Can Ethical Leadership Truly Thrive in Capitalism?

While writing my book, The BRAVE Leader, a question kept gnawing at the back of my mind.

Can ethical leadership truly thrive within a capitalist system?

Not survive, not occasionally appear, but truly thrive.

At first glance, the answer seems complicated. If we are honest, capitalism is a system built on exploitation, competition, profit, and continuous growth. Ethical leadership, by contrast, asks something different. It calls for integrity, fairness, care, and a willingness to put people before profit. It's not hard to see the tension.

Yet in that very tension lies a story worth exploring.

Walk with me.

We live in a world where businesses can accumulate extraordinary wealth while workers struggle to pay rent. Supply chains stretch across continents but are often invisible to those who benefit most. Where companies pledge sustainability in public, yet invest in destruction behind closed doors.

It’s not cynicism to observe this, it’s realism.

The current form of capitalism rewards scale, speed, and shareholder return. Ethical choices, particularly those that reduce margins or slow growth, are often seen as admirable but optional. Leaders who attempt to embed ethical principles or values into their organisations frequently find themselves isolated, under pressure, or worse, quietly replaced. Still, some persist and that persistence deserves attention.

In our work with leaders across sectors, we’ve seen a new kind of leadership emerge one that isn’t naive about the world but refuses to be hardened by it. We call it BRAVE leadership. Bold, Resilient, Agile, Visionary, and Ethical.

These leaders are not saints. They’re strategists and human beings navigating systems that weren’t built for justice. But they understand something essential, that ethics is not an add-on, it’s the foundation.

Being bold means standing firm in decisions that might cost in the short term but build trust in the long run. It means choosing transparency over silence, even when the PR team winces.

Being resilient means facing the pushback that comes when you challenge norms. It’s knowing you’ll be tested by markets, by media, by colleagues and still choose the path that aligns with your values.

Being agile means adapting ethically, not just operationally. The world is shifting with regards to how it sees climate, culture and technology. BRAVE leaders adjust, not by abandoning principles but by applying them in new and creative ways.

Being visionary means asking: what’s the legacy I’m building? Not just for this quarter or campaign, but for generations. It’s seeing business as more than a transaction but as a vehicle for societal good.

And being ethical, finally, is about doing the right thing when no one’s watching and especially when everyone is. It’s about rejecting the idea that success and humanity are mutually exclusive.

Of course, it’s easy to romanticise ethical leadership. But the system isn’t neutral. It's not just that ethical leadership is hard, it’s that it often runs counter to the way capitalism is currently structured. Public companies are expected to maximise shareholder value. Start-ups are told to scale fast, worry about values later. Incentives, governance, and culture all too often reward the very behaviours that ethical leadership pushes against.

And yet, despite it all, we see flickers of something different.

Organisations like Patagonia, the Co-operative Group, and even some corners of the finance world are showing that it’s possible, not easy, but definitely possible, to lead ethically and still succeed in building wealth.

These companies are far from perfect. But their efforts matter, not because they’ve cracked the code, but because they’re asking better questions. They are embedding ethics into decision-making. They are being more inclusive by listening to employees, communities and other stakeholders. They’re choosing slower, more deliberate growth. They are, in essence, choosing to lead bravely.

So, can ethical leadership thrive under capitalism?

It depends on how we define thrive.

If we mean individual leaders navigating difficult systems with compassion and courage, then yes, we’ve seen it. But if we mean a world where ethical leadership is not just tolerated but expected, celebrated, and rewarded, then no, not yet.

To get there, we need more than good intentions.
We need systemic reform with changes to regulation, governance and ownership structures.
We need cultural shifts, where we redefine what success looks like, and
we need collective courage from leaders, boards, investors, and citizens willing to align power with principle.
That can seem daunting in a world that seems to be going in the opposite direction, but ripples can cause waves.

That’s the invitation at the heart of The BRAVE Model™ that shapes work on brave, inclusive leadership.

We don’t want to pretend this is easy, or to offer neat solutions, but rather help individuals and teams to step into leadership with clarity and humanity. To hold the tension. To work the system and to work on the system. To remember that people built capitalism, and people can reimagine it.

Ethical leadership isn’t a luxury. It’s not the icing on the cake. It’s the foundation of any future worth building. In the face of economic systems that often reward the opposite, it takes courage to lead with principle. But when leaders do, they not only transform their organisations, they shift the story of what leadership, and capitalism itself, can become. Profitability and ethics can be comfortable bedfellows.

If this resonates with you, whether you're leading a team, building a business, or shaping policy, I invite you to explore the BRAVE Leadership programmes with me. These aren’t off-the-shelf solutions. They are deep, intentional journeys built for those who want to lead boldly, navigate complexity with clarity, and make ethics not just a value but a practice.

Whether you’re looking for leadership development within your organisation, or a keynote to spark change, let’s work together to make ethical leadership not just possible, but powerful.

Let’s build something BRAVE.