Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-dvtzq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-08T13:39:49.485Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Plato on Virtuous Leadership: An Ancient Model for Modern Business

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2018

David C. Bauman
David C. Bauman*
Affiliation:
Regis University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

The business ethics and leadership literature has paid little attention to the analysis of virtue in the Socratic dialogues, but Plato’s account of virtue and persuasion offer relevant insights for business leaders. In the Republic, Plato’s description of five types of leaders offers a new perspective on leadership selection and development using the moral psychology of both virtuous and non-virtuous leaders. In this article, I explain Plato’s account of virtue and knowledge, his three-part moral psychology, the four cardinal virtues that virtuous leaders develop, and his continuum of five leader types. I apply Plato’s model to leadership issues in today’s corporate world and explain how the model can guide leaders, board members, and investors.

Keywords

ethical leadershipbusiness ethicsPlatoSocratesvirtue

Information

Type
Special Section
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , July 2018 , pp. 251 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Audi, R. 2012. Virtue ethics as a resource in business. Business Ethics Quarterly, 22: 273–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauman, D. C. 2017. The drive to virtue: A virtue ethics account of leadership motivation. In Sison, A. J. G., Beabout, G. R., & Ferrero, I. (Eds.), Handbook of virtue ethics in business and management: 961–971. Netherlands: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloomberg News. 2010. Conviction upheld for ex-KPMG exec John Larson in tax shelter case. Los Angeles Times, August 27. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/27/business/la-fi-kpmg-20100827.Google Scholar
Boone, M. 2011. The unity of the virtues and the degeneration of the kallipolis. Apeiron, 44(2): 131–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boston, W. 2016. Volkswagen begins recall of diesel cars in Europe. The Wall Street Journal, January 28. http://www.wsj.com/articles/volkswagen-begins-recall-of-diesel-cars-in-europe-1453996552.Google Scholar
Brancaccio, D. 2016. Former BP CEO John Browne emphasizes the long term. Marketplace.org, June 15. https://www.marketplace.org/2016/06/09/economy/price-profits/former-bp-ceo-emphasizes-long-term.Google Scholar
Buffett, W. 2011. Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. shareholder letter 2010. http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2010ltr.pdf.Google Scholar
Buffett, W. 2016. Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. shareholder letter 2015. http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2015ltr.pdf.Google Scholar
Clark, J. 2015. Socrates, the primary question, and the unity of virtue. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 45(4): 445–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, J. 2001. Good to great. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Collins, J. 2009. How the mighty fall and why some companies never give in. New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Cooper, J. M. 1984. Plato’s theory of human motivation. History of Philosophy Quarterly, 1(1): 3–21.Google Scholar
Goodpaster, K. 1989. Ethical imperatives in corporate leadership. In Andrews, K. R. (Ed.) Ethics in practice: Managing the moral corporation: 212–228. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Press.Google Scholar
Hursthouse, R. 1999. On virtue ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Independent Directors of the Board of Wells Fargo & Company (ID). 2017. Sales practices investigative report. April 10, 2017. https://www08.wellsfargomedia.com/assets/pdf/about/investor-relations/presentations/2017/board-report.pdf?https://www.wellsfargo.com/assets/pdf/about/investor-relations/presentations/2017/board-report.pdf.Google Scholar
Internal Revenue Service. 2005. KPMG to pay $456 million for criminal violations. August 29. https://www.irs.gov/uac/kpmg-to-pay-456-million-for-criminal-violations.Google Scholar
Irwin, T. 1995. Plato’s ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahneman, D. 2011. Thinking fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Google Scholar
Klein, S. 1993. Business ethics: Reflections from a platonic point of view. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Inc.Google Scholar
Lustgarten, A. 2012. Run to failure: BP and the making of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Newton, L. H. 1986. The internal morality of the corporation. Journal of Business Ethics, 5: 249–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parry, R. 2014. Ancient ethical theory. In Zalta, E. N. (Ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2014 edition). http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-ancient/.Google Scholar
Philippoussis, J. 1999. The question of Plato’s notion of ‘leadership’ in the Republic. Phronimon, Vol 1(1): 109–143.Google Scholar
Reeve, C. D. C. 1988. Philosopher kings: The argument of Plato’s Republic. New Haven, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Rowe, C. 2007. The place of the Republic in Plato’s political thought. In Ferrari, G. R. F. (Ed.) The Cambridge companion to Plato’s Republic: 27–54. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rozenberg, J. 2017. Lord Brown resigns after revelations he lied in court about gay lover. The Telegraph, May 1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1550172/Lord-Browne-resigns-after-revelations-he-lied-in-court-about-gay-lover.html.Google Scholar
Sadler-Smith, E. 2012. Before virtue: Biology, brain, behavior, and the ‘moral sense.’ Business Ethics Quarterly, 22: 351–376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santas, G. 1971. Socrates at work on virtue and knowledge in Plato’s Laches. In Vlastos, G. (Ed.) The philosophy of Socrates: 177–208. New York: Anchor Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schroeder, A. 2009. The snowball: Warren Buffett and the business of life. New York: Bantam Books.Google Scholar
Sison, A. J. G. 2003, The moral capital of leaders: Why virtue matters. Northampton, MA: Edgar Elgar Publishing Inc.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sison, A. J. G., & Fontrodona, J. 2012. The common good in the firm in the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition. Business Ethics Quarterly, 22: 211–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sison, A. J. G., Hartman, E. M., & Fontrodona, J. 2012. Reviving tradition: Virtue and the common good in business and management. Business Ethics Quarterly, 22: 207–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suttell, S. 2016. Brutal efficiency, strong numbers mark a Warren Buffett company with NE Ohio operations. Crains Cleveland Business, August 3. http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20160803/BLOGS03/160809937/brutal-efficiency-strong-numbers-mark-a-warren-buffett-company-with.Google Scholar
Swanton, C. 2005. Virtue ethics: A pluralistic view. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tabuchi, H., & Ewing, J. 2016. VW engineer pleads guilty in U.S. criminal case over diesel emissions. The New York Times, September 9. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/10/business/international/vw-criminal-charge-diesel.html.Google Scholar
Vlastos, G. 1991. Socrates: Ironist and moral philosopher. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Web, T. 2010. BP’s Sun King Lord Browne reveals his darker side. The Guardian, February 8. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/feb/08/bp-lord-browne-memoirs.Google Scholar
Wieczner, J. 2014. Warren Buffett on his biggest weakness. Fortune, May 6. http://fortune.com/2014/05/06/warren-Buffettt-on-his-biggest-weakness/.Google Scholar