Day: 16 February 2026

Being a leader in today’s workplace is complex. With rapid change, diverse teams, and emphasis on accountability, leaders must make decisions that consider people and culture as much as performance and cash flow.

Leaders must be ethical as well as effective.

What Is Ethical Leadership?

Ethical leadership relates to leading with honesty, integrity and accountability. These leaders don’t just focus on what’s profitable in the short term. Instead, they consider what is right, fair and responsible. This can be seen through a range of different traits, such as:

• Fairness
• Empathy
• Consistency
• Transparency

These qualities allow leaders to build credibility and set the tone for workplace culture through ethically leading by example.

Technical skills and lived experience are still important. But they are no longer enough on their own. Long-term organisational success depends on leadership grounded in trust and understanding.

Employees look for workplaces and leaders who act in line with their values and make decisions that put people first.

This is the basis of ethical leadership, a sought-after skill that’s associated with promoting ethical behaviour across the whole organisation.

Why Ethical Leadership Matters in Today’s Workplace

Ethical leadership strengthens the reputation of the organisation both internally and externally.

Leaders who consistently demonstrate ethical behaviour inspire loyalty and commitment. This has the benefit of reducing employee turnover and driving business success.

With stronger collaboration and better decision-making, ethical leadership makes the entire team feel more valued and respected.

According to organisation-based self-esteem studies, the trust that comes with ethical leadership results in employees feeling valuable to the organisation. This has the flow-on effect of increasing their self-esteem and engagement.

DISC Leadership and Ethical Management

One way for leaders to strengthen their ethical radar is through developing deeper self-awareness and empathy. Yes, those traits can be learned with the right leadership development program.

Tools such as extended DISC profiles apply a practical structure to this concept.

They enable leaders to understand how individual employees approach decision-making and the subtle cues in their communication.

DISC Profiles and Leadership Styles

DISC profiles are a widely used behaviour system that helps leaders understand personality traits and workplace dynamics. It identifies the predominant characteristics of the team.

The four DISC profiles are:

• D (Dominance): Results-oriented and decisive, often thriving on challenges and taking a direct approach to communication.
• I (Influence): Sociable and outgoing, great at building relationships, and skilled at motivating or persuading others.
• S (Steadiness): Supportive, patient, and dependable, prioritising calm and stability through non-confrontational communication.
• C (Compliance): Detail-oriented and analytical, placing a high value on accuracy and precision in their work and communication.

Understanding DISC profiles helps a leader communicate more effectively and manage a range of personalities, including the challenging ones.

However, humans rarely fit neatly into one box. That’s why at ATI-Mirage, we follow an extended DISC or eDISC approach.

Where DISC profiles are based on 16-32 character traits, eDISC analyses. This provides a more detailed map for professional development and communication.

How Extended DISC Profiles Influence Ethical Leadership

Dominance (D):

Leaders with a Dominance style are driven and assertive. While this can be an asset in challenging situations, they may need to balance these tendencies with empathy and consideration of those perspectives to ensure ethical outcomes.

Influence (I):

Influence-style leaders excel in communication and building relationships, fostering openness and transparency. They may need to ensure that this optimism and seeking a consensus don’t override their objectives.

Steadiness (S):

Steadiness-oriented leaders are naturally supportive and consistent, which helps to build trust and inclusion. Their calmness promotes ethical stability, but they may struggle in approaching issues directly due to their tendency to avoid conflict.

Compliance (C):

Compliance-style leaders are focused on rules and accuracy. While this reinforces integrity and accountability, they may need to learn how to be more flexible and empathetic.

Understanding the four DISC profiles doesn’t just make interactions more productive. It also makes decisions more ethical.

Which Style Is Best?

No one style is better or more ethical than another. Effective leaders draw on different aspects depending on the situation, and use eDISC principles to dig deeper:

• Clarifying someone’s ‘natural’ and ‘adapted’ styles to understand who they’re speaking to.
• Accounting for underlying emotions and motivations.
• Identifying causes of friction or miscommunication.
• Monitoring long-term behavioural changes rather than relying on static profiles.

This is what extended DISC leadership really means. It’s about being fluent with different personality types to motivate, negotiate, navigate conflict, and adapt communication techniques to the audience and format.

Managers with a deeper awareness of their employees’ behavioural styles, strengths, and communication preferences are better placed to get buy-in on important decisions. They are also more likely to consider the impacts from their employees’ perspectives.