Ethical Leadership Based on Principled Pluralism

 In a searing column by Thomas Friedman titled Have We Reshaped Middle East Politics or Started to Mimic It?,  Friedman asserts that we in America are displaying the sort of political tribalism that we once tried to quell.  Middle Easterners may call their big tribes “Shiites” and “Sunnis”, More and more, Americans call theirs “Democrats” and “Republicans.”  Or "vaccers" or "anti-vaccers". I hardly need to extend the schisms which separate us. 

Tellingly, Friedman identifies an exception to this divisive tribalism--the military.  There is no institution in American life that has worked harder than the military, though admittedly imperfectly and often belatedly,  to inoculate America from the virus of tribalism, while enriching and exemplifying an ethic of pluralism.  Friedman has observed this on his trips to the Middle East.  Colin Powell observed the same thing decades ago.  Men and women, different in their ethnicities and race, committed to achieve a common worthy goal  which they view as. bigger than themselves.

 

Friedman goes on to observe  “Leadership matters; the American population has diversity similar to the U.S.’ military but the ethic of pluralism and teamwork shown by many of our men and women in uniform reduces the tribal divisions within the armed forces.  It’s not perfect, but it’s real.  Ethical leadership based on principled pluralism matters.  That is why our military is our last great carrier of pluralism at a time when more and more civilian politicians are opting for cheap tribalism.”

 

This brings me to a broader observation on the importance of leadership and an organizational Purpose viewed by its members as deserving and requiring their very best efforts.   Procter & Gamble and a few other organizations like it --organizations pursuing shared, Purposeful goals --can be and for the most part are repositories and exemplars of ethical leadership based on principled pluralism.