From Ethics to Action
How Praxis Anchors Leadership in a Time of Speed, Scale, and Strategic Uncertainty
“There’s a myth that says you can’t be ethical and successful in business.
That myth is perpetuated by people who are neither.”
— Ursula Burns
In an era defined by relentless acceleration and mechanical efficiency, leaders face an increasingly urgent dilemma: how to maintain ethical discernment and human judgment amidst the automation of decision-making. While algorithms govern the how, it is leadership that must safeguard the why.
Praxis, the discipline of deliberate, values-driven action, provides a vital counterbalance. It is rooted in Aristotle's conception of practical wisdom (phronesis), and it echoes James P. Carse’s notion of the infinite game, where the true objective is not to win, but to continue playing with integrity. Simon Sinek, too, advances this ethos in his appeal to "Start With Why," urging organizations to root their behavior in a compelling and enduring purpose. Praxis is how leaders inhabit that purpose, operationalizing principles through consistent ethical conduct.
And the evidence is compelling: organizations animated by praxis regularly outperform their peers across employee retention, brand loyalty, and long-term profitability.
Ethical Action is Not Optional
In finite contexts, ethics are often framed as constraints, optional ideals that impede efficiency. But in the infinite game, ethics function as the very rules that preserve the possibility of play.
Consider Johnson & Johnson's landmark response to the 1982 Tylenol poisoning crisis. In an act of unprecedented transparency and responsibility, the company voluntarily recalled 31 million bottles at a cost exceeding $100 million. Within a year, Tylenol had recovered nearly all of its market share, and J&J emerged with an enhanced reputation for integrity and public trust. In the short term, it was a costly move. Viewed through a longer lens, however, it was a strategic investment in enduring credibility.
Patagonia’s 2011 "Don’t Buy This Jacket" campaign offers a similar paradigm. Rather than encouraging consumption, the company implored its customers to reconsider their environmental impact. Counterintuitively, this act of restraint led to a surge in sales and solidified Patagonia's position as a brand of conviction. It was not a marketing gimmick; it was praxis in motion, belief enacted regardless of immediate commercial consequence.
These instances underscore a key principle: ethical praxis is not performative virtue. It is a courageous alignment between internal belief and external behavior, even when the stakes are high.
The Role of Phronesis in Decision-Making
Possessing values is not sufficient. Leadership demands phronesis, a cultivated capacity to apply those values judiciously in complex, ambiguous situations.
Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, has demonstrated this capacity. Upon discovering gender-based pay disparities within the organization, he authorized $10 million in salary adjustments. This was not a reaction to external pressure but a proactive act of integrity, a clear expression of internal accountability and ethical coherence.
Historically, Benioff has positioned Salesforce as a platform for social equity, environmental advocacy, and inclusive culture. However, by mid-2024, in response to intensifying political and shareholder scrutiny, Salesforce began scaling back some of its public-facing DEI initiatives. The company reaffirmed its commitment to internal equity while dialing down external activism.
This evolution does not negate prior praxis. Rather, it illustrates the adaptive tension that ethical leaders must navigate, the delicate calibration of values and viability in a shifting sociopolitical landscape. Phronesis is what enables that discernment.
Leadership, then, is not merely the exercise of authority. It is the art of stewarding trust through principled action under pressure.
“Values aren’t just words on a page. They’re everything we believe in, and everything we hold ourselves accountable to.”
— Rosalind Brewer
Praxis as the Bridge Between Values and Culture
Corporate values are often beautifully articulated and poorly embodied. Praxis is the mechanism by which values are translated into culture, by becoming a habit rather than performance.
Patagonia exemplifies this translation. With a turnover rate of only 4% in an industry that averages over 13%, the company retains employees not through perks but through alignment. Team members are not simply workers; they are advocates for the planet. They are given paid leave to engage in environmental activism and even receive legal support if arrested for peaceful protest. This is not symbolic. It is structural proof that the mission is operationalized.
Costco’s model similarly illustrates the dividends of principled commitment. The company pays its hourly workers an average of $26 per hour, well above retail norms, and experiences annual turnover rates as low as 6%. Its culture of respect and long-term orientation has translated into superior customer service, higher productivity, and stronger financial performance relative to lower-wage competitors. Costco’s leadership does not view labor as a cost center but as a strategic asset.
Praxis is what allows values to permeate the operating system of an organization. It turns belief into infrastructure.
Ethical Leadership in Strategic Context
The prevailing assumption in many executive circles is that ethics and performance are often at odds. But this dichotomy is increasingly untenable.
McKinsey research reveals that organizations with a long-term orientation, typically those investing in employee well-being, sustainability, and stakeholder trust, grew revenues 47% faster and earned 36% more profit than their short-term focused counterparts. These outcomes are not accidental. They are the fruits of praxis-led strategy.
Michael Porter reminds us that strategy is the act of choosing what not to do. Praxis deepens that discipline. It compels leaders to make trade-offs that reflect their convictions, not just their spreadsheets.
In volatile environments, this clarity is indispensable. Companies that lack a coherent ethical compass often flounder under pressure. Those with a praxis mindset return to principle as their North Star, allowing them to act with confidence amid uncertainty.
Carse would frame these decisions as infinite moves, investments in trust, resilience, and meaning that sustain the game over time.
Building Habits of Praxis in Leadership
Praxis does not emerge spontaneously. It must be cultivated deliberately through practice and introspection.
Leaders seeking to embed praxis in their behavior and teams can begin by institutionalizing the following habits:
Conducting after-action reviews that examine not only performance but ethical alignment
Running pre-mortems to proactively identify ethical blind spots and risks
Maintaining reflective journals that probe the consistency of values and decisions
Creating space in leadership meetings to interrogate the purpose behind strategic choices
Engaging directly with frontline employees to ensure cultural alignment is more than aspirational
These habits may appear intangible, but their impact is measurable. At Salesforce, 84% of employees report high engagement and satisfaction, significantly above the national average. That engagement fuels innovation, loyalty, and market leadership. Purpose, when operationalized through praxis, becomes a competitive asset.
Simon Sinek refers to this as "Just Cause" leadership, a way of working that inspires commitment because it reflects a cause greater than profit. Praxis is the lived practice of that cause.
Why Praxis is the Leadership Advantage Now
Carse reminds us: "Infinite players prepare themselves to be surprised."
The contemporary business landscape demands exactly this posture. In a world increasingly shaped by volatility, complexity, and polarization, leaders must remain grounded in something more enduring than quarterly targets.
Praxis offers that grounding. It provides a methodology for ethical reflection, for principled consistency, and for aligning action with belief.
Organizations like Johnson & Johnson, Patagonia, Salesforce, and Costco demonstrate that ethical leadership is not a trade-off against performance. It is a precursor to resilience, relevance, and long-term success.
When uncertainty looms, stakeholders do not search for perfection. They search for principled guidance. They look for leaders whose actions reflect enduring commitments.
Praxis is the discipline that builds that trust. Not through slogans, but through the accumulated integrity of daily decisions.
The future will not belong to those who merely adapt quickly. It will belong to those who act purposefully, those who lead with intention in service of something greater than themselves.
In an infinite game, purpose is not a luxury. It is the only way to win.