Tags: Speak Up
On 5 June 2025, the IBE organised a conversation on ethical leadership, between IBE’s CEO Lauren Branston and acclaimed author Margaret Heffernan. The starting point was Heffernan’s latest book, Embracing Uncertainty: How writers, musicians & artists thrive in an unpredictable world, which offers insights for ethical leaders navigating today's uncertain business landscape. Watch the webinar recording here.
At the heart of the discussion was the compelling idea that while compliance forms the backbone of ethics, imagination is key to ethical leadership. Many individuals are paralysed by uncertainty, waiting for all information to be available before acting. However, uncertainty does not need to be a roadblock but can be reframed as an opportunity. People often ask for certainty without fully considering its implications, but by embracing the unknown with agency, they can enter a world of creativity and choices.
Speaking up and the value of disagreeing
One of the issues that regularly comes up for ethical leaders and boards is how to create an ethical culture where people are encouraged to speak up within their organisations. These conversations are usually centred around the importance of psychological safety, so that individuals feel confident and able to express their concerns. However, as Heffernan pointed out, this is a concept that has become very “clogged”, encompassing many different elements.
What might be more helpful and important to remember is that if something is mentioned in good faith, it should be accepted as a contribution. Disagreement does not equate criticism, but rather, disagreement is how groups think together; it is how differing perspectives come together to co-create.
Three levels of ethics
There are several barriers to speaking up, and these span across different levels.
At the systemic level
For many employees, there is a fundamental insecurity arising from precarious working conditions. People on hourly or short-term contracts, at the beginning of their career will be deterred from speaking up by nature of their working reality.
At the organisational level
Disciplines, different functions and professions have their own language and ‘mini cultures’. In many professions, admitting not knowing something, or not being sure, can be, wrongly, perceived as a weakness. It is therefore key to encourage a move away from perfectionism in the way people contribute to conversations, so they do not wait to phrase the “perfect” question. Speaking up is also about exploring the huge spectrum between being silent or screaming. Phrases like “I don’t quite understand why we are doing this” are very neutral interventions and can be helpful tools when creating an ethical culture.
At the individual/leadership level
What are the lessons for ethical leaders? The need to be mindful of their tone and the signals that they send. Heffernan recalled a conversation with an oil-company CEO, who, after a period of high fatality rates, expressed his wish that more people had disagreed with him. Yet, as Heffernan pointed out, this particular leader had surrounded himself with largely similar, generally male colleagues, who had gone to the same universities and studied the same subjects, so he was not actively encouraging dissent or different opinions.
When in a position of power, people are naturally inclined to please the leader. Therefore, ethical leaders must actively encourage the sharing of "objections" and "concerns". Every decision comes with a trade-off, it has winners and losers, and leaders can benefit from proactively asking: "Who gets hurt by this decision? What is the true cost of our choice?". These crucial questions will not be raised unless specifically prompted by leadership.
And this also applies to situations when there is uncertainty about the future of the business itself. Rather than withholding information and shielding employees from an uncomfortable scenario, it is important to share uncertainty with teams openly and transparently, while focusing on available options and opportunities.
This way, ethical leadership guides through challenging times and uncertainty becomes a field of opportunities.