Book Analysis

Ethical Leadership: The Quest for Character, Civility and Community

By Walter Earl Fluker

This book sets forth the context and principles for ethical leadership (particularly for ministries and other professions) whose mission directly advances the common good

The author’s message alerts us to the fact that we are living in state of leadership crisis; and that in the face of such uncertainty, and scandal, what counts most is ethical leadership and the qualities of personal integrity, spiritual discipline, intellectual openness, and moral anchoring. He urges us all to enhance, reinforce, develop, and pursue these virtues.

Chapter II. What is Ethical Leadership

Fluker defines ethical leadership as the “critical appropriation and embodiment of moral traditions that have shaped the character and shared meanings of a people (an ethos).” He believes that Ethical leaders, therefore, are those whose characters have been shaped by the wisdom, habits, and practices of particular traditions, (often several traditions combined). Fluker finds this to be exemplified in leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Howard Thurman.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. King is often presented as a heroic leader in the history of modern American liberalism. (Wiki)

Howard Thurman (1899 – April 10, 1981) was an influential American author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader. He was Dean of Theology and the chapels at Howard University and Boston University for more than two decades, wrote 20 books, and in 1944 helped found a multicultural church. (Wiki)

This premise is based on a triangular model that incorporates three interrelated elements of human existence: self, social, and spiritual. Ethical leadership asks the question of values in reference to ultimate concern. p.33

Self: Who am I? What do I want? What do I propose to do and become?

Social: To whom, and what am I ultimately accountable?

Spiritual: Who am I? What do I want? What do I propose to do and become? Who is the other? How am I to respond to the actions of the other on me?

FIGURE 1. THE ETHICAL LEADERSHIP MODEL

“The salvation of the human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect in human modesty and in human responsibility.”

Chapter III. Character at the Intersection

Character and Ethical Leadership: this section focuses on the psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of ethical leadership in respect to character, civility, and a sense of community; since Ethical leaders do evolve into being through the development of character, civility, and a sense of community. Fluker claims that this triune of virtues, values and virtuosities is the bedrock for genuine human development, productivity, and peaceful coexistence. (p. 62)

FIGURE 2. ETHICAL LEADERSHIP MODEL

The Defining Virtues of Character: this portion of the text in chapter three refers to the morally-anchored self. Leaders must examine their life experiences in relation to larger historical and cultural perspectives. In order to reclaim ones ethical center, the unfinished business of one’s life story (the pains, the hurts, and the unresolved contradictions) must be addressed. Until these have been resolved, one should not endeavor to begin the work of creating a just and healthy civil society. In order to better cultivate outer peace, the deepest regions of self-knowledge must be explored, and ultimately conquered to first achieve inner peace. (p.63)

Attendant to character: there are three virtues that ethical leaders must cultivate:

Integrity: a sense of wholeness, a sense of community within self, or a healthy sense of self. This is the understanding of one’s own unique potential and self-worth. In absence of this virtue, one drifts aimlessly through life without a true understanding of his or her place in existence.(p.73)

Empathy: closely related to integrity is empathy (the psychosocial dimension of character). This involves emotional intelligence and resonance. Empathy means having the ability to sense other’s emotions, appreciating their perspective, and taking an active interest in their concerns. Fluker says that empathy is a good habit, and that leaders must deliberately practice empathy for others as a way of creating a contagious atmosphere of culture within organizational life. This can be achieved with the use of a disciplined imagination. (p.72)

Hope: Fluker defines hope as a genuine anticipation of the future. He adds that hope is promoted by the belief that life is more reliable that unreliable, and the future is open, and new possibilities of life exist. Hope is the belief that present patterns of life are not fated, but are susceptible to change into a combination of infinite possibilities. Hope implies a deep-seated trust in life that appears absurd to those who lack it. (p.77-79)

Fluker warns that there are two extremes to the virtue of hope: despair and a sense of fatedness; and these act as spiritual vortices that drain the moral and ethical resources leaders need for overcoming the challenges the meet us at the intersection where worlds collide.(p.77)

Chapter VI. Staying Awake at the Intersection

…One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

The fable goes that Rip Van Winkle fell asleep during the American Revolution. When he had fallen asleep, the sign at the inn in a little town on the Hudson Bay had an image of King George III of England. He awaked 20 years to the image of George Washington, the 1^st President of the United States.

In this chapter, author Walter Earl Fluker cautions us that the leaders of the new century must not only be aware of environmental realities that shape the challenges and issues we are confronted with. But, they should be forever cognizant of the inner environments that shape character, civility, and a sense of community.

Beware of Unicorns!

Fluker references a unicorn to represent repression and freedom. He explains that the unicorn is magical, and can either hurt or heal. He teaches us that the unicorn guards the secrets of the imagination, and that the imagination can be both blessed and cursed. The unicorn in his story, or the warning sign thereof, represents an invitation to the freedom of the imagination and the ever-thin line between realities as they are given to us, and the realities that we dare to bring in to being through the power of imagination.

Through imaginative journeying lies the heart of spirituality, ethics, and leadership. He suggests that Ethical leaders are seekers who search for unicorns in the vast, often cold and impersonal worlds of modernity. He further contends that when armed with the power of imagination, leaders become visionaries who are willing to enter the no-trespassing zones of system worlds and to recognize the inherent potential for transformation within and around them. They are in essence….awake. (p.158)

Conclusion

Fluker 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 decision making; which I believe to be a fundamental supplement to our Ethics course. I can agree with him in his asserting that the leaders that are able to stand at the intersections of personal reality and possibility (character), social reality and possibility (civility), and spiritual reality and possibility (community) and consciously set goals and objectives, and implement life-affirming resolutions are who we may define as ethical leaders. Fluker claims that training a new generation of leaders will require a methodological emphasis on the power of story, and practice of remembering, retelling, and living these stories through imaginative journeying to meet the unicorn. This will stand as the interpretative framework for the three principal dimensions of the work of ethical leadership. (p. 166)

“Without a global revolution in the sphere of human consciousness, nothing will change for the better…and the catastrophe toward which this world is headed, whether it be ecological, social, demographic or a general break down of civilization, will be unavoidable”. (Havel/ Fluker)

1. 1.) Do you agree with the author’s position on the definition of ethical leadership? Why? Why not?

2. 2.) Do you believe that it is necessary to confront and conquer past demons in order to become and affective ethical leader? Why? Why not?

3. 3.) How do you feel about Fluker’s explanation of the unicorn, imagination, freedom and repression? What thoughts or feelings did it provoke?

1.