Making room for prophets, poets, and peace-makers: leadership’s ethical responsibility

This paper highlights three aspects of ethical leadership that I believe to be little understood or practised by many in Bible Translation. These are, first, an understanding of the role of a whistle-blower (who has been likened to fill the role of a biblical prophet). Related to this unsought role is the notion of agency, and the recognition that standing up for what one understands to be ‘ethical’ can lead to one becoming a change-agent.

A notion closely allied to the matter of whistle-blowing is the need for a proper system for conflict management. Leaders at every level need to ensure that they establish a robust structure for disagreements to be given attention, and solutions sought, without delay. My experience shows this not to be evident in many parts of our organizations, and thus the paper sets out a few important criteria to consider.

Related to agency are the notions of ‘creativity’ and ‘innovation’, which any organization does well to encourage. However, it does take particular management skills to recognize the value of ‘out of the box’ thinking, and to encourage such in their domain (and outside thereof). This requires that leaders be open to new ideas proposed by ‘mavericks’ in the organization, and create space for new innovations to be explored.

This paper hopes to provoke serious thinking about these three important issues.