On The Corrosion of Moral Leadership

LIBOR Illegality

News that Barclays Bank has been fined for LIBOR manipulation in both the UK and in the US, and that there are likely to be many more similar cases from other banks to come, just adds to the increasing evidence of a lack of moral leadership in our primary institutions.  It’s not just that illegality occurs, but that it appears to occur in a moral vacuum where the participants are happily and openly engaged in behavior which is corrosive to good society.

This isn’t just a problem in the financial industry, we’ve seen plenty of examples in other areas – in the media, in our legislators – where rank and file staffers mindlessly operate in a morally ambivalent bubble, without even attempting to hide their actions.  This doesn’t happen by accident, it comes from the top, and the buck needs to stop with those who permit these festering cultures to survive. 

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Greece, Catharsis and the ECB Moneylenders

Viciously Circular

In the depths of the Great Depression US unemployment hovered around the 25% mark, with 30% of the youth unemployed.  Today in Greece the comparable numbers are 22% and a scarcely believable 54% (see: Greek Labour Force Study). Meanwhile another €4.2 billion has been pumped into Greece by the European Central Bank (ECB) via the European Financial Stability Facility, despite the vast protest vote against the externally imposed austerity measures delivered in their recent elections.  

Unfortunately this money isn't being used to reflate the economy and maintain the social fabric of the county,  it's actually allocated to a “segregated debt service account” which, in effect, is used to repay the debt that the Greeks owe to … the European Central Bank.  It’s little wonder that voters have exhibited a longing for catharsis: emotional cleansing awaits.

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Euphemisms for Morally Disengaged Managers

Presentation, Not Content

Presentation is at least as important as content and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise: words matter, deeply and importantly. Just not in a very nice way.

Whatever we do we accompany with a logic of self-justification which is frequently built on an architecture of euphemisms designed to support such behaviour, no matter how immoral and unethical it might be. This is part of a psychological process known as moral disengagement, and is key to understanding why corporations go bad and their managers believe they’ve done nothing wrong.

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