Date: 10/30/2015

Title: LEADERSHIP & CONSCIENCE – Part 2

By Jennifer Erickson

Jean Louise’s (Scout) uncle is Dr. Jack Finch. Near the end of the book, he is trying to explain the behavior of Atticus that has her (and lots of readers) irritated. He is bringing forth a new way of looking at leadership. He tells her “every man’s island, every man’s watchman, is his conscience.”

Let’s separate that statement from the book, and the controversy surrounding it. Rather than getting mired in the debates, let’s just consider that statement….”every man’s watchman is his conscience”.

To be a leader is to realize the seriousness of your position. As we said earlier, people’s lives may depend on the decisions you make. To ensure acting decently, you must have a compass. That compass sets you straight and ensures you go in the right direction. A leader is like a watchman, with the weighted responsibility of taking care of things (employees, the company, profits, etc.) To handle that responsibility, you need to follow your conscience. Your conscience sets you straight and keeps you on the right path.

Unfortunately, we’ve seen too many examples of leaders straying from the right path. I’m not talking about mistakes that get made. That is going to happen in every leader’s life.

I’m talking about decisions that were made without setting a watchman; without following a conscience. Our conscience acts as our guide to determine what is right and wrong about a situation. We all know the “rightness” and “wrongness” of dealing with people and issues. We all know that some decisions get made where leaders just hope the bad press will go away.

Think of what our world would be like if leaders made decisions as a watchman, following their conscience, doing what was right. It’s not hard to determine what is right; it can sometimes be hard to do what is right.

To learn more about how to practice this understanding, contact Results Group, LLC at www.ResultsGroupLLC.com or 515-330-2866.