On Moral Licensing

I had not heard this term until I read Leadership BS. Moral licensing refers to the effect that when people initially behave in a moral way, they are later more likely to display behaviors that are immoral, unethical, or otherwise problematic.

The author takes this up in the context of leadership behaviour and says, once you have done some good - say, been vulnerable, apologised - that allows you to go and do something immoral, unethical or problematic. And this is why good leaders slip - once you have done something good, you have a few points that you can lose by doing something "bad".

While this is more of a personal "value" compass running amok, I can think of examples outside of Leadership - possibly in schools and NGOs where the organization feels entitled to break a few rules because they are doing good to society anyhow.

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