ABSTRACT
This chapter explores that ethical challenges involved in leadership roles. It examines the notion of an ideal leader. The chapter discusses the 'dirty hands' problem. It also discusses the way that leadership scholars and researchers study the rosier terrain of what they think a 'good', meaning an ethical, leader should be like. Dean Ludwig and Clinton Longenecker use the story to illustrate a variety of moral pitfalls of successful leaders. While the Bathsheba Syndrome describes the personal challenges of success, Plato and Niccolò Machiavelli each describes some of the difficulties of being an ethical leader. Management scholar Bernard Bass based his theory of transformational leadership on Burns' theory. However, Bass's theory of transformational leadership does not incorporate Burns' emphasis on conflict and the dialogue between leaders and followers about values, nor does it include moral considerations about values. The dirty hands argument raises questions about whether leaders have to split up their approach to morality into morality as a leader morality.
