It’s a fair assumption that most people view themselves as ethical. They believe that they will do the right thing when confronted with an ethical challenge. Unfortunately, it is very common for individuals who believe with great confidence that they would always act ethically to fall victim to an ethical misstep.

This can be for a variety of reasons, including not identifying the ethical implications of a particular circumstance; underestimating the likelihood that we can be confronted with an ethical challenge; and generally becoming complacent and therefore lacking sufficient sensitivity to our vulnerability to making an ethical misstep. 

In their book, Blind Spots, Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel reinforce the notion that it is common for individuals to overestimate how ethical we are (versus how ethical we think we are) and how we compare to others in regard to their ethical conduct.

However, quite possibly the greatest threat to fulfilling our ethical obligations is when we are put in a position to lose or gain something important to us based on the ethical choices we make. Consider the following. What if:

• One or more councilmembers threaten your job if you don’t take a personnel action they desire.

• You or the organization makes a mistake that will be embarrassing or detrimental if it becomes known.

• One of your department heads, who is a talented and valued contributor, makes a significant ethical misstep that would normally cost someone their job.

• Doing the right thing in a particular circumstance will cost you a long-term friendship.

• Doing the right thing will ostracize you from a group with whom your relationship is important.

Why is it that many organizational leaders fail in the ethical responsibilities? This can be for a variety of reasons, including as previously noted, not being sensitive to the ethical implications of our decisions and actions. However, one of the most common reasons we fail to do what is right is because we don’t want to deal with the ramifications of doing the right thing. Under such circumstances, it is often easy to rationalize that the issue in question is not really that big a deal and that making a hard decision, taking a difficult action, or confronting someone is not really required of us. Perhaps we convince ourselves that it is someone else’s responsibility. We can overestimate the negative impact of acting while underestimating the potential negative consequences of not taking action.

Many organizational leaders have permanently damaged their own reputations and the reputations of their organizations by failing to take action that they perceived would be personally or organizationally embarrassing.

A few ideas to help you avoid failing your ethical responsibilities when you have a lot at risk:

Decide in advance where your ethical “lines” are drawn. 

As noted, it can be difficult in the moment to make the right decision when you have a lot at stake and/or you feel under pressure. If you take the time to consider the types of issues you may face in the future and determine in advance what you are willing or not willing to do when faced with those circumstances, it helps prepare you to make the right decision when confronted with this challenge.

Remain vigilant of potential ethical implications of issues or circumstances you may encounter. 

Just because you haven’t had to confront an ethical issue previously is no assurance that one isn’t about to emerge. Resist complacency that can come from having avoided an ethical crisis previously. Rid yourself of the notion that only dishonest or clueless people make ethical mistakes. Being humble in our vulnerability will help us avoid overconfidence and making a bad ethical choice.

Appreciate that many fall into an ethical trap without fully comprehending the ethical implications of an issue they are dealing with. 

Understand that many ethical dilemmas may not be as apparent as we expect. If we think that all ethical issues are clear “black and white” or “good or bad” choices, we can fail to identify the many ethical issues that inhabit the “gray areas.”

Be vigilant of ethical missteps in your organization. 

Many leaders fail in their ethical obligations not because they personally did something ethically wrong, but through a failure to either identify or appropriately deal with the ethical missteps of others in the organization.

Recognize that accepting minor missteps makes it increasingly easy to accept more serious ethical lapses. 

Rationalizing away what you might consider to be minor ethical violations can reduce your sensitivity to identifying and appropriately responding to increasingly more serious ethical challenges.

Be prepared to accept the consequences. 

Understand that suffering undeserved negative personal or professional consequences does not absolve you of failing your ethical obligations—particularly as a leader.

Be sensitive to the potential for exhibiting a sense of entitlement when faced with achieving a beneficial outcome. 

It is possible to convince yourself that you can take advantage of your position for personal benefit. Some unfortunately convince themselves that they deserve some benefit (not otherwise authorized) based on personal or organizational achievements, uncompensated hours worked, lack of appropriate compensation, etc. Such actions can destroy a career or even put you in legal jeopardy.

Understand that the negative impacts of doing the right thing are quite often less than the negative impacts of not doing the right thing. 

When confronted with a serious ethical challenge, recognize that doing nothing is in fact a decision for which you are likely to be held accountable.

Enlist the help of others. 

Take advantage of the perspective of trusted individuals who do not have anything to lose or gain from a particular course of action to help you discern whether your decision-making is being clouded by your perception of how a course of action will impact you.

The true test of our ethical judgement and integrity is not when the issues are clear and have no direct impact on our personal well-being. The true test is living up to our ethical obligations when it is difficult and we have something important to lose or gain based on the decisions we make and the actions we take. Are we willing to stand up and do the right thing when the end result will quite possibly have a negative impact on us?

True ethical leaders do the right thing when it is hard—not just when it is easy.

KEVIN DUGGAN, ICMA-CM, is a senior advisor for ICMA; former director, ICMA West Coast Region; and former manager of Mountain View, California (kcduggan@katesbridge.com).