Principled and Ethical Leadership

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In today’s episode of Leading Through Crisis, we explore the question, “What’s at stake when leaders are unprincipled, unethical, incompetent, and selfish?”

Philippe Johnson, a retired US Air Force officer, advocate for principled and ethical leadership, and author, shares his thoughts, particularly as they relate to public service and through the lens of Trump’s presidency.

Topics discussed:

◾️Paying attention to the competencies and personality traits that are being normalized
◾️Traits of problematic leaders to watch out for
◾️Principled loyalty vs blind loyalty, and loyalty over competence or ethics
◾️What’s at risk, on an organizational level and a larger, more macro or national level

“That’s the thing I want to diminish, loyalty for loyalty’s sake as a virtue. It’s not. The definition of loyalty is an allegiance that’s earned.”

Join us for a fascinating and perhaps horrifying conversation on What Hangs In The Balance (conveniently, also the name of Philippe’s book).

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Philippe Johnson is a retired United States Air Force officer and advocate for principled and ethical leadership in public service. The son of a language teacher and career United States Army officer, he was raised in the United States, France, and Germany. During his 24 years on active duty, Lieutenant Colonel Johnson served as a fixed- and rotary-wing pilot, intelligence officer, and diplomat (military attaché), and was honored with the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, and the Air Medal with one oak leaf cluster. He also served on the staffs of two Air Force major commands as his final two assignments. Philippe received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Florida and earned his master’s degree in public policy from the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy. He can be reached at www.philippejohnson.com.