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Wisdom and Responsible Leadership: Aesthetic Sensibility, Moral Imagination, and Systems Thinking

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Aesthetics and Business Ethics

Part of the book series: Issues in Business Ethics ((IBET,volume 41))

Abstract

The world needs wise leaders, but wisdom is clearly in short supply these days if the state of the world is any evidence. Just think of climate change, ecological damages done by modern industrial and agricultural practices, and collapsing and unfair mortgage and financial markets, not to mention the growing gap between rich and poor, as examples. But generally, the need for wisdom in leaders and managers, which is defined by Ackoff (Reflections 1(1): 14–24, 1999) as the capacity to think through the (short and long-term) consequences of actions, is under-appreciated. Using as a basis the argument that wisdom exists when three components—moral imagination (the good), systems understanding (the true), and aesthetic sensibility (the beautiful) are present (Waddock, Journal of Business Ethics Education 7: 177–196, 2010), I explore the implications of this definition for teaching future leaders to be both wise and ethical in their decision making and actions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carroll School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    Sandra Waddock DBA

Authors
  1. Sandra Waddock DBA
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Correspondence to Sandra Waddock DBA .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ethics and Business Law, University of St. Thomas, Opus College of Business, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

    Daryl Koehn

  2. Ethics and Business Law, University of St. Thomas, Opus College of Business, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

    Dawn Elm

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Waddock, S. (2014). Wisdom and Responsible Leadership: Aesthetic Sensibility, Moral Imagination, and Systems Thinking. In: Koehn, D., Elm, D. (eds) Aesthetics and Business Ethics. Issues in Business Ethics, vol 41. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7070-6_9

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