This article highlights the role leadership plays in establishing an ethical framework for employees to abide by. It further discusses how all exchanges in business can be imbalanced if misleading advertising, overstated public relations campaigns, and questionable performance claims are used to get people to buy products or services from a company. Specific references are made to the field of advertising, with further discussion highlighting the role leaders play in supportingeither through implicit or explicit practicesthe sometimes misguided actions of employees. Suggestions are made on what companies can do to make sure the company supports ethical, sustainable, and responsible behavior in its employees, stakeholders, and leadership.

Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling of Enron have been found guilty. We will never know whether or not their failure to accept responsibility for the actions of their employees would have altered their sentences. Their lack of apparent shame, however, is disappointing and shows a gap in credible leadership that has lead to a loss of confidence across the corporate landscape. Advertising executives, in particular, need to be especially vigilant when it comes to questions of ethics. Bass noted that managing the perception or impression of the targeted audience is specifically the domain of advertising firms (1998, "Ethics, Character, and Authentic Transformational Leadership", Leadership Quarterly, 10, 2 pp. 181218). Being able to control it so that it does not raise issues of trust and credibility is the responsibility of the firm's leadership. Too often, leaders rely upon the notion of "plausible deniability" which ensures that most leaders have plenty of excuses that shelter them from the impact of most of their decisions. A copywriter and an advertising executive may work together on an ad that the leadership never sees. Whose responsibility is it thenthe parties directly involved alone, or the leadership of the firm?

The reality is that many ethical crises are really a direct reflection of top leadership. Aggressive accounting practices, (mis)leading advertising, overstated public relations campaigns, questionable performance claimsthere are many examples of businesses that have gotten caught crossing a line from acceptable practice (i.e., within the legal, ethical, and societal boundaries) and unacceptable practice. Behind each situation lies the small, but influential group of leaders that through action and/or inaction support the crossing of the line.

Advertising Express Magazine, Ethical Framework, Authentic Transformational Leadership, Aggressive Accounting Practices, Advertising Decisionmaking, Public Relations Firm, Products or Services, Public Relations Campaigns, Corporate Landscape, Internal Audit Committees, Corporate Mission.