Sophocles’ “Antigone” raised the question of ever going debate about the ethical duties of a leader almost two thousand years ago. Sophocles’ tragedy highlights the mysterious origins of human values and their ever presence in human history (Griffith, 1999).
In a TEDx talk, Alexander Wagner referred to it as the “protected value”, and he himself doubts its origins. Whether it is natural or nurtured, we don’t know, but like Antigone, we have this intrinsic urge to protect our ethics regardless of the authority (What really motivates people to be honest in business?, 2016). Antigone argues against Creon, the leader of Thebes, that one must be buried not because it is written somewhere in the scriptures or on tablets but because it has been so since the inception of time. Machiavelli’s “The Prince” challenges this and gives us a very dark view of the reality of leadership and the relative nature of ethics, stating that “the ends justify the means” (Machiavelli, 1940). Similarly, Kant coined the term “categorical imperative” in the deontological theory of ethics, and according to Kant, actions are not judged by their consequences but by whether the actions are good in themselves. Leadership and ethics go hand in hand; throughout history, we have seen leaders breaking these “protected values” and bringing greater harm to humanity in the massive violation of human rights, such as the holocaust, under the influence of ethical egoism (Northouse, 2018).
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, all the greatest philosophers such as Plato, and Aristotle believe in the fallible nature of human being but at the same time they proposed their ethical theories regarding leadership and general behavior. Thus, principles of ethical leadership provide a very acute and practical proposal for leadership. Though it has its shortcomings, it highlights the ethical necessity involved in leadership for the collective as well as the individual good.
References
What really motivates people to be honest in business?. (2016).
by A. Wagner. TEDx.
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Machiavelli, N. (1940). The Prince and Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius. New York: The Modern Library.
Griffith, M. (Ed.). (1999). Sophocles: Antigone. Cambridge University Press.
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