Can Good People Be Good Leaders?

LOCATION & DAY: Johnny Pistolas in Adams Morgan on Thursday. We will meet on the 2nd floor.
The purpose of Thinkers and Drinkers is to facilitate casual but meaningful and interesting conversations with other people in a face-to-face setting. The topics cover a wide variety of issues and are different for every meeting. While conversations may get heated at times, we ask that all members be respectful of each other and refrain from personal insults.

# Topic: Can Good People Be Good Leaders?

Leadership is often idealized as a noble pursuit, characterized by guiding others, improving society, and making tough decisions for the greater good. But in practice, leaders in politics, business, and social movements will often break or bend ethics to achieve their goals.

### Modern Politicians

Recent U.S. politics provides vivid examples of this tension:

• Donald Trump, who openly flouts norms and legal boundaries, argues that such actions are justified in the name of protecting the nation or fighting a corrupt system.
• Gavin Newsom, though very different politically, has also pushed or bent legal limits and backtracked on previous moral grounds like independent redistricting.

Among many Democratic circles, there is a perceived notion that to fight the Republicans, they need to adopt more hardline tactics, "play dirty," and that the ends will justify the means.

### Profit Over Ethics

In the business world, where cutthroat competition is the norm, it is often viewed that successful CEOs will abandon previously held convictions if it helps their bottom line. There are numerous examples of CEOs disregarding ethical norms and taking actions that harm society as a whole while enhancing their bottom line — Tobacco Companies ignoring the health effects of their products, Energy and Chemical companies polluting the environment, and Social Media companies downplaying the negative effects of their apps on mental health.

When it comes to the corporate executives, there is evidence that psychopathic traits are much more common (3.5-12 times) than compared to the general population. While disputed, it is often believed that having these traits and being less attached to a sense of ethics will help one climb up the corporate ladder.

## Questions to Consider

• Is it possible to lead effectively without ever bending rules or norms?
• Do we hold leaders to impossible moral standards, or do we expect too little of them?
• Do traits associated with unethical behavior (manipulation, ignoring the well-being of others) actually help leaders succeed?
• Would having a sense of ethics hold back leaders more now than in the past?
• In your own life, would you rather follow (or be) a leader who is ethical but less effective, or effective but ethically compromised?