How to Self-Destruct: Apply Black & White Ethics to Your Leadership Standards

Ethics are good. Black and white ethics are not. Black and white is great for books, photos, and panda bears. Not so much ethics.

(Cue reader WTF reaction.)

You can rant and rave all you want, but here are the 5 reasons why an inflexible morality will sink your efforts to lead faster than you can say: “I can’t believe what those kids today think is appropriate!”

1. You’ll go apoplectic. Trying to adhere to black & white ethics in this world is like trying to always obey every traffic ordinance to the letter of the law while driving in a major city. It’s a great concept, but there are times when it is simply not possible, and more likely to get you hurt than keep you safe.
2. Ethics can only be judged in hindsight. Leaders, by the very virtue of leading, have to be willing to make decisions at a time when no ethical framework for those decisions yet exists. This does not absolve you from doing what you think is right, nor forgive you for being a schmuck if you choose poorly. It merely suggests that black and white will fail you when you’re out in front. Attempts to avoid “gray” will keep you away from the edges—including the leading edge.
3. Certainty = arrogance. If your world is black and white, there is no need to listen. You’re right, they’re wrong. End of story. Well, there’s 6 billion of us here on earth, and I find it difficult to believe that any one of us is so right that we have nothing to learn from listening to the other 5.99 billion people around us. Not listening says nothing of your ethics; it suggests only that you are arrogant enough to impose your beliefs on others without consideration for your belief system’s failings… which are likely to be as considerable as your intolerance.
4. Rigid things break. The world is fluid. Life is fluid; nature doesn’t create straight lines. (Even the horizon is slightly curved!) What makes you think that your linear, rigid ethics—your ethics that will break when subjected to the forces of nature—are an improvement over what nature has created?
5. In this complex world, if you can reduce something down to black and white terms, you’ve probably oversimplified things. Ambiguity, it turns out, generally reveals itself in definitive, certain terms. The better your understanding of a subject, the less certainty you have. Leaders know how to guide thinking without closing off questions… those with black and white ethics don’t have that skill.

So what is the litmus test for ethical leadership? Transparency. When a leader says, “Hey, I’ve analyzed the situation, I’ve heard the concerns, and I’m going to do this anyway,” that leader usually gets crucified. And yet, that leader, by being open and transparent, is probably the most ethical leader you’ve got. It’s the ones who lie about their intentions, and then claim you wouldn’t understand only after they’ve been caught lying, that you need to watch out for.

So if you want to be ethical, there are your options: open and crucified, or corrupt and alive. Hardly the stuff of black and white reasoning, huh?

Jason Seiden is Co-founder and CEO of Ajax Social Media, a training company that shows professionals how use social media to work more effectively.