Zorg voor goede leiders: lessen uit de zorgethiek voor leiderschap

The importance of the moral development of leaders for sustainable and responsible business cannot be overestimated. The visions of moral leadership are often based on ethical theories, unilaterally based on man as a rational being. The perspective of the relationship between leader and follower, and the role of emotion is lacking or is even considered to be muddy. By changing the vision of leadership from transactional to transformational, the vision of moral competence and morality of leadership also requires development. The ethics of care, or relational ethics, not only provides a basis for defining moral competencies, but also handles the moral teaching, organizing and carrying out the act in organizations. These grips are in line with the transformational leadership. The ethics of care is in a sense the ‘missing link’ between the leadership and moral competencies of leaders. In this article, the author
draws parallels between the lead and care as reciprocal processes, and develops tools for the leader to shape its role as a moral figurehead of an organization.