Building Leaders' Moral Courage to Defeat the King David Syndrome
Abstract
This paper addresses the conflict of conscience experienced by individuals encountering a moral dilemma. A struggle between moral courage and moral cowardice commences. The struggle s outcome is affected by values and character, as well as the organization s culture. It also proposes that the primary moral pitfall facing rising leaders is their own success. Their accolades can lead to egoism and narcissism, which bolsters their moral cowardice. This paper examines the best practices of elite companies to discover their successful methods of empowering the moral courage in their leaders and to propose how these techniques can be leveraged in the Air Force. This paper proposes that successful companies rely on proven leadership practices to empower moral courage such as clearly defined core values, an inspiring purpose, character-based mentoring, and wise culture management. While the Air Force employs some of these practices, this paper proposes that several critical improvements would far more effectively build the moral courage required in our leaders.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA589035
Entities
People
- James D. Bottomlee
Organizations
- United States Army War College