Moral Intelligence for Successful Leadership: Leading and Living in alignment with Universal Human Principles
Doug Lennick and Fred Kiel, Ph.D., authors of Moral Intelligence, Enhancing Business Performance & Leadership Success

Published in Leader to Leader, Number 40, Spring 2006; Leader to Leader Institute, Jossey-Bass.

Introduction

When we began our research on this subject in the middle 1990’s, we did not expect that we were about to enter an era when the cost of not having moral values at work would be so obvious. We are still unable to accurately calculate a “return on investment” for the presence of moral values in the workplace, but it is clear that the cost of the absence of moral values and the resulting moral incompetence is indeed high. In the first few years of this millennium market capitalization of domestically traded stocks was hammered to the tune of more than $1trillion—and a good portion of this can be attributed to the loss of confidence and trust in the honesty and integrity of our free market system.

What is Moral Intelligence?

Moral intelligence differs from our cognitive, technical and emotional intelligences. Moral intelligence is our mental capacity to determine how universal human principles (such as integrity, responsibility, compassion and forgiveness—universal human principles that cut across the globe and are not gender, ethnic, cultural or religious specific) should be applied to our personal values, goals and actions.

Recent neuro-scientific advances in mapping the brain provide strong evidence that we are, indeed, born to be moral. We appear to have been provided with “moral hardwiring” at birth. In other words, we were born to be moral, just like we were born to be lingual. Although we are not born speaking and we are not born moral, we are born to speak and we are born to develop a moral compass. Of course, this leads to the connection between nature and nurture. The language or languages we learn requires both the nature to learn language and the nurture of those speaking around us. Our moral intelligence is nurtured in the early years by our family or caregivers, and later in life the workplace itself serves as a place where our moral intelligence comes into play.

Our research strongly indicates that sustainable personal and organizational success requires moral competence, which is the active application of our moral intelligence. Moral competence is an outgrowth of “living in alignment”, the interconnection of an individual’s moral compass (basic moral principles, values, and beliefs); their goals; and their behaviors, including one’s thoughts, emotions, and external actions. Living in alignment means an individual’s behavior is consistent with their goals and that their goals are consistent with their moral compass. Living in alignment is not accidental. It requires understanding and building on each component while maintaining alignment among all components.

Our moral competence can indeed be enhanced throughout life. Competence shows up in behaviors. And when it comes to moral behaviors in the workplace, organizations can and must create environments within which the following principles of moral intelligence come to life: integrity, responsibility, compassion and forgiveness.

Is There Such a Thing as a Morally Intelligent Organization?

In our book, Moral Intelligence, (page 159) we comment: “A morally intelligent organization is one whose culture is infused with worthwhile values and whose members consistently act in ways aligned with those values. A morally intelligent organization’s major characteristic is that it is populated with morally intelligent people.”

Organizational culture is a function of selection and leadership. As Jim Collins suggests in Good to Great, who is on the bus does matter! And, not surprisingly, how leaders lead matters as well.

What Collins discovered in his research is consistent with what we discovered in ours. He found what leaders believe (that is, what’s embedded in their moral compasses) impacts business results. He also found leaders who go from good to great were similar in important ways. In a recent speech at a major American Bankers Association Convention (10/26/05), Collins noted that great leaders are both humble and ambitious. However, their ambition is for the cause, for the purpose, for the mission, not for themselves. He calls such leaders “Level 5 leaders” and notes they are driven to produce results but in a morally intelligent way.

Collins says this in his book, “Our research exposed Level 5 as a key component inside the black box of what it takes to shift a company from good to great. Yet inside that black box is yet another black box—namely, the inner development of a person to Level 5. We could speculate on what might be inside that black box, but it would mostly be just that—speculation. So, in short, Level 5 is a very satisfying idea, a powerful idea, and, to produce the best transitions from good to great, perhaps an essential idea.”

We do believe it is an essential idea. We also believe organizations can, should and must do something about it. We have some ideas of our own which might help you get inside your black box.

How to Develop and Nurture Moral Intelligence in Yourself and the Workplace

Alignment of behaviors with goals and goals with moral principles and personal values is a roadmap for sustainable optimal success for both individuals and organizations. Because the readers of this article are individual leaders, our comments will be directed at you. You can apply the concepts and use the tools with the entire workforce. We will build off the following understanding of leadership:

• Effective leadership of others begins with effective management of oneself.
• Effective management of oneself begins with self-awareness and ends with living in alignment.
• Living in alignment is all about aligning personal reality (thought, emotion, action) with organizational and individual goals and with the ideals represented in our moral compass (principles, values, beliefs).

With the above in mind, it should be obvious that it all starts with self-awareness. Who are you ideally? Who are you really? What are your goals? What are your strengths? What are your gaps? What do you need to learn and what behaviors do you need to change?

Because your moral intelligence is found in your ideality, and because your moral competence is expressed in your reality, we will focus on the self-awareness and the self-management of the ideal and the real, and the connection of your ideality and reality to the moral principles of integrity, responsibility, compassion and forgiveness.

Who are you ideally? If you haven’t done so, we suggest you complete a personal values exercise, and if you don’t have one readily available to you, visit www.moralcompass.com to use ours at no cost. Also, if you don’t now do so, we suggest you discuss personal values in the hiring process. When you’re deciding who you want on your bus you should be very interested in the personal values of the proposed riders.

As it relates to using personal values in building a trusting and trustworthy culture, the following three step process applied to personal values will help:

• Self-awareness (What are your values?)
• Self-disclosure (Share your values with your direct reports)
• Discovery of others (Discover the values of those who report to you)

Within your ideals you will see your moral intelligence. Within the ideals of others, you will see their moral intelligence. As you reflect on your top five or six values, you will notice your values will be like a fabric with different kinds of fibers imbedded within the fabric. Some of the fibers will be moral, some social, some professional, etc. Incidentally, if you examine your company values, you will discover a fabric made of similar kinds of fibers.

Who are you really? Once one grasps that personal reality is the moment to moment experience of thought, emotion and action (both voluntary and involuntary action), then one recognizes personal reality is constantly changing and, for the most part, can be managed through exercising the power of personal choice. For example, although we cannot choose our emotions and our involuntary biological processes, we can choose what to think, what to think about, and how to think about it. We can also choose what we do and what we say.

To enhance your self-awareness of personal reality, which will lead directly to enhanced self-management and in turn to more effective leadership and relationships with others, we recommend you play the freeze game several times every day for the rest of your life.

What is the freeze game and how does one play it?

• At any given moment hit the pause button and check in on your personal reality. At that moment, what were you thinking? What were you feeling? What were your actions? Awareness of actions includes awareness of facial expression, body language, and tone of voice.
• Ask yourself, “Is my reality of experience aligned?” This is a two-part question: Are my thoughts, emotions and actions aligned with one another, and is that reality of experience aligned with my goals and my moral compass?

If your reality is aligned, you are in the moment! You are in the zone!! You are appropriately focused! If your reality is misaligned, you can change it. You can change what you think. You can change the tone in your voice and/or the look on your face. You can change what you do. Remarkably, when you change what you think and do, you will influence the emotions you feel and your involuntary biological and physical processes.

Whether you are in alignment or not, it is important to recognize you are always influencing those around you, and influencing others is what leadership is all about.

Connecting Personal Reality and Ideality with the Moral Principles of Integrity, Responsibility, Compassion and Forgiveness

Because, as our friend and author Larry Wilson points out, we are all FHBs (fallible human beings), perfection will escape us. We might very well embrace the principles, which will mean we are indeed morally intelligent, but from time to time not live up to them. In those moments we will be morally intelligent and morally incompetent simultaneously.

Fortunately, however, we can enhance our ability to honor the principles by focusing on enhancing competencies related to the principles. We have identified ten competencies which support the principles. The principles and their competencies are:

• integrity: acting consistently with principles, values, and beliefs; telling the truth; standing up for what is right; keeping promises
• responsibility: taking responsibility for personal choices admitting mistakes and failures; embracing responsibility for serving others
• compassion: actively caring about others
• forgiveness: letting go of one’s own mistake; letting go of others’ mistakes

Improving our moral competencies results in us better utilizing our moral intelligence. By becoming aware of who we are ideally and who we are really we can ask ourselves the following questions:

• Are my personal values in harmony or in conflict with the moral principles? If so, I have a functional moral compass. If not, I must reexamine my values and fix my compass.
• Are my goals in alignment with my moral compass? If not, I must adjust them until they are.
• Are my behaviors in alignment with my goals and my moral compass? If not, I must change my behaviors. That will require that I change my thoughts.

It is imperative to recognize we cannot choose the principles. They exist independent of our acceptance of them. Also, we cannot choose our emotions. What we can choose are our values, our beliefs, our goals, our thoughts and our actions. If necessary, we can choose to change all or any of those to better align with the principles.

Conclusion

Moral intelligence, although not moral perfection, is alive and well in vast numbers of large and small companies. It is critical for sustained personal and organizational success and the application of moral intelligence, can and must be nurtured in your life and in your organization.

References:
1. Lennick, Doug & Kiel, Fred Moral Intelligence, 2005, Wharton School Publishing (Prentice Hall)
Collins, Jim Good to Great, 2001, Harper Collins