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#ethical-leadership — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #ethical-leadership, aggregated by home.social.

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  1. The Democrats’ Disastrous Shutdown Strategy: A Shameful Weaponization of Human Suffering

    The government shutdown of 2025 has been one of the most shameful episodes in modern American politics, not just because of the dysfunction it exposed, but because of how both parties — especially the Democrats — turned human suffering into a political strategy. For over 40 days, the federal government was paralyzed, workers went without pay, vital services were halted, and millions of Americans were left hanging in uncertainty. All for what? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. When the dust […]

    theinterfaithintrepidart.com/2

  2. From colonial expansion to corporate boardrooms, supremacy indoctrination of white masculinity has always meant extraction.

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    #MythOfWhiteSupremacy #LifeBeyondTheSupremacyMyth #BeyondMediocre #ProfitWithoutOppression #PWOCommunity #KimCrayton #EthicalLeadership #Dec6Event

  3. United Hatzalah, Faith, and Philanthropic Aims

    Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

    Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

    Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/06/21

    Mark Gerson is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and best-selling author dedicated to bridging faith and culture. He co-founded United Hatzalah, Israel’s volunteer EMT network, and leads Torah Tuesdays with Eagles Wings, a global Christian organization supporting Israel. Mark is the author of the forthcoming book, God Was Right: How Modern Social Science Proves the Torah is True, and hosts The Rabbi’s Husband, featuring discussions with leaders like Tucker Carlson and Senator Cory Booker. He specializes in faith-driven leadership, social science validations of religious texts, and ethical business practices. United Hatzalah, with 8,000 volunteer EMTs, ensures rapid first response in emergencies, saving lives daily. African Mission Healthcare partners with Christian hospitals across 19 countries to provide essential medical care and infrastructure. Gerson’s upcoming book, “God Was Right,” argues that modern social science validates Torah ethics, promoting happier, healthier lives. Through his podcast “The Rabbi’s Husband,” he explores biblical inspirations across diverse leaders. Gerson emphasizes aligning faith with business for ethical, impactful leadership.

    Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How has your experience co-founding United Hatzalah shaped views on the intersection of faith and philanthropy?

    Mark Gerson: I have co-founded and Chair two charitable organizations — United Hatzalah of Israel and African Mission Healthcare. United Hatzalah is Israel’s system of crowd-sourced volunteer first response.  It is based on the fact that ambulances, even in the most advanced cities, will take an average of ten minutes to someone who calls 911.  This is no one’s fault — it is driven by the fact that ambulances are too big to be fast and too expensive to be ubiquitous. 

    However, a victim of pre-hospital trauma — someone who calls 911, maybe someone who is choking, bleeding, having a heart attack, a stroke or is giving birth suddenly — does not need an ambulance immediately.  He needs a trained and equipped first responder at his side, ideally within 90 seconds. 

    So we built, over 20 years, an organization that has 8,000 volunteer EMTs and paramedics — who are ready, at all times, to drop whatever they are doing (working, eating, sleeping, celebrating, whatever) to rush to someone in their immediate vicinity who is in need.  Each volunteer carries on him/her, at all times, a full medic kit that we provide — so that the volunteer is always ready for everything: from a car accident to a child drowning to someone choking to a heart attack to a woman giving birth suddenly. 

    Because we are crowd-sourced — because we are able to locate the closest first responder and dispatch him to the scene immediately — we have the best response times in the world.  We respond to an average of 2,200 calls a day — and save dozens of lives every day. 

    I co-founded African Mission Healthcare in 2010 with my great friend Dr. Jon Fielder, who has been a missionary physician in Africa for his career.  We partner with Christian missionary physicians at Christian hospitals in Africa to provide clinical care to the poor, enable training of physicians and other medical professionals, build infrastructure (from oxygen to physician housing) and do hospital administration.  We have 31 hospital partners in 19 countries. 

    Many of the doctors we work with have devoted their entire lives to serving the poor — and doing so in medical conditions that are unimaginable to any physician in the West (operating without piped oxygen or consistent power, among other things) and living in conditions that I don’t think I could deal with for literally a weekend. They do so because they are inspired by their Christian faith to serve those who Jesus called in the Book of Matthew, “the least among us.” 

    This intersection of faith and philanthropy, where both organizations sit, has taught my wife (a Rabbi) and I a great deal.  We have seen how faith can bring out genuine greatness in people — how a devoted Jew (regardless of how ritually observant) will be excited to rush from his Shabbat table, wake up in the middle of the night or dash around the corner to render care to someone he doesn’t know.  And this devotion (which is not unique to Jews in United Hatzalah; we have many Christian, Muslim and Druze volunteers as well) does not even stop there — there are so many instances where, like what happened last week, a volunteer will return to the home of a patient he took to the hospital to clean it up…so that the patient can recover in a clean and welcoming environment.  

    And we have seen the same devotion with our Christian missionary partners (and now often friends) in Africa — we have seen how these people, who could be making excellent livings in the West, devote their entire lives to serving the poor due to their faith. 

    The missionary physicians we know through African Mission Healthcare and the volunteers we know through United Hatzalah are the best people we know — the people we want our children to be like — and we are blessed to be able to be their philanthropic partner. 

    And everyone who gives to either organization (or a similar organization — like Samaritan’s Purse) should regard themselves as partners — and never say (or think!): “It’s only money.”  Both the missionary physicians and the United Hatzalah volunteers have said that without the financial support of philanthropists — they’d be working with Band-Aides. 

    Jacobsen: God Was Right: How Modern Social Science Proves the Torah is True is an upcoming book. What is social science affirming the ethics of the Torah?

    Gerson:I have been studying the Torah every day for probably 15 years now — I start my day by running six miles on the treadmill, where I listen and watch Torah commentary, and then study subsequently.  The first thing I really understood about the Torah is what kind of book it is.  It is not a history book or a science book or a cookbook or even a lawbook — it is, as the Torah says of itself in Deuteronomy, a guidebook.  

    As a guidebook, the Torah exists to help us live happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives — in the most practical ways.  As such, it makes hundreds of primarily psychological, social and political claims — about who we are and who we can and should be personally and communally.  Many are completely counter-intuitive — such as that we can choose to be anti-fragile, we can change our character (and who we are) by following one simple rule, our choice of clothing is existentially important (and for reasons that have nothing to do with modesty or temperature control), and on and on. 

    For several thousand years, people have assessed the Torah using faith and experience.  Now, thanks to the advent of technology — we have science: specifically 21st century social science.  The 21st century social scientists, whose work ranges from obscure journals to best-sellers, have asked the same questions that the Biblical Author did.  

    I realized that the claims of the Torah can now be validated or invalidated socially scientifically.  In the book, I go through the Torah claims on dozens of subjects — from diversity to routine to fear to future orientation.  It turns out that the Torah is absolutely right in all of its asserts; in other words, the Torah has now been proven true.

    Many of the chapters also address where society and culture are in conjunction with the claims of the Torah and the findings of modern social science.  There, we are often going in the opposite directions— and I address that as well. 

    Jacobsen: What lessons have The Rabbi’s Husband taught you, in hosting? 

    Gerson: With the Rabbi’s Husband podcast, I did around 150 or so interviews with leaders from a variety of fields — Senators and NFL players, Pastors and Rabbis, physicians and Congressmen — about their favorite Biblical passage.  I learned just how the Bible — and often singular Biblical stories, laws and passages — can drive, intrigue and inspire a wide variety of people.  I think the most popular episode was Tucker Carlson’s — when we discussed whether Adam was right to trust Eve about the fruit, and its statement about gender relationships.

    Jacobsen: How can faith and business align to create ethical and impactful leadership? Gerson: The Torah is the greatest guide for everything — including ethical business leadership.  Here are just a few things:

    Leviticus 19: “You shall have honest scales and weights.”  A business leader who follows this principle will be sure to always have accurate accounting, fair billing, transparent performance metrics, honest advertising and clear claims about product risks and specifications.  

    Deuteronomy 24: “You shall give him [your worker] his wage on his day and not let the sun set over it.” A business leader will always pay his workers immediately and completely. 

    Leviticus 19 and 23: This commands that the landowner must leave a part of his field where the poor can reap.  A business leader following this principle will identify how he can allocate some of his products and services — in addition to money — for the benefit of the less fortunate.  And he will also do so with care for the dignity of the recipient — as this is why the poor are to reap themselves (rather than to get handouts from the landowner).

    Jacobsen: What insights come out of Torah Tuesdays and Eagles Wings in interfaith collaboration?

    I teach Torah every Tuesday at 12pm EST on Zoom to primarily Evangelicals — through the remarkable Christian Zionist and philo-Semitic parachurch ministry Eagles Wings.  We go through the Torah line by line, extracting the practical teachings and lessons for our daily lives.  I love the insights that the Pastor hosting the session (and the Pastor/hosts change each week) often bring from the New Testament and from their Christian experience.  And it is such a pleasure to be able to study the text in such depth.  We do about a book of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) every year.  If anyone wants to join, email me at [email protected] — and we’ll send you the Zoom link! 

    Jacobsen: What is relevant and irrelevant in the interpretive frame from the Torah in navigating contemporary life? People orient the truths of religion and emphasize and de-emphasize in civilizational seasons. Ours seems no different.

    Gerson: Great question — as everything in the Torah is completely relevant for navigating contemporary life.  The Torah is the guidebook for just that.  Every question, concern, challenge, opportunity that anyone has can be enlightened by the Torah in some profound and very helpful way.  That is what “God Was Right” is about! 

    Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Mark.

    Last updated May 3, 2025. These terms govern all In Sight Publishing content—past, present, and future—and supersede any prior notices.In Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons BY‑NC‑ND 4.0; © In Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen 2012–Present. All trademarksperformancesdatabases & branding are owned by their rights holders; no use without permission. Unauthorized copying, modification, framing or public communication is prohibited. External links are not endorsed. Cookies & tracking require consent, and data processing complies with PIPEDA & GDPR; no data from children < 13 (COPPA). Content meets WCAG 2.1 AA under the Accessible Canada Act & is preserved in open archival formats with backups. Excerpts & links require full credit & hyperlink; limited quoting under fair-dealing & fair-use. All content is informational; no liability for errors or omissions: Feedback welcome, and verified errors corrected promptly. For permissions or DMCA notices, email: [email protected]. Site use is governed by BC laws; content is “as‑is,” liability limited, users indemnify us; moral, performers’ & database sui generis rights reserved.

    #ethicalLeadership #faithPhilanthropy #interfaithCollaboration #socialScience #volunteerEMTs

  4. A space where you don’t have to perform — you get to grow.

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    #ProfitWithoutOppression #FutureOfWork #EthicalLeadership #JustFuturesNow #AntiOppression #CommunityBuilding #PWOCommunity #GoalSetting

  5. So if you’ve been searching for a community where justice is a shared responsibility, where growth doesn’t mean harm, and where you're not expected to shoulder it all alone—consider this your invitation.
    Because the only way we move forward is together.

    #FutureOfWork #CommunityBuilding #Equity #Inclusion #PWO #CollectiveCare #Leadership #IntentVsImpact #Transparency #JustWorkplaces #EthicalLeadership

  6. Conscience, Cynicism, and the Cultivation of Toxicity in Organisations

    Toxic leaders flourish not from malice alone but organisational complicity. Their actions breed employee burnout, counterproductive behaviour, and pervasive cynicism, eroding psychological safety and innovation. Addressing toxicity demands ethical leadership development, genuine psychological safety, and transparent accountability—transforming workplaces from cautionary tales of managerial failure into models of organisational resilience and integrity.

    Toxic leadership is hardly a novelty—human history is littered with egotists, autocrats, and petty tyrants. Today’s toxic leaders, however, sport crisp suits rather than robes, preside over meeting rooms rather than courts, and have exchanged decrees for passive-aggressive emails. What remains consistent is the petty backstabbing Still, the notion of toxic leaders exerting a malign influence remains alarmingly pervasive—despite almost every organisation having soaring prose about the importance of ethical behaviour. Indeed, far from a decline in toxic leadership because of values statements being posted in every break room, organisations are proving highly effective incubators rather than inhibitors of toxic leadership. Rewarding those whose behaviours undermine rather than uphold organisational well-being.

    At the core of toxic leadership lies a troubling dichotomy of charisma and cruelty—leaders who publicly project virtues such as decisiveness and confidence while privately tormenting their employees. These Jekyll and Hyde managers create climates of unpredictability, significantly raising employee anxiety. The result? Workplaces teeming with insecurity, mistrust, and collective burnout. Indeed, employees often report emotional exhaustion under such leadership styles, describing it vividly as a daily lottery of moods.

    The paradox, humorously tragic, is that toxic leaders rarely perceive themselves as problematic. They host seminars on ‘team cohesion’ without irony, applaud values like accountability in town halls while privately undermining subordinates, and might even win leadership awards, oblivious to their destructive wake. In short, self-awareness among these leaders remains astonishingly scarce, their consciences outsourced to HR departments or the bottom line with the result that ‘people tend to see the talk only as window dressing’.

    Organisational Consequences of Toxic Leadership

    The ripple effects of toxic leadership spread alarmingly fast. Organisations are not simply collections of employees—they are interconnected ecosystems. Thus, the tone set at the top inevitably flows to the entire organisational culture.

    At the individual level, emotional exhaustion is a critical consequence, manifesting as burnout, anxiety, and reduced organisational commitment. Employees report chronic fatigue, cynicism, and detachment, symptoms that soon translate into tangible organisational losses—declines in productivity, creativity, and innovation. Art Padilla, Robert Hogan, Robert B. Kaiser identified five features of destructive leadership:

    1. Destructive leadership is seldom absolutely or entirely destructive: there are both good and bad results in most leadership situations.
    2. The process of destructive leadership involves dominance, coercion, and manipulation rather than influence, persuasion, and commitment.
    3. The process of destructive leadership has a selfish orientation; it is focused more on the leader’s needs than the needs of the larger social group.
    4. The effects of destructive leadership are outcomes that compromise the quality of life for constituents and detract from the organization’s main purposes.
    5. Destructive organisational outcomes are not exclusively the result of destructive leaders, but are also products of susceptible followers and conducive environments.

    These features manifest in a toxic triangle:

    From Padilla, Hogan and Kaiser (2007): The Toxic Triangle

    Moreover, toxic leadership is correlated with increased counterproductive work behaviours, ranging from minor incivilities to outright sabotage. Employees, feeling unjustly treated, may resort to passive-aggressive resistance, reduced cooperation, or even malicious compliance—deliberately following flawed instructions to highlight managerial incompetence. In this environment, even routine tasks become battlegrounds of subtle rebellion and mistrust.

    Beyond individual impacts, toxic leadership fosters widespread organisational cynicism. Cynicism emerges when employees see glaring discrepancies between espoused organisational values and actual practices. Practices which fall into what Elizabeth E. Umphress and John B. Bingham called ‘Unethical Pro-organisational Behaviours’ which are unethical acts intended to benefit the organisation yet ‘violate core societal values, mores, laws, or standards of proper conduct’. Promises of transparency seem laughable when information is withheld or distorted; calls for teamwork become hollow when competition is covertly rewarded. Such cynicism erodes the organisational identity, leaving employees disillusioned and detached.

    Psychological safety also crumbles under toxic leadership. Defined as an environment where interpersonal risk-taking is safe, psychological safety is crucial for innovation and learning. Toxic leaders, however, stifle dissent, punish mistakes, and discourage open dialogue. The humorous irony here—if one could laugh through the misery—is that organisations often lament a lack of innovation while simultaneously tolerating a culture of fear.

    Strategies for Mitigating Toxic Leadership

    Addressing toxic leadership requires organisations move beyond mere symptom management to systemic reform. However, three strategies emerge consistently in research: leadership development, promoting psychological safety, and establishing transparent accountability.

    First, leadership development programs must go beyond superficial training sessions on communication skills—so anyone thinking they can send the manager off for a few days and all will be well are deluding themselves and harming employees. Instead, programs should foster genuine moral reflection, self-awareness, and ethical sensitivity. True moral development occurs gradually through practical reflection and experience rather than through sporadic ethics seminars. Organisations must facilitate environments where leaders openly acknowledge mistakes, learn from them, and foster empathy. Leaders who embrace vulnerability and authenticity encourage others to do likewise, transforming cultures from fear-based to trust-based.

    Secondly, promoting psychological safety is essential. Organisations should explicitly reward open communication and constructive dissent, acknowledging employees who challenge harmful behaviours or problematic decisions. Psychological safety can be fostered through practices like blameless post-mortems, regular 1:1s to seek in-depth feedback (anonymous feedback surveys will never suffice), and training managers to respond constructively to criticism. Such environments not only reduce toxicity but actively promote innovation, collaboration, and mutual respect.

    Finally, accountability must be transparent and impartial. Clear policies regarding unacceptable behaviour should be enforced consistently and publicly, irrespective of a leader’s status or performance—e.g., their sales numbers are great, but their behaviour is toxic ≠ keep them in the role. This approach requires courage from senior management—often needing them to confront difficult truths about their own managerial shortcomings or those of valued colleagues. Yet, visible accountability is the most powerful antidote to toxic leadership, sending a strong message that values like respect, fairness, and integrity are non-negotiable. As one finance industry executive observed:

    If there’s a situation within the corporation of sexual harassment where [the facts are] proven and management is very quick to deal with the wrongdoer . . . that’s leadership. To let the rumor mill take over, to allow someone to quietly go away, to resign, is not ethical leadership. It is more difficult, but you send the message out to the organization by very visible, fair, balanced behavior. That’s what you have to do.

    Quoted in Treviño, Hartman and Brown (2000): Moral Person and Moral Manager

    Cultivating Our Own Monsters

    Toxic leadership, though disturbingly prevalent, is neither inevitable nor irreversible. But this requires that everyone in an organisation understands amoral behaviour is not merely an individual failing, it is a systemic cultural issue. Bad things happen because good people remain silent. The underlying causes of toxic leadership—poor conscience formation, unchecked cynicism, and deficient moral discernment—demand comprehensive, sustained organisational responses. For which, there are many powerful tools available: genuine ethical reflection, building psychologically safe environments, and establishing transparent accountability systems.

    Perhaps the poignant lesson to emerge from studying toxic leadership is that we inadvertently cultivate our own monsters—leaders who are not inherently malicious but whose flaws are enabled and rewarded by our silence, our acquiescence, our ability to make excuses for their behaviour. Acknowledging this complicity is the first step toward meaningful reform.

    Ultimately, the objective is clear: not simply to eradicate toxic leadership but to build organisations where ethics, empathy, and genuine leadership thrive. Only then can we rewrite the corporate script—transforming what too often feels like a melodrama into a compelling success story.

    Good night, and good luck.

    Diogenes Searching for an Honest Man (c. 1780) attributed to J. H. W. Tischbein is licensed under Public Domain.

    #Accountability #BusinessEthics #EmployeeWellbeing #EthicalLeadership #Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment #ManagementPsychology #OrganisationalChange #OrganisationalCulture #PsychologicalSafety #ToxicLeadership

  7. In Baghdad, 2003, a press officer assured the world that "Baghdad is safe" as American tanks rolled into view behind him. The footage is surreal—and oddly familiar.

    In organisations, the same playbook is often in use. Would be 'leaders' project confidence. Brand narratives soar. Objectives, morale, and reality? They quietly slip through the cracks.

    robert.winter.ink/when-messagi

    #Leadership #OrganisationalCulture #DecisionMaking #EthicalLeadership #Communication

  8. Sustainability pros must lead with more than passion — they need ethics, competence, accountability, and trust. 🌍

    In public work, integrity isn’t optional — it’s foundational. #Leadership #Sustainability #ESG #PublicTrust #EthicalLeadership trellis.net/article/the-sustai

  9. Succession planning is more than a process—it's an ethical and strategic commitment to organisational sustainability. In my latest column, I discuss how embedding ethical stewardship, strategic alignment, and cultural continuity into leadership transitions can strengthen resilience, sustain values, and drive future innovation.

    #LeadershipDevelopment #SuccessionPlanning #OrganisationalSustainability #EthicalLeadership #StrategicPlanning #Mentorship #CulturalContinuity

    robert.winter.ink/a-guide-to-s