Integrity In Leadership
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
- Marcellus, Hamlet
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragic tale of corruption, revenge and madness. When Hamlet’s father - the King of Denmark - is brutally murdered, the repercussions are swift and disastrous, with both Hamlet’s family and the wider state suffering greatly. This famously ominous line is uttered after a palace guard witnesses the ghost of the recently murdered King float through the palace walls. A bad omen indeed.
Now, you may wonder why I am harping on about Hamlet… and surprisingly, it’s not because it’s one of the few Shakespeare plays I actually recall from GCSE English Literature! Last week I was reminded of Marcellus’ words when I read Professor Martin Seligman’s (the founding father of Positive Psychology) assertion that ‘rotten leadership’ is the single biggest obstacle to creating a flourishing world.
I agree wholeheartedly with Seligman’s assessment. Whilst the world has always had its fair share of despots, tyrants, and dictators; during hopeful, progressive times, it can be easy to assume tyranny has been relegated to the past. But alas, progress is never linear. In recent years, we have seen a global uptick in authoritarianism, and leaders with no ethics, morals, or compassion.
There is something rotten in so many of our modern nation states. And the rot has set in with not only governmental leaders, but across organisational and institutional leadership too. Just this week in South Korea, President Yoon attempted to declare martial law, plunging the democratic nation into a state of chaos in a desperate and ill-advised power grab.
“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.”
- W. Clement Stone
So how did we get here? What has contributed to the backsliding of democracy and the backtracking of promises by leaders? A recent EY report suggests there is an ever-widening gap between what leaders say and what they do. And it appears that many individuals who find themselves in positions of power and leadership (whether through their own doing or not), are ill-equipped to lead with integrity.
They may lack empathy, be too self-serving, be too easily swayed by societal pressure, have a lack of ethical and moral education, and fear losing their seat at the table. Not ironically, these shortcomings reflect the inverse of how organisational scholars Palanski and Yammarino (2007) define leadership integrity:
Integrity as wholeness
Integrity as consistency between words and actions
Integrity as consistency in adversity
Integrity as being true to oneself
Integrity as morality/ethics
Building on from their earlier work, Palanski and Yammarino (2009) argued that leadership integrity is a virtue - a character strength closely related to authenticity, honesty, trustworthiness, and ethical and moral fairness. However, the key behavioural element of integrity is consistency; between words and action, across time and contexts. For example, if a leader claims they care deeply about DEI, we should expect to see commensurate actions, such as providing long term resources and investment into DEI initiatives - through both good times and bad.
Yet something is missing from these conceptualisations: courage. As W. Clement Stone suggests, bravery is required to lead with integrity. It requires courage to forge your own path, it takes courage to speak out against wrongdoing or against those with more power, it takes courage to do the right thing in the face of potential backlash, and it takes courage to be steadfast in your beliefs and actions.
Let’s look at some fairly recent examples of leaders who don’t have the courage to do the right thing…
The Labour party’s cabinet quickly came under fire not long into Keir Starmer’s premiership for accepting gifts from wealthy donors (presumably in return for political sway). These ranged from football match tickets and music concert tickets, to designer wardrobes and luxury accommodation. Labour soon felt the ire of the public, and had to scramble to distance themselves from the scandal - though noticeably very few of the gifts were returned!
Another Keir Starmer face-plant can be seen in his public stance on the genocide in Gaza. Despite his track record as a human rights lawyer, Starmer has refused to use the word genocide (and misrepresented its definition), and to this day supports Israel’s “right to defend itself”- as human rights abuses mount by the day and international law is simply disregarded. His hypocrisy on this issue has had severe consequences for his political popularity, costing him the support of several Labour councillors.
And is there any greater stink of corruption than the fat bonuses Thames Water bosses received this year whilst simultaneously failing to do their basic job of infrastructure maintenance, consequently pumping tons of raw sewage into our rivers. We really can’t sink any lower.
Greta Thunberg is a climate activist who consistently displays integrity in her words and actions .
Perhaps coincidentally, in the past month, I have also directly witnessed some very unethical and unkind behaviours from founders and CEOs. These leaders have conducted themselves in ways that are appallingly self-serving, and actively harmful to their workforce. The golden thread through it all is - shock horror - an overwhelming lack of integrity. These are the types of leaders who turn on a dime, they have a new flavour of the month - every month - and as a result it is quite clear that they simply do not stand for anything (except making that money, honey).
I have seen, first hand, leaders do the exact opposite to what they have been recommended when it comes to DEI - and after having given an impassioned speech about how much they care about doing the right thing! This pattern of behaviour is worrying. If we cannot trust our leaders to follow through on promised action, we must take action ourselves. We need to rethink and reframe leadership entirely; and we must call out bad behaviour when we see it.
On the one hand, we need a new brand of leader. Leaders schooled in ethics and morality. Leaders with a deep sense of service to the public and to their workforce. Leaders who are passionate about social good and are not afraid to challenge the status quo. But as Ash Sakar discusses in her breakdown of the Alternative Race Report, we also need to stop looking to historically corrupt and biased institutions for leadership. In fact, it’s our grassroots leaders who can light the way:
“The problem with liberal identity politics is that it puts recognition from the state above self-organisation and above collective struggle and above solidarity. So if we want those ingredients to mean anything, in some ways we've got to divest ourselves of the desire to be recognised by those at the top and start recognising each other.”
- Ash Sakar
A wonderful example is Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. At the age of 21, her stalwart climate activism has helped raise awareness of greenwashing and human rights issues. Greta - a young leader of immense integrity - has accomplished more than many of us can hope to achieve in a lifetime. If only more of us had the courage to lead with the dedication and compassion Greta does, and to take up the mantle ourselves when we see our institutional leaders floundering, we might be a lot closer to a more prosperous planet.
We also need to continue blowing the whistle. Encouragingly, whistleblowing in general is on the rise, with a 92% increase in whistleblowing tribunal cases between 2015-2023. So we must continue in earnest to call out the toxic leaders and toxic organisations that renege on their promises and do harm. However, it is easy to forget that as a collective, we the people hold a great deal of power! Thanks to social media, the court of public opinion can have an instrumental impact on how an organisation is perceived and ultimately how it performs. Organisations must remember this! You may publicly say all the right things, but if behind closed doors you are bullying your staff, it won’t be long before the cat’s out of the bag.
We hope we can get to a point at which the risk of exposure posed by a potential whistleblowing case is not the driver for leaders to act with integrity. But in the short-term, where there is a lack of accountability and where leaders seem able to simply break promises with impunity, this is one avenue for empowering workers - much in the same way that protests empower citizens. After all, as Greta rightly points out:
“The real power belongs to the people.”
- Greta Thunberg