An ethics-based leadership assessment implemented by the Center for Personal and Professional Development Virginia Beach, VA

During eleven years of service with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, the author has become increasingly concerned about the lack of moral courage exemplified by the individuals in these services, especially the leadership. Today, young men and women are entering the sea services without having received a formal foundation of ethics or morality from their homes or grade school educations, thus leaving the Navy with the responsibility for training them in this arena. Collaborating with the Marine Corps University, the Naval Academy, the Naval Chaplain School, and other ethics resources, the most effective and uniformed assessment has been formulated so as to navigate the road ahead. This assessment will focus on the dissonance Sailor encounter with regards to the knowledge that they have been given and the filters they utilize for value-based moral thinking and moral courage. The following were the outcomes: 1) a re-acquaintance with the moral foundation upon which the Navy's core values are built: Navy ethos, Navy core values and Sailor professionalism; 2) an ethics-based model for leader personal interconnectivity; 3) an ethical thread which can be woven throughout the naval leadership training continuum; and 4) and an established form of accountability to be facilitated by the command ethics advisor and senior leadership. As a preemptive process, the Navy's Center for Personal and Professional Development (CPPD) has used the following statement and question to uncover current gaps within naval training: Too many people violate the naval codes of moral conduct; how can the moral/ethical reasoning of individuals involved in naval leadership be appropriately measured? The project, surveys reaching 558 leaders throughout the continuum, uncovered seven major areas of dissonance and others areas of concern for continual development, showing a need for a leadership model where connective relevance can be plotted. The following are the immediate results that reintegrated moral/ethical thinking in the formal training and will be implemented at multiple levels of advancement: Sidelining responsibilities of moral/ethical action, appropriate manner of speaking to and treating subordinates, manipulating rank over subordinates, using naval process and policy to better subordinates, rewarding personnel for strong character, teaching that moral and personal character is secondary to mission, and considering personnel and their concerns.