Survey: Most workers want moral leadership from C-suite

We all make decisions based on what we feel is in our own best interest, but author and speaker Seth Godin writes that actions are truly selfish when they're based on "the circle of now" instead of the "circle of us." Toddlers, Godin writes, are seeking "fun right now, and selfishly causing a problem for others, and for the future," but real leaders are those "who take the long view, and especially, who consider a larger circle."

Put it into practice: As our perception of the world gets smaller and events are happening faster, Godin writes that it's easier to see the long-term effect of our actions. "And thriving organizations and communities create the cultural conditions for people to choose to make their circles include more people and longer time frames."

Ninety-five percent of those responding to the 2025 State of Moral Leadership in Business survey say moral leadership is needed now more than ever, but researchers found on 9% of CEOs and 11% of managers fit the criteria of inspiring others, following their values and fostering high standards of conduct, says S. Chris Edmonds, an executive consultant with The Purposeful Culture Group. "This report provides a road map for how leaders and workers can embrace observable, tangible and measurable moral leadership behaviors in daily interactions and operations," Edmonds notes.

Put it into practice: The majority of employees who work for moral leaders say their culture is based on shared values, they can engage in respectful dialogue on controversial issues and they have autonomy in their work, Edmonds notes. Moral leaders, Edmonds says, "can build a work culture of freedom, clarity, purpose, honesty and more, which will sustain the business for years to come."

If others know how to trigger your emotions, they may manipulate situations to provoke a predictable reaction, undermine your authority and destroy trust with your teams, writes executive coach Lolly Daskal. "The best leaders don't let feelings dictate their decisions. They control their emotions, focus on what truly matters and choose strategy over impulse," Daskal writes.

Put it into practice: If you get defensive when others challenge you, they may sense your insecurity and seek to exploit that, Daskal writes. "The best leaders don't let offense cloud their thinking."

The fast casual restaurant CAVA was started by Ted Xenohristos and two friends in 2006 as a Greek restaurant in Rockville, Md., and went public in 2023. Xenohristos details their struggle to grow and says when you're building a business it's crucial to bring in people who know more than you. "To sit here and ever think that I'm the smartest person in the room would be my instant downfall. I love looking around, and thinking, 'I'm probably the least smart person in this room,'" Xenohristos says.

Research indicates that Mars' red hue may be attributed to ferrihydrite, a water-containing iron oxide, challenging the previous belief that hematite was responsible. This discovery, published in Nature Communications, suggests that Mars had water on its surface earlier than thought, offering insights into its potential habitability.

As Seth Godin points out, every decision we make has some amount of selfishness in it. What separates the genuinely selfish from a more altruistic selfishness, then, is how many people we consider in our choice. As Godin writes, one of those people we must consider is ourselves. Our future self may not ultimately approve of our choice to start smoking or constantly eat junk food.

When we widen our circle beyond ourselves, though, we can become the kind of leaders people admire because we take the needs of others into account, not just the others that matter to us immediately, but to those in a larger sphere.

The best leaders are those who are willing to plant the seeds of trees they will never sit under. These are the leaders who have what Godin would call "long-term" selfishness because they are concerned with "the circle of us" instead of the "circle of now." They may not directly enjoy the fruits of their labor, but they consider the needs of those in the future who may, and that's important to them. They want to leave a legacy.

We have, at the present moment, a parade of selfish leaders. Many selfishly admire them. What we're missing, though, when we admire selfish leaders is that their actions will never truly benefit us in the long run. This is why we must become the type of leader who focuses on "the circle of us." We have to be willing to give up our selfish short-term gain for the long-term gains that will benefit the most people.

As Godin rightly observes: "Successful cultures embrace bigger circles."

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