366 Global Ethics for Leadership
confined to matters within his or her duties, which suggests that no addi-
tional criteria should be imposed on the leaders.
In the study of leadership, there is an attractive phenomenon of role
model effect. It stands to reason that an outstanding person should be
awarded accordingly. However, the role of leadership remains to be re-
searched. Is honouring someone a role model a reward for his/her con-
tribution or as a tool to achieve presupposed goals? A role model politi-
cally set up may feel uncomfortable about being public figure. In the
beginning of the 20th century, the study of leadership focused on great
personages such as Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King,
which are too good to be a role model for ordinary people, making the
ordinary people feel dwarfed or even self-contemptuous. Then the inap-
propriate application of role model also reflects the dilemmas of invalid
resource allocation and improper division of labour. The morality of
being ready to help is indispensable for an organisation, but neverthe-
less, it doesn’t stand for the entire leader’s responsibility of resource
allocation and division of labour. For example, when appraising a hero
for rescuing others from the fire, we can’t ignore responsibilities for not
taking precautions against fire by the leaders. In a society with a sound
system there are no needs for many ‘heroes’, similarly, it is unnecessary
for people to make frequent sacrifices in an orderly organisation.
It is no doubt that the key in moral leadership is to make the leaders
themselves serve as an example, as it is said that “if the leader acts
properly, the others will obey him without being ordered”. However,
here comes a question, what is the criterion for a good example the lead-
er has set? If a high-level official who travels back and forth to work by
bicycle and leads a frugal life, gives grounds and makes concessions
when dealing with other organisations, he can’t be viewed as a moral
leader. Therefore, the criterion is the regulations and objectives of the
organisation. For example, Lenovo set up a rule that people who are late
for a meeting by more than 20 minutes will have to stand on one foot for