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Although experts advocate highly ethical principle-based approaches to leadership (Cameron and Spreitzer, 2013), many employees perceive their companies oeespoused values to be substantially different from actual practices (Schein, 2010). This inconsistency between promises made and kept has been a source of employee distrust for decades (Kouzes and Posner, 2011). The Native American Lakota Indian nation has adopted 12 guiding virtues that are both elements of every leader-follower relationship and foundation principles of the Lakota culture. Understanding those cultural virtues and their practical application offers valuable insights and helps clarify the implicit leadership obligations that make up human relationships.
This paper describes the 12 Lakota virtues and identifies how they correspond with ethical leadership principles which make up transformative leadership " an ethically based leadership model that incorporates elements of six other leadership perspectives. After identifying the importance of ethical leadership and introducing the elements of transformative leadership, this paper describes the 12 Lakota virtues, identifies findings about their leadership applications in todays work setting, and presents propositions linking Lakota virtues and ethical leadership.
Understanding ethical leadership
Ethical leadership encompasses the demonstration and promotion of moral conduct in building follower commitment (Skubinn and Herzog, 2016, pp. 250-251). Bennis and Nanus (2007, pp. 1-3) called the leaders ability to generate trust one of leaderships most critical issues. The ability to create high-trust organizational cultures is a key to obtaining and retaining competitive advantage (Pfeffer, 1998; Covey, 2004; Bennis and Nanus, 2007; Cameron, 2011).
The leadership role has been described as a sacred obligation in the pursuit of truth and new meaning (Pava, 2003); the key to empowering others (Zhang and Bartol, 2010); and the responsibility to work for the welfare, growth, and wholeness of others (DePree, 2004). Moral leaders are ethical stewards who create long-term wealth for all parties and demonstrate a commitment to the welfare, growth and wholeness of those whom they serve (Block, 2013; Caldwell, 2012). The stewardship role creates wealth and adds value (Senge, 2006), generates innovation and creativity which sustain competitive advantage (Christensen, 2011); and builds follower commitment and trust (Hayes et al. , 2015). Ethical leaders demonstrate morally sustainable virtues and encourage others to do the same (Skubinn and Herzog, 2016). Such leaders create organizations that provide improved customer service, increased...