Ethics and Leadership in Business

Business relations require a character to keep the operations within acceptable ethical standards. Laws made by men have loopholes that human manipulates to their advantage, especially when tough choices are not heart-warming. Many are the tensions and pop culture philosophy advocating for making income with any means available. Scriptures form useful yet incorruptible references reliable as references for character formation in business and domestic transactions. Marketers are notorious for exaggerations that trick consumers into buying commodities they do not need if they make sales. Alternatively, marketers overprice goods intending to make supernormal profits. Such lies lead to impulsive purchases at the expense of the buyer.

The case of Theranos is representative of dishonest means that business managers use to persuade investors to buy stock and create demand for the services and products they have.u00a0 Holmes, who was the CEO, relied on deceitful tactics to exaggerate the value of their products’ business and capacity. Eventually, Theranos portfolio rose under falsified auditing and investor bought stocks impulsively.u00a0u00a0Holmes was soon given the title u201cthe next Steve Jobs.u201du00a0Unfortunately, everything attractive about Theranos was all fabrications. It was not long before all the company secrets and lies were exposed. Court cases followed, and the once-revered billionaire wealth and respect tanked in the bottom of an abyss.u00a0

The business world is infested with immoral bins, which respect money than the overall vision. Coupled with the mindset of pop culture, doing what is right is no longer an ideal entrepreneur. Fake it till you make it attitude is the most destructive slogan ever invested in the business world because it promotes unethical business practices that do not regard other stakeholders’ welfare. One thing is for sure, and these dubious methods end on the debauched tale that attracts followers. The path to success takes longer and requires a character to stick within the game’s good rules.

Importance of ethics in business and leadership

Each year, large corporations commit some sort of fraud where they put their personal interestu00a0before their customer and the business environment. It happens in almost every sector, banking, car companies, insurance, and social media where organizations share user data without their consent. Sometimes the unethical behaviors are promoted withu00a0the pressure from shareholders to meet or exceed quarterly or annual results. Despite the ever-growing regulations to curbu00a0ethical decisions from being madeu00a0managers and employees ignore the ethical concerns of their actions.

consider the impact of a lack of ethics with all levels of an organization, not only at the executive level, but a lack of ethics also has a negative effect on employee performance. There are cases when employees are so concerned about getting ahead and making money.u00a0unfortunately, some people do not always follow the moral code of doing what is right. They do not consider the cause and effect of their actions putting their own benefits before anyone else.u00a0

There are also times when employees have the mindset that acting ethicallyu00a0will not get them ahead. Their crooked tactics also leads to a decrease in performance. Au00a0lack of ethical behavior can also cause tension among employees. If some employees are breaking the rules to get ahead, it creates a culture where you cannot trust anyone under the fear that you can manage to satisfy their own desires. This is incredibly damaging to businesses; most businesses rely on teams or departments collaborating to make the company successful. Worse yet, if a manager shows a lack of ethical behavior, he will likely lose respect from his staff. Note thatu00a0it is difficult to run a successful business without leaders who are well respected in an organization. u00a0

Dishonest leaders lose credibility and authority to lead a respectable team. Many employees report that their manager or supervisor has lied to them in every businessu00a0year.u00a0Some consider whiteu00a0as being acceptable in cases where you are protecting someone’s feelings, but in the end, liesu00a0always reveal themselves, and at some point, the employee will still lose trust with you for not being honest and straightforward.

If a lack of business ethics becomes known by the public, the business will lose credibility and trust, which is very difficult to overcome because the brand will be associated with a negative action for years in the future.u00a0Some businesses are able to overcome a negative public image. However, it comes at a price, the time and the money spent on advertising campaigns to rebuild the image takes time and does not guarantee earning back public trust.u00a0This kind of media can have detrimental consequences for a brand because even if they rectify the problem, theu00a0brand has still been associated with an unethical action which remains in the minds of consumers.

Emmanuel Addo
Founder

Emmanuel Addo is the founder of the Young Global Leaders Network, an international non-governmental organization registered in six (6) countries namely, Ghana, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan and has a membership strength of over 15,000 young black professionals, students, graduates, and aspiring leaders.

The organization also operates in 25 other African countries. Emmanuel also doubles as the chief convener and founder of the Young African Leaders Summit, one of the largest continental youth summits in Africa.  

Currently works at Kingston University as a Business Engagement Team Member in their Partnerships and Engagement Department. 

He characterizes energy, integrity, result-oriented, and ground-breaking service in each detail of strategic management, change management, stakeholder management, and leadership acquaintances.
Emmanuel owns a core background in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Ghana.

Leveraging his experience as a youth activist and a dynamic young man, Emmanuel founded the Young Global Leaders Network, a youth organization that comprises young diplomats, young politicians, and aspiring politicians, business/entrepreneurial business leaders with the aim of championing a mutual agenda for the African youth and promoting youth participation in governance as well as promoting entrepreneurial culture.
Emmanuel nurtures an environment of teamwork and has expertise in data collection and analysis as well as both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Emmanuel worked as an Associate Lecturer at the London College of Advanced Management where he delivered a wide range of business management courses that involved principles of marketing, leadership, operation management, and research methods. Emmanuel has always maintained high teaching and learning standards to ensure that his students’ stand out in academic achievements and successful progression. As a stout believer and passionate key player in volunteering; Emmanuel creates quality time to giving back gladly to his community what he has learned and to educate individuals with free consultancy on career development. He is a leader anyone would love to look up to and with great integrity, commitment, and passion to make the world a better place.
Emmanuel worked as Qualifications Manager at the Open University in the UK.

Emmanuel is also the founder of Kickstart Innovation Hub Ltd, the entrepreneurial hub of Young Global Leaders Network.