The Genesis of Ethical Leadership - Guy Forsyth

The book has resulted from research into the area of how a person's leadership approach develops. We still do not know why a person displays a particular leadership approach, that is, why some leaders are perceived as "good" (ethical, motivational etc) and others "bad" (oppressive, dictatorial etc). While there are numerous theories and extensive research in the leadership field that describe leadership there has been very few, if any, to suggest how a person's leadership approach forms. This book identifies what is meant by "leadership approach" and the different forms it can take. It then explores the basis of what constitutes ethical leadership.

In order to understand what we mean by good, namely ethical leadership the book investigates the philosophical basis of what we mean by good in a normative sense. If a leader is regarded as ethical then they must conform to the requirements of what we understand as good both in terms of their attitude towards followers and other stakeholders and in terms of their legacy.

In order to demonstrate the formation of a persons leadership approach the author illustrates the background and influences of four notably great leaders from the past two centuries and asks whether these leaders can, by reference to leadership, be considered great and what we mean by being a great leader. Is a great leader a good leader and would they be regarded as ethical in the true sense of the term?

The research into leadership suggests that certain environmental influences in youth operate to determine what type of leadership approach will emerge. By investigating the influence of societal, political, ethical and religious factors that act on a person in their early life it can be demonstrated that such contribute to the development of a person's worldview. Moreover, how these philosophical influences act upon a person not only informs their worldview but their leadership approach.

In order to demonstrate the proposed development of a persons leadership approach the book looks at four notably great leaders from the eighteenth and twentieth centuries - Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, Charles de Gaulle and Dwight Eisenhower. These leaders are all in the category known as soldier statesmen and were chosen specifically because of their successful leadership across two different domains - military and political.

The conclusion clarifies what we mean by a good leader and whether we should be assessing leadership from an ethical perspective rather than the instrumental perspective of leadership effectiveness that is the generally accepted means used to assess leadership efficacy.