Exemplary Ethical Leadership: The Case of Travis Zarlingo

Y Scouts describes an ethical leader as someone who is not afraid to do what is right even if it is unpopular or inconvenient (Y Scouts, n.d.). They also state that some of the traits an exemplary ethical leader will display are honesty, justice and respect to others (Y Scouts, n.d.). The leader I think exhibits exemplary ethical conduct is Travis Zarlingo. He is a Foreman for a construction company in Las Vegas and always shows ethical conduct at his company. First, he is always honest. He is open and truthful with his employees and fellow co-workers. He speaks the truth whether people like it or not. If it is right and ethical he will stand by it no matter what the costs are. Secondly, he always shows respect to others. This is one area

For me I seem to stay true to my preferred ethical lens whether I am in a work or social environment. I hold the rights/responsibilities lens traits in most settings. These are traits that I find to be very important to me and define who I am as a person. Being loyal and trustworthy are traits I exhibit no matter who I am interacting with.

Part B2: My risk area is about being autocratic or reducing decisions to cost-benefit analysis (Ethics Game, 2011). This risk means that without self-knowledge you require people do things your way or it is the wrong way ethically (Ethics Game, 2011). According to this risk I tend to not listen and value others opinions and feel my opinion is the only one that matters. This view narrows open thinking and can greatly impact decisions. By feeling that only my way is the right way it can lose valuable opinions that others can bring to a situation.

Part B2a: This risk area should be addressed and improved on to make better ethical decisions. These are the steps I will take to improve this area:

• Be open-minded. I will work to be more open-minded about others opinions even if I do not share in those

I will observe myself and make sure that when opinions are being made that may not align with mine that I am listening and being open-minded.

Part B3: My results from the ELI Ethical Lens Inventory for core values are autonomy and rationality/sensibility. For the classical virtues it is temperance and prudence. The core values show that individual rights are very important to me. I feel that everyone should be treated equally and fairly. It is important to me that everyone is treated the same and I stand up for that belief. The classical virtue findings show that I value balance and restraint with myself. Making sure my duties are taken care of are very important to me. This view also shows that I am optimistic and imaginative.

Part B3a: My top five values from the Clarifying Your Values exercise are compassion, creativity, equality, fairness and honesty. These line up rather closely to my ELI results. The ELI results show that equality and fairness are important to me just like in the exercise. These values line closely with compassion because equality and fairness go hand in hand with having compassion for people. Both the exercise and ELI show that I am creative which proves true to how I view my daily work life. Being creative and thinking outside the box is important to me. The final of my top five values is honesty. Although honesty is not mentioned in the exercise it is a very important value of