But by turning this view around – and making ethical behaviour a primary focus – Witzel shows how businesses can create and maintain long-term competitive advantage.”
In the first line the author warns the reader – “Oh, no. Not another book about ethics” – in a laughing way that this won’t be one of those books. But it kinda is just another book about ethics. It was very slow to start off with, and there was a point near the start where I wanted to abandon it, but then I pushed through and got to a better part later on.I read it when I knew I would be distracted because I could easily pick it up and drop it again – it didn’t require too much brain power.
A strong point of this book were the inclusion of some really nice case studies that are boxed clearly from the rest of the text. For some of the case studies, the author asks ‘What would you do?’ and then tells you at the end of the chapter what actually happened. Any time there is a fact, it uses a reference. Its worth could be as a reference book because it has A LOT of references that you can refer to (haha). It has both footnotes by chapter and a Bibliography. If you like an idea, it’s easy to go and find out more about it.
The real ethics framework is only the last chapter (Chapter 10), where he gives how to make an ethical decision – how to ask yourself if it is an ethical decision you are making. But in the end, different people have different ways and levels of ethics to adhere to. It’s great to read about, and it’s nice that you should do the right thing, but even with the framework there will never be a black and white question. You can ask the questions, but not reach an answer – it’s just your opinion.
I’d like more items to action out of it, such as how to implement this in your workplace. What can I do to improve my business? How do you look after your shareholders vs employees vs customers? There were no takeaways of what I can do to create value or build employee relationships. Ultimately I just didn’t enjoy it and got nothing useful out of it. It IS just another ethics book – it’s average.
Did you enjoy this goodreads review? If so you may find it useful to visit my blog The Cosy Dragon . I regularly post new reviews on a variety of genres.
In the first line the author warns the reader – “Oh, no. Not another book about ethics” – in a laughing way that this won’t be one of those books. But it kinda is just another book about ethics. It was very slow to start off with, and there was a point near the start where I wanted to abandon it, but then I pushed through and got to a better part later on.I read it when I knew I would be distracted because I could easily pick it up and drop it again – it didn’t require too much brain power.
A strong point of this book were the inclusion of some really nice case studies that are boxed clearly from the rest of the text. For some of the case studies, the author asks ‘What would you do?’ and then tells you at the end of the chapter what actually happened. Any time there is a fact, it uses a reference. Its worth could be as a reference book because it has A LOT of references that you can refer to (haha). It has both footnotes by chapter and a Bibliography. If you like an idea, it’s easy to go and find out more about it.
The real ethics framework is only the last chapter (Chapter 10), where he gives how to make an ethical decision – how to ask yourself if it is an ethical decision you are making. But in the end, different people have different ways and levels of ethics to adhere to. It’s great to read about, and it’s nice that you should do the right thing, but even with the framework there will never be a black and white question. You can ask the questions, but not reach an answer – it’s just your opinion.
I’d like more items to action out of it, such as how to implement this in your workplace. What can I do to improve my business? How do you look after your shareholders vs employees vs customers? There were no takeaways of what I can do to create value or build employee relationships. Ultimately I just didn’t enjoy it and got nothing useful out of it. It IS just another ethics book – it’s average.
Did you enjoy this goodreads review? If so you may find it useful to visit my blog The Cosy Dragon . I regularly post new reviews on a variety of genres.
January 22, 2022
The book makes you think and guides you towards becoming a good leader.
July 1, 2025
The book’s title gets it right. It is all about how to ethically lead in any situation. Worth it
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews