Ethics under constraint: leading when integrity is costly
The post explores how ethical culture is shaped through visible, everyday leadership behaviours—particularly when budgets are tight and deadlines apply. It reinforces Duja Consulting’s positioning in governance, ethics, and forensic insight.
Integrity has a price, especially when budgets are tight and delivery deadlines loom. Build visible norms that make the ethical choice the easy choice: pre-declared conflicts with no drama; rotating evaluation panels; a rule that gifts are refused publicly, not privately; and early escalation channels that don’t punish the messenger.
Role-model the small signals: explain why you delay an award that “almost meets” criteria; invite dissent in evaluation meetings; praise the person who spotted a flaw before a supplier did. Culture is a catalogue of repeated acts.
Write the catalogue you want your juniors to imitate, then keep adding pages.
