To be or not to be...

In life we have to make different decisions. We have to decide on different alternatives and choices. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes difficult. Dilemma is a situation where you have difficult choices and you are not sure which you want to choose. Sometimes there are different possibilities that will have consequences which you don’t wish for. Most of the time, it is a conflict with two possible solutions. As a professional you are encountered in such situations regularly.  At leadership positions such situations are common.

We encountered situations related to values, ethics, morale and we have different choices. For example, you see the small kid begging at the signal. You become emotional and compassionate to see her, however you also believe that there is a beggars’ racket active. It is possible that if you give the money to beggars, it will encourage beggars’ racket. It is also creating the habit of begging and that kid will never learn to work hard. Here is a moral dilemma, to give the money or not?

Sometimes while solving the problem we focus on the correlation and not the causation. This mainly happens when there is a lot of data. Sometimes you see the correlations between different variables and solve the problem only focusing on co-relations. We miss the causation. Such types of situations also create a dilemma when you don’t see the link between correlation and causation. 

There are different dilemmas we face during our personal and professional life. Ethical, moral, values, legal and so on. In any case there is a conflict and you are not sure about the possible outcomes.

Dilemmas are good. It shows the character and traits of the person while resolving dilemmas. Generally, during interviews, few managers ask questions explaining a hypothetical situation and check the response. It is crucial how the person responds and resolves the dilemma. One of the simple examples is, “Your department is understaffed and there is a lot of pressure on performance. Your few employees are on leave and one employee to whom you expect in the office, calls you and requests the leave as his kid is sick. What and how will you act in such a situation?” Response may vary depending upon the person and you can get the clue about the personality from such responses, and his body language. The question is how you resolve dilemmas in your life. Sometimes something is legal but beyond your values.

We behave differently while dilemma resolution. In our life we have different values, some values are very strong where you would never compromise, some values are flexible and changing in nature depending upon the situation. 

On the 15th Day of Mahabharata war, Guru Dronacharya killed Virat and Drupada. This was a big setback to Pandavas. Arjuna was not able to defeat Guru Dronacharya. As far as Dronacharya held a weapon in hand, he was undefeatable. Lord Krishna knows this. To make him unarmed, he makes a plan, where Bhima kills one of the tuskers named Ashwatthama. Ashwaththama was a beloved son of Guru Drona. Bhima kills tusker and proclaims that he killed Ashwaththama. The news spreads like a fire and when Guru Drona hears this and thinks. “Could it be true?” He could not see his son and he got worried. To confirm this, he goes to the Yudhisthira, who was known for truthfulness and asks, “Has Bhim killed Ashwaththamma?” Now Yudhisthira is in a dilemma. His values were strong, how can he tell a lie. He replied, “Yes.” However, Yudhisthira had also uttered, "Naro va kunjaro va," to absolve himself of the sin of lying. Either a man or an elephant. He had chosen to broaden the zone of truthfulness and to blur the distinction between nobility and ignoble dishonesty. Somebody may say that it was unethical, but finally you have to think what is better for the larger and own group.

While resolving such dilemmas, you can follow the process in personal and professional life.

Understanding values and principles, challenging your inner self, inner conscience mind and your Intellectual intelligence. It is called “the principle of moral idealism”. It says that there is a clear distinction between good and bad, between what is acceptable and what is not and that the same is true for all situations. It therefore asks to abide by the rule of law without any exception. Another theory is there is a very thin line between good and bad. It totally depends upon the situation. What may be acceptable in a certain situation can be unacceptable at some other place. Some believe that the authority is competent to take the decision and they will use their intuition to understand what is good and what is bad.

Discuss and debate: Whenever you are in a dilemma, it is good to discuss and debate on different alternatives and consequences of the outcomes. You can use the 6 thinking hats process to investigate different aspects of the problem.

Engage different stakeholders in the organization if this is at organizational level. In personal life, engage with family members, spouse, parents and elders. They will give you a different perspective.

In the VUCA world, dilemmas are at every corner and step of life. It is bad, not to think and take decisions blindly. Dilemmas will test your inner strength and it is up to you what you want to be. Finally, you have to satisfy your inner conscience.   

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Values and ethics in your leadership style..... Challenge?

Ethics and values go hand in hand. Leaders are role model for the people. They watch their leaders, may the leader be political or entrepreneur. People always observe them and get influenced by their behaviour? That is the reason, why leader has more accountability to exhibit the right behaviour than followers.

Who is a good leader? There are lot of research, books and material available on leadership and we try to follow the same in our personal life. But there are some inbuilt traits which has the major impact on our personalities and consequent to that on our success. One of the factors is our values and ethics driven by values.

Hitler, Saddam Hussein are at one side, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King is at another side. All were leading somebody but what they gave to the society and their country? What ethical content should be given to leadership? What is ethics? What is leadership without values? Let's examine the power of ethics in leadership, a key success topic.

A leader is a person capable of influencing the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of other people. In order for a leadership to be ethical, that influence must be based on principles and values.

The charisma of many leaders such as Hitler and Hussein have led thousands and millions of followers to carry out atrocities and injustices, to commit crimes against their fellow citizens and against humanity and, in their actions, to contradict what they preach in their public speeches with such energy and “magic.”

However, this lack of ethics in leadership is not limited to the area of politics. Only recently we witnessed the serious consequences of the ethical flaws of business leaders, Raju in Satyam case. We had also the example of Enron and Andersen in the United States and the more recent case of HP CEO Mark Hurd.

If we begin with the definition of leadership as the ability to move other people towards a common objective that they would not achieve on their own, these three famous people in contemporary and current history, along with others, fit this definition perfectly. But, how ethical and value based is their behavior?

Ethics studies man’s behavior within a framework of common moral rules that have been mutually agreed to. Ethics is created by man, with a broad religious and moral foundation, for the purpose of facilitating coexistence.

I am ethical when I obey the rules and laws agreed to by society, the laws and guidelines for social behavior. I am ethical when I practice what I preach, when I base my behavior on moral principles.

Ethics plays a fundamental role in leadership because leaders inspire others to action, to achieve a vision with confidence.

Confidence grows from the credibility leaders inspire. And they credibility, in turn, arises from their integrity, from how close their walk matches their talk. If leaders promise something and fail to keep that promise, their integrity fails, they lose credibility and, consequently, their people lose confidence in them. The team spirit breaks and the possibility of making the vision a reality is weakened.

With so many spiritual and material temptations, we find it difficult to react based strictly on moral principles. External pressures can be pushing you to say YES when you should say NO.

We are not perfect, but as leaders, we have the responsibility to weigh our actions, no matter how simple they appear. In being leaders we are like a shop window, exposed to the eyes of our children, our loved ones, associates, employees, clients, providers, friends and neighbors.

Humility allows us to admit that we are weak and to ask for help to act with rectitude. Courage allows us to acknowledge our errors, forgive ourselves, express forgiveness, and be reconciled. Humility and courage help us improve the way we lead ourselves and others, to achieve inspired visions in our lives and in the lives of others.

What are your values? Under which principles do you act in your life? The impact of ethics in leadership is very high. Living a life faithful to what we endorse, "Walking the Talk,” practicing what we preach, is the great challenge. It is my daily challenge and I know that it is also yours. Be great in the small things and you will be a great leader.