Moral leadership in companies and institutions is as mystical and magnetic as it is essential to long-term organizational success. It is also somewhat of a rare commodity that only finds value to many organizations when it is too late. In this moment of a national health crisis, economic uncertainty, civil unrest, and moral reckoning, CEOs and C-Suiters all across the globe should be asking themselves – Where is My John Lewis?
An American Icon, and frequently anointed “Conscience of the House of House of Representatives” died on Friday. Representative John Lewis was a great man.
Representative John Lewis lived a life that was morally just. He was clear-eyed about the complexities of social injustice and he stood firmly resolute against the snapping and unpredictable winds of intolerance, bigotry, and inhumanity. Winds that whirled around him, and every other American with uncertainty and yet terrifying frequency for over a half a century. From the Bridge in Selma Alabama in 1965 where a young John Lewis was nearly beaten to death for a demonstration of peaceful civil disobedience fighting for the right of Black people to vote to 2020 in Washington DC – where his last known public appearance on the streets of our Nation’s capital was to remind us all once again that yes, Black lives do indeed matter.
Yet Representative John Lewis always seemed to find the eye of the storm … the quiet place in the chaos … and it was there he began his work.
It is precisely this ambiguity and uncertainty around matters of race and racial strife that find parallels to moral leadership in this moment facing many American companies today. Some organizations find themselves staring into the uncertainty of this moment – paralyzed. Paralyzed in the howling winds of a global health crisis, economic crisis and a highly charged socio-political debate that make it difficult to think, let alone act.
Organizations that lack representation of unapologetic moral leadership in their C-Suite or on their Boards will perish in this moment, or the next — their demise is inevitable.
It is inevitable because moral leadership usually finds its voice in the moment when immediate and firm action is imperative, and inaction is failure. Make no mistake, it is not just about racial injustice or racial equality today – it can as easily be about employment discrimination, ethical scandals, fraud, waste, or abuse tomorrow. Moral leadership is immutable. While many organizations are finding their footing in this moment of civil unrest and reconciliation compounded by responding to a global pandemic, others are slipping; some are even abjectly failing to meet the moment by losing donors, key talent, clients and customers. If your organization is in this last category, it may be less about diversity and more about who you have sitting around your C-Suite board room. This moment is the proverbial ‘canary in the coal mine’ for the savvy CEO, President, or Board Chair. You may by now be looking at this problem differently, and perhaps you are asking yourself – ‘Where is My John Lewis?’
A 2018 World Economic Forum study on moral leadership found that “Only 13% of employees say their leaders usually take a stand on moral topics. Only 17% put principles first. Only 14% acknowledge their own failings, and only 13% make amends when they get things wrong. Though rare, moral leadership can be extremely effective. When managers lead with humility, they are 22 times more likely to be trusted by their colleagues, according to our analysis. When managers are able to make themselves small and create an atmosphere in which others can stand up and deliver a great performance, they are 11 times more likely to achieve their business goals.”
I have had the honor of working for iconic American institutions and directly for their leaders over the past 20 years in Government, Politics, and the Private sector that have proven time and time again — when faced by a moral crisis, the organizations that find their footing against those winds have already cultivated, trained, and empowered leaders of moral unambiguity within their ranks. The list of these moral leaders is too long, but they all had one thing in common. In the moment or moral crisis or conundrum, these thoughtful leaders knew precisely what to do, and with eerie precision, they knew exactly what step to take to find their way and lead their team out of the storm.
Organizations will not have the time to recruit, train, cultivate and then empower leaders in the moment of crisis – you either have them now on your team, or you don’t. The decisions your organization makes at these critical junctures will invariably be firm, informed, and confident, or tepid, shaky and uncertain – that is if you can even find the will to move at all.
We are all diminished in this loss, as John Lewis took with him the kind of leadership that every organization and institution in America should be recruiting for right now. Over the past few months, if your organization found itself looking to the left and to the right for that moral compass equivalent to the “Conscience of the House”– you are likely too late to recover your organization from what will be a painfully tumultuous reckoning with a lack of diversity and moral leadership.
However, as a leader, you can now ensure that your future leaders don’t forget this hard lesson by ensuring that they have the future team that they deserve when their moment comes. You can find, cultivate and empower your own young John Lewis who stood on a bridge in Alabama in 1965 and got into Good Trouble, and then led an entire Nation though the storm for decades – until the very end. Your organization needs people who understand how to get into Good Trouble – they will be the future moral compass needed to guide you and your leadership team through the inevitable storm. Find your John Lewis.
Learn more about John Lewis, and his amazing legacy of moral leadership from this new documentary from @MagnoliaFilms directed by Dawn Porter, founder of Trilogy Films here.
