Starting and sustaining a responsible business is challenging, especially since it requires profit and purpose. A responsible business model serves as a starting point.

We have become values-centered in our actions and policies, and it is tearing us apart. Values are personal or based on an outcome important to an individual. Virtues are behaviors focused on taking action for a societal benefit, not a personal one. We need to shift to virtues in how we live and lead.

What is the end goal when we act? We need a philosophy of betterment. Motives must be evaluated based on how our decisions and actions better those who are unlike us. Our conversations need to focus on what we are trying to achieve based on a moral and ethical standard.

What does a leader of conscience mean? It begins with character to avoid distorted values with a centered focus on virtues of humanity. A leader of conscience engages in community conversations and identifies what virtues to act upon in the choices being made.

While our leadership standards seem to be faltering, we need the grit to lift them. Moral worth is a starting point. While leaders need to check their choices and actions, employees and citizens need to activate accountability too. What is the moral worth of your leadership?

Leadership and love are two concepts that are not often intermixed. However, love fits with transformational leadership, and it engages empathy with a call to do the right thing. Intersecting business and society requires a dose of love to empower better leadership, moral behavior, and integrative empathy.

Too often, we remain comfortable with those like us or issues that rile those within our circle. Real problem solving and progress comes from leading within intersections. Intersectional leaders are needed now to reduce polarization and collaborate forward.

Adaptability is an essential leadership skill, and this capability fits well with a new model for resolving conflict in social relations. Leaders need to avoid stalemate, which can trigger a sense of resentment. We need betterment within our populism, especially within stakeholder capitalism.

Moral dogma seems prevalent today. We need breakthroughs, and we can begin by using moral insight. Moral insight is a leadership practice to build genuine stakeholder capitalism and enliven mutual trust.

Over fifty years ago, Lewis Powell wrote a memo for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce outlining the importance of political power for business leaders. Through time, we understand the political power of business leaders, and now CEO activism is a modern take on it. We need a modern-day Powell memo to inspire more business leaders to take on issues of social and environmental importance. It is a new day for stakeholder capitalism.

Losing the soul of leadership and followership happens when dishonesty prevails. Integrity disappears, and destructive behaviors accelerate. Leaders and followers have a responsibility to each other. Honesty and integrity are the soul of good leadership.

CEO activism may be uncomfortable for many, yet it seems necessary when other institutions are weakened through dishonest rhetoric and actions. The future direction of CEO activism should focus on virtue ethics, reinforcing civic and business leadership.

The co-founders at Basecamp miss the realization that every company has a social impact. Ignoring it will not lessen organizational tensions or raise productivity. Instead, leaders need to broaden perspectives for better decisions and social cohesion at the intersection of business and society.

What is the role of willpower in leadership? When CEOs take active stands against voter restrictions, it may not be a comfortable action but necessary when political leadership vacancies arise. Leadership willpower is required.

Walk in another's shoes is more than a simple platitude. It is embedded in different philosophies. On the surface, the phrase crystallizes empathy. Activating the philosophy requires deeply visualizing another's perspective when making decisions at the intersection of business and society.

Morality requires a shift in branding from self to stakeholders. A new corporate morality is emerging, setting an example of positive moral authority to prevent selfish power grabs and call on us to do what is right for the many rather than a few.

Morality aligns with society and workplaces focused on acting for a greater purpose. Based on core virtues, we need to develop our moral competency – sooner rather than later.

Good governance is a must for ESG business leaders. Without it, failure is imminent.

Too many business and political leaders are triggered into self-interested, negative actions. We have lost our ability to think and act beyond the immediate.

If you have read comments on published articles, it doesn’t deliver faith in who we are as citizens. It’s time to recognize the importance of constructive, issue-based comments.