Moral Leadership in a Postmodern World

Abstract

This paper examines the gap between moral purpose and moral performance as a problem created in part by the alienation of spirituality from civic life. We are a nation ofprivatized morality that places corporate and civic leaders in a labyrinth of uncertainty when they try to establish a moral foundation for actions and decisions affecting the public interest. This uncertainty is compounded by an Enlightenment tradition of modern secular pluralism privileging rational discourse as the vehicle of public moral sentiment. In this longstanding intellectual tradition, reason is the highest good (Plato, Aristotle), the defining,feature of human subjectivity (Descartes), the foundation of human freedom (Kant, Hegel, Locke), and the path to moral truth (Kant).

Although much of the intellectual, social, economic, and political energy of the last century has challenged the totalizing assumptions embedded in this tradition (Marx, Foucault, et alia), qualities of neutrality, objectivity, and universality remain as privileged values influencing cultural practices of morality and leadership. Leaders turn to reason, with its assumed qualities of tolerance and respect, in the attempt to cultivate organizational cultures of moral clarity, accountability, and trust without violating the intellectual and spiritual freedom of the individuals and groups who constitute the organizational culture. The problem with this approach is that moral solidarity - and, for that matter, genuine tolerance and respect -- are not a product of the intellect; they are a creation of the human spirit. In the secular tradition, spirituality is a private pursuit with no legitimate role in the public domain.

This paper introduces a framework, the Moral Compass, as a possible approach for creating moral solidarity. The Moral Compass creates a conceptual framework and terminology the enables people to engage in meaningful, authentic moral dialogue and discernment while remaining anchored in the their unique moral traditions.

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