Ethical leadership, ethical businesses, ethical coaching: what does it take to have ethical practices? How relevant are they anyway?

Why Ethics Matter More Than Ever

For a concept that's been debated by everyone from Socrates to your college roommate who once misquoted Kant at a party, ethics somehow gets treated like a dusty book on a shelf, nice to have, rarely opened. In today's leadership landscape, it's often dismissed as quaint, inconvenient, or something you revisit only after the indictments roll in. The modern playbook seems to read: "Win first, justify later." And let’s be honest, some of the most powerful leaders today manage to sidestep ethics and results entirely, a true two-for-one special in moral bankruptcy.

But despite what we may observe in today's high-powered, profit-first environments, ethics aren’t optional, they’re foundational. Before someone can lead others, they must know what they stand for. Ethical considerations ought to come before strategy, influence, or ambition. Because without that internal compass, leadership risks becoming little more than manipulation with good PR. Whether you’re running a business or building a coaching practice, ethics are the groundwork that everything else should stand on.

So what is an ethical leader? How does someone make ethical decisions when ethical choices aren’t always simple or easy? Join us on CLCI Live as Jen Long (PCC), Jerome LeDuff (MCPC), Samuel Gozo (ACC) Anthony Lopez (MCPC), and Brooke Adair Walters (ACC) engage one another on ethical leadership, ethical business practices, and how to be an ethical coach, especially when coaching a prospective leader who wants support in navigating an ethical dilemma.

What Are Ethics?

Ethics are the underlying principles that govern behavior, defining right and wrong based on personal, societal, or organizational values. Being ethical isn’t just about defining right and wrong but actually implementing those principles in one’s practice or life. Our visible behavior can be considered etiquette, which can be the outward expression of an ethical principle: the ethical framework governs what we consider right and wrong, and then our etiquette uses our behavior to reflect that standard.

Complexities, Cultures, Contradictions, and Clashes

Ethics are complex. Over the ages, civilizations have produced philosophers that argue ethics with each other, with existing literature, or with their culture straight-on. To this day, the ethical frameworks created by philosophers like John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Aristotle, Lao-Tzu, and more are taught and argued in the field of moral philosophy. But let’s keep things a bit simpler than the likes of those eminent historical figures and summarize the complexity of ethics in this way: various factors influence and condition them, including personal values, societal norms, and organizational standards.

An ethical framework is a systematic approach to making decisions that have moral implications. Commonly used frameworks include utilitarianism (maximizing good or minimizing harm), deontology (following moral rules), situational ethics (context-dependent), and rules-based ethics (following established rules). These frameworks are the lenses a leader (or an organization) chooses to look through when they consider options and make decisions. 

Keeping this in mind, leaders have responsibilities to their team, their stakeholders, and the society they live in that often have competing ethical preferences. Ethical leadership though involves acting in accordance with personal and societal ethical principles and remaining consistent within ethical frameworks. Doing this skillfully builds trust, credibility, and even long-term success. A business ought to set and adopt ethical practices early on to meet their standards, then meet consumer expectations, and finally avoid reputational damage. 

Easier said than done, right? We wouldn’t have a word for ethical dilemmas if they weren’t a known complication. The APA Dictionary defines an ethical dilemma as a situation in which two moral principles conflict with one another. Those principles established earlier? Sometimes, they might not always be able to coexist. The ethical frameworks up there? Someone using a deontological approach to life could end up in a conflict where a framework of situational ethics allows more moral options to resolve the situation. In business settings, there may be conflicting interests between clients and sponsors. Things can get messy fast. 

As a coach, navigating a client’s ethical dilemma is something that should be done carefully. We have our own code of ethics we should be using as a standard of our performance and we also have the terms of our client-coach contracts to defer to when checking ourselves. But what about when the client is the one caught in an ethical dilemma? The coach isn't there to ‘solve’ it for them. They shouldn’t say which decision they’d make, or tell a client why adhering to a different ethical principle would fix this stress right up. That is for the client to do. More on what we as coaches can do later. 

Grow Your Ethical Awareness

Ethical awareness isn’t something you either have or don’t: it's a skill, and like any skill, it can be cultivated. The more intentional you are about reflecting on your values and actions, the sharper your ethical radar becomes. In a leadership role, especially in coaching, this awareness is what allows you to navigate ambiguity with integrity and to make tough decisions before they become moral messes.

1. Start with Radical Self-Inquiry

Growing ethical awareness begins with asking yourself uncomfortable questions:

• What values do I say I live by and how often do my actions align with them?

• Where have I made ethical compromises in the past, and why?

• Whose voices or perspectives do I tend to ignore when making decisions?

Being honest about your blind spots isn’t an act of weakness; it’s the first move in becoming a stronger, more conscious leader.

2. Study the Frameworks, Don’t Marry Them

From utilitarianism to virtue ethics, from Kantian duty to feminist ethics of care, there are plenty of frameworks to draw from. Explore them, understand what resonates, and get comfortable with complexity. Ethics isn’t about one-size-fits-all answers, it’s about having a reliable process for making decisions that align with your values and consider others’ well-being.

3. Practice Pre-Decision Awareness

Don’t wait for a scandal to test your ethics. Build habits that encourage ethical reflection before you’re in the hot seat:

• Pause and ask: “Who benefits from this decision and who might be harmed?”

• Role-play the scenario: “If I had to explain this choice to someone I admire, would I feel proud or defensive?”

• Consider long-term effects, not just short-term wins.

4. Use Reflection and Feedback Loops

After major decisions or interactions, reflect:

• Did I act in alignment with my stated values?

• Were there unintended consequences?

• What would I do differently next time?

Invite trusted colleagues, coaches, or mentors to help you identify your blind spots. Ethical awareness grows best in community, not in isolation.

5. Model and Multiply

Ethical leaders don’t just behave ethically, they build cultures that support ethical behavior. That means:

• Rewarding transparency, not just results.

• Encouraging open dialogue around values and dilemmas.

• Holding yourself and others accountable without resorting to shame or fear.

Ethical awareness evolves with experience, reflection, and the willingness to ask hard questions. The more grounded you are in your ethics, the less you’ll need to scramble when dilemmas arise and the more you’ll be trusted by those you lead.

Clients Navigating Their Ethical Landscape

For clients facing a dilemma or hard decision that they just aren’t sure what they feel like they should choose, here are some starting areas to explore. The coach can ask the client about their values and inquire about their ethical beliefs. You might open up room for a discussion about where they draw lines of behavior. Get to know what they believe they should do in various situations. Be curious and ask questions to better understand the client’s ethical landscape.

Coaches can’t prescribe one set of ethics to a client and tell them to take it. But coaches can help clients articulate their own ethics and it might just be the first time the client has really communicated what those might be. And gaining that ethical awareness is an incredibly empowering experience.

Ultimately, what we can take away from this subject is that ethics are important in a variety of fields and positions: for leaders, coaches, business practices, and more. This doesn’t mean every single person or company can use the same ethical frameworks in the same way. There’s cultural contexts that influence what is and is not acceptable in one region compared to another. There are complexities within the workplace as different employees come from different norms. These contextual differences and complexities emphasize the need for continuous reflection on a situation and its context, awareness of clear principles, and understanding ethical decision making.

Thank you,

Jen Long (PCC), Jerome LeDuff (MCPC), Samuel Gozo (ACC) Anthony Lopez (MCPC), and Brooke Adair Walters (ACC)

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