On Becoming and Being an Ethical Leader: A Platonic Interpretation

Stelios Zyglidopoulos ()
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Stelios Zyglidopoulos: Kedge Business School

Journal of Business Ethics, 2021, vol. 173, issue 1, No 1, 11 pages

Abstract: Abstract The question of whether ethical individuals have a disadvantage in becoming leaders is an important one that has not been adequately discussed in the business ethics/leadership literature. In this paper, drawing on Plato’s middle dialogues and particularly on the Republic, I develop a Platonic framework of the constraints that might hinder the emergence of what the dialogues term ‘philosopher kings’. Subsequently, I use this framework to elucidate the emergence of ethical leaders in todays’ organizations and conclude with a discussion of this paper’s implications for the ethical leadership literature.

Keywords: Plato; Leadership ethics; Philosopher kings; The Republic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-020-04544-y

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