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Leadership and Ethics at the Crossroads: Creating a Shared Vision for the Health Administration Program and American Public Health Association

Diane L. Adams, MD, MPH, Georgia Centers for Advanced Telecommunications Technology (GCATT), 17032 Barn Ridge Drive, Silver Spring, MD 20906, 301-570-0387, dla8315@aol.com, Polly S. Turner, DrPH, MPH, RPh, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Texas Southern University, 3100 Cleburne Avenue, Nabrit Science Bldg., Room 202, Houston, TX 77004, Sandra A. Worrell, MS, Office of Organizational & Skill Development, University of Connecticut, 25 Sigourney Street, Hartford, CT 06117, and Eileen Parish, MD, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park, MD 20740-3835.

Leadership in organizations is not for the faint of heart. It requires courage, strategic and innovative thinking, and an ethical foundation that challenges not only the intellect, but also the status quo. In the 21st century, it is not enough to want to lead; one must make a conscious decision to do all that is required to successfully lead others.

One key item in today's leadership toolbox is the formula for how to juggle power, authority, and trust and still maintain an ethical approach to the work. The ethics of leadership rests upon 3 pillars: (1) the moral character of the leader, (2) the ethical values embedded in the leader's vision, articulation, and program which followers either embrace or reject, and (3) the morality of the processes of ethical choice and action that leaders and followers engage in and collectively pursue. Attention to the diversity inherent in leaders and followers adds a unique variable to the equation.

Through its strategic planning processes, and especially through the work of the Task Force For Association Improvement and Reorganization (TFAIR), the role of the leader in the American Public Health Association (APHA) is to continually instill the values of ethics among its administrators and volunteers. With collaboration, equity, and professionalism as the values that drive the organization, this challenge can easily be met.

Learning Objectives:

Keywords: Leadership, Ethics

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Health Administration Educational Posters

The 132nd Annual Meeting (November 6-10, 2004) of APHA