ABSTRACT
In modern times, we tend to limit our examination of ethics to a litmus test against a legal standard. In a Lean culture leadership is service based and this belief is central to Lean ethics. One way is to recognize that it is our ethical responsibility as leaders to recognize and address our own cognitive distortions–not because we are seeking to become saints but because it is best way to get workflow back on track. As leaders, it is our ethical responsibility to override our autonomic fight-or-flight responses. Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor, spoke to this key point in his seminal work, Man's Search for Meaning: Man can preserve vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. Ancient philosophers' scope of ethical consideration was much broader. They viewed ethics as means toward living good and purposeful life, something to be reflected upon and practiced each day.
