Moral Intelligence for the Entrepreneur

This Element is an excerpt from Moral Intelligence: Enhancing Business Performance and Leadership Success (9780132349864) by Doug Lennick and Fred Kiel. Available in print and digital formats.

Why even the best new business models fail when they aren’t supported by moral competence—and how to “bake integrity in” from the very beginning

Entrepreneurs rarely launch ventures with an explicit moral focus. Their most costly missteps are frequently moral, not strategic or operational. When entrepreneurs lack consistent moral competence, their businesses usually falter or fail completely. Even exceptional business models can’t survive without morally competent leadership.