Uncommon Sense
Leadership Ethics Code
Uncommon Sense is the Ohio Secretary of State’s Model Business and Government Leadership Ethics Code. (Copyright 1998, CompassUSA.) Reproduction of Uncommon Sense in its entirety, without modification and for non-commercial resale use is herein granted.
The Critical Importance of Truth:
1) SEEKING WISDOM: Ethical people tirelessly seek something greater than intelligence or knowledge (knowing what is); they seek wisdom (knowing what is right or true). Wisdom must logically culminate in the identification of absolute or ultimate truth to be intellectually honest. The relentless pursuit of truth, it’s source and it’s compelling advocacy, defense and practice is the moral objective of all ethical people.
First Applying Truth to Ourselves:
2) INTEGRITY: Ethical people strive to live out wisdom (do what’s right) in their private and public worlds. As a result they are becoming whole, integrated or ethic-centric people. Ethical people demonstrate the courage of their convictions by acting on the truth even when there is great pressure to do otherwise. They are principled. They will strive to apply the truth with consistency. They will not sacrifice truth for expediency and will intentionally avoid any behavior that is hypocritical or inconsistent with their beliefs. Ethical people don’t break promises with themselves.
Applying Truth in our Relationships:
3) COMPASSION FOR OTHERS: Ethical people do what is right, kindly. Ethical people are genuinely caring, compassionate, benevolent, kind & sacrificially giving. Because they healthfully love themselves, they can freely love (even the hard-to-love) as an act of their will. They live the Golden Rule, give aid to those in need, and seek to accomplish each of their life & work choices in a manner that optimizes this truth. Ethical people treat everyone as if they were viewing them as a brother, sister, mother or father.
4) HONESTY: Ethical people speak the truth with compassion. Ethical people are truthful in all their dealings and are as accurate as possible in their communication. Their yes is yes and their no is no. They do not deliberately mislead or deceive others by misrepresentations, overstatements, partial truths, selective omissions or any other intentional means. They are quick to admit a fault, a prejudice or wrong in any matter. They take responsibility and avoid shifting blame. Ethical people avoid confusing others. They are not sarcastic, cynical, sanctimonious or condescending.
5) JUSTICE: Ethical people act on the truth with compassion. They are honorable in all their dealings. They do not exercise power arbitrarily, and do not use intentionally harsh, exasperating or manipulative means to gain or maintain any advantage. They strain to reward good and reprove evil. They do not take undue advantage of another’s mistakes, difficulties, or known limitations. Just people are sensible. They are diligent in weighing evidence. They contend for reason. They manifest a commitment to the pursuit of truth, and a vigorous and unbiased examination of individuals and information. Then they declare and take action on what is right.
6) ACCOUNTABILITY: Ethical people scrutinize themselves and welcome the scrutiny of others. Ethical people acknowledge that human nature compels us towards independence. Our preference for independence results in isolation from one another. Isolation breeds temptation to unethical conduct. Ethical people resist this chain reaction by adopting transparent life and work-styles that invite inspection. Ethical people place themselves in relationships that motivate self-examination and encourage constructive critique from those they serve.
7) FIDELITY: Ethical people seek to fully integrate defined internalized ethics with their external actions in both their private and public worlds over time as a conscious life-style. As a result of this fidelity, they systematically contribute ethical value by improving the ethical culture of every relational network (organization, family, worship center, etc.) in which they participate.
8) RESPECT FOR OTHERS: Ethical people treat others, as they would want to be treated. Ethical people have an accurate view of the human condition: everyone possesses both an inherent dignity as well as an inherent depravity. As a result, ethical people place the ultimate worth of others as equal to their own worth. Ethical people act on this truth by nurturing ethics-based relationships with all others. They are genuine in how they value the diverse roles, giftedness, skills, style, personality, race, religion, and gender of others. Ethical respect leads diverse people to value the worth of others while having the liberty to disagree with their opinions.
9) PROMISE-KEEPING & TRUSTWORTHINESS: Ethical people do not break their word with others. They do not make promises lightly. They prize interpersonal trust. They are candid in supplying relevant information and diligent in fulfilling their commitments. They make every reasonable effort to fulfill the letter and the spirit of their promises. They tirelessly maintain a promised confidence. They experience a clear conscience. They do not interpret agreements in any unreasonably technical or legalistic manner in order to rationalize non-compliance or to justify escaping their promises.
10) EXCELLENCE: Ethical people strive to be their best knowing that this enables them to do their best every day. Ethical people experience good “being” that fuels great “doing”. Excellence is the result of high character merging with high competence. Excellence is a high task achieved through equally high virtues. When ethical people collaborate they produce a “culture of excellence”. True and enduring organizational excellence is only sustainable by ethical people.
11) SERVING-LEADERSHIP: Ethical people sacrifice themselves for those they lead. Serving-Leaders model and mentor consistent ethical conduct and produce a predictable environment in which their sacrificial example of serving others produces relational harmony, principled reasoning, effective communication, an inspiring vision, constant learning and ethic-centric decision-making. Ethical leaders promote both ethics education and ethical consequences to behaviors, which violate these common beliefs. Ethical people respond favorably to ethical correction from ethical leaders.
12) UNITY: Ethical people strive to build relationships that foster oneness among others who are bound with them to a common promise, vision, mission or purpose. Ethical organizations seek uniformity in their people’s shared ethics and unity among their otherwise richly diverse people. Without a commitment to uniform beliefs or ethics, there is no hope for sustainable unity.
13) FORGIVENESS: Ethical people are humble. Knowing that they are far from perfect they extend to and receive from others: unmerited acceptance. Ethical breeches separate people. Separation injures conscience. Ethical people forgive and genuinely seek forgiveness to reconcile or restore their relationship with any person to whom they have committed an ethical breech. Seeking forgiveness requires a confession of error by the offender. Rendering forgiveness is a radical act of undeserved understanding (or grace) by the offended. Ethical people are thankful when forgiven and are motivated to forgive inevitable offenses against them in the future. Ethical people forgive others and seek the forgiveness of others intentionally.
14) HONORING AUTHORITY: All people are imperfect, requiring boundaries for behavior. Ethical people willingly yield to the authority of those who are charged with upholding those boundaries. Ethical people help shape and then abide by the legitimate laws, rules and boundaries established by legitimate authorities and strive to live within those boundaries for the betterment of all people. When those given authority violate conscience-convicting ethics, ethical people take ethical action to restore ethical authority.
15) LIBERTY: Ethical people preserve their public rights by fulfilling their individual responsibilities. Only those who exercise their ethical duties to others protect public freedom; therefore individual rights are secured through the exercise of these duties. Self-control is highly prized and encouraged among ethical people so that “public-control” demands are minimized. As a result ethical people communicate and live out ethical truth and intentionally encourage others to do as well.
16) LEARNING & MENTORING: Ethical people are lifelong wisdom-seekers and wisdom-advancers. They have both a teachable and a teaching spirit. They impart truth to the uninformed. They reduce ignorance by illuminating the disenfranchised. They multiply ethic-centric peoples and leaders. They nurture teaching relationships in order to maximize the talents of others. They are mentors. Ethical mentors endeavor to invest their lives in others in order to help them attain their greatest potential by gaining a vision for their highest purpose in their life’s work and pursuing it.
17) STEWARDSHIP: Ethical people understand that they “will reap what they sow”; so they sow generously. Ethical people identify with the role of trustee or steward rather than owner. They perceive their function as a resource or role “caretaker” for a limited time. As a result ethical people regard “positions” and “possessions” as “conferred in temporary trust”. Ethical people, therefore, care for their respective positions & possessions diligently and seek to add value to every role and every resource to which they have been entrusted. Ethical people have a high regard for multiplying the value of their “trust accounts” for the purpose of serving others and benefiting those that follow them.
18) SEEKING COUNSEL: Ethical people seek out wise counsel whenever confronted with questions that cause tension and/or confusion between two or more ethics. They are guided by their tireless pursuit of truth. To help them in this rigorous task they regularly seek the wisdom of ethical counselors. After they weigh this counsel, ethical people will act. The goal of this process is wise rather than popular actions. The result of a decision made with wise counsel is a clear conscience. The result of a life lived consistently under wise counsel is contentment.
Our Ability to Change:
19) SUBMISSION TO TRUTH: Truth transforms people only when we submit to it. Truly ethical people cannot not transform. Eventually everyone ultimately confronts the power of truth. When confronted by truth, ethical people are convicted to replace or “put off” their unethical behavior by pursuing and “putting on” ethical beliefs; unethical people do not. This on-going “replacement-lifestyle” of ethical people produces the enduring evidences (or proofs) called virtues.
20) TRANSFORMATION: Ethical people bear the conscience convicting fruits of virtue which when observed together is the measure of character. Our character is the only thing that is 100% in our control. While unethical people often attempt to counterfeit character they will ultimately demonstrate the opposite of character (first in their thought lives, then in their private lives and then finally in their public lives). Character is only possible when people measure themselves with the accurate standard of truth (ethics), is only produced under pressure, is only proven over the long haul of a highly scrutinized life and is only possible in an environment where truth is contended for and highly prized.
– Ohio Secretary of State