Ethical Leadership Term Paper

Total Length: 1086 words ( 4 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 1+

Page 1 of 4

James Autry: A biographical overview of an effective and ethical leader in business today

If, as the title of his autobiography Confessions of An Accidental Businessman suggests, Jin Autry became a businessman by chance, he didn't walk away from the so-called accident. Rather, James Autry used his success to enrich the visions of everyday Americans of their personal living spaces. His best-known role is as the publisher of the popular middle-class and middle-market lifestyle magazine, Better Homes and Gardens. Autry also continues to enrich the vision of American business leadership. True "empowerment" and ethical leadership, Autry states is not about "I take some of my power and give it to you," rather Autry suggests, "that's the myth. Real empowerment is recognizing that you, by your skill, your knowledge, your commitment, you already have power." Autry states he has tried to use that power within himself in constructive ways. He has tried to help others and to build a better business environment as well as a profitable corporation. (Autry, 2000)

All too often, given the abuses of today's corporate executives of their perks and benefits, it is tempting to make the broad and erroneous assumption that to be cutthroat is what it takes to be competitive and to be a good business leader is to lack good ethics. Yet James Autry's career stands as a shining example that such cynical notions are manifestly untrue. According to the biography on his website, James Autry is no neophyte when he enthuses about the importance of an ethical business life. He spent thirty-two years in the business world, fifteen of them in senior management with the Meredith Corporation a Fortune 500 magazine company based in Des Moines, Iowa. He was senior VP and president of its magazine group.
He has no MBA. His philosophy is practical rather than theoretical. (Official Website, 2004)

Over the course of his career, Autry has shown a committed vision to his company, to high ethical standards, and built a media empire without any of the posturing seen by, for example, Rupert Murdoch and other competitors. One of the keys to Autry's balanced vision of corporate ethics is his own balanced life. As well as a successful businessman and a philosopher of corporate management he is also a philosopher of life, in general even a poet. Autry is not simply a poet in the sense he pens 'empowerment' lyrics about increasing the mere productivity of a company. Rather, "Autry does regular poetry readings in schools and communities. He also is co-founder of the nationally known Des Moines National Poetry Festival now beyond its tenth year." Thus, Autry believes in the power of poetry to heal the human soul and has used his financial largess to advance the poetic cause. In the fall of 1991 the Kentucky Poetry Review published a James A. Autry issue. It began, in its introduction "in the words of fellow Mississippian Willie Morris, many of Autry's poems are a tribute to his Mississippi roots, to the places and people that nurtured him and which now sustain him in the corporate boardrooms of America, in anonymous, scented hotel rooms, on 747 flights from New York to L.A. while he sits strapped in his seat writing about half-forgotten funerals in country….....

Show More ⇣


     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


Related Essays

Bill Gates As an Ethical Leader

the community’s overall, character development (Velasquez et al., 2008). Ethical leadership has the following basic principles: knowledge, humility, honesty, fairness, equality, and understanding the leadership role. The Microsoft Corporation is one archetypal example of a corporation epitomizing the ethical leadership approach. Founder Bill Gates demonstrated his personal core values of intensity, zeal and persistence, followed by pinpointing his vision that elimination of inequality could help improve our world. Gates brought his behavior in line with this vision, in addition to explicitly articulating this vision by managing and focusing his resources, energy and time towards making our world a better… Continue Reading...

The Leadership of Moses

Pharaoh that God wants the Hebrews to be freed. Moses was an ethical leader from the beginning who practiced both ethical leadership and transformational leadership skills to bring the Hebrews to the Promised Land. He killed a slave master for cruelly whipping a Hebrew, fled, met an angel of God, and returned to his true people to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt and through the desert for 40 years. Moses was given up by his mother as an infant because the Egyptian ruler feared that the Israelites were becoming too powerful and would ally themselves with Egypt’s enemy. So the order was given that all Israelite children should be… Continue Reading...

Army Leadership Issues

ensure the ongoing recruitment and retention of top performers. Personal experiences also shed light on the importance of ethical leadership, particularly in hierarchical organizations like the army. I had the pleasure once of training under a senior officer who worked within the servant leadership framework. The servant leadership framework, which is typically contextualized under the rubric of spiritual leadership theory, resituates the role of the leader vis-a-vis the organization (Fry, Vitucci & Cedillo, 2005). Increasingly taking root within the ranks of Army leaders, servant leadership and spiritual leadership theory promotes a value-based ethical commitment that comprises everything from soldier motivation to engagement and productivity (Fry, Vitucci & Cedillo,… Continue Reading...

Managerial Accounting and Business Ethics

ought to be espoused and sustained by all managerial accountants with classic ethical leadership from the top-ranking management. In addition, devoid of driven ethical behavior by management accountants, all of the codes, policies and standards will eventually turn out to be ineffective (Ghose, 2017). Product liability signifies one of the issues at the core of ethical and socially responsible behavior for businesses. Product liability encompasses the area in which business manufacturers or producers, distributors, suppliers, as well as retailers are held liable and culpable for the harm that such products cause. One of the key aspects that is linked to product liability… Continue Reading...

Elon Musk's Moral Muteness

is currently happening to Tesla under Musk’s unethical leadership practices. While Musk has always been recognized as a great innovative leader, bringing new ideas to the company and using his celebrity to promote the company’s goals, his lack of ethics has put him in the crosshairs of short-sellers and the SEC, both of whom have issues with his Wild West style of leadership, which often contravenes the rules and regulations. For example, since his settlement with the SEC over his “funding secured” debacle, Musk has been ordered to have all his tweets internally reviewed before being published—yet… Continue Reading...

sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Ethical Leadership" (2004, October 13) Retrieved July 4, 2025, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/ethical-leadership-57269

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Ethical Leadership" 13 October 2004. Web.4 July. 2025. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/ethical-leadership-57269>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Ethical Leadership", 13 October 2004, Accessed.4 July. 2025,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/ethical-leadership-57269