Rethinking “Tone from the Top”: Leadership as Ethical Signalling

How executive behaviour communicates values in ways policies never can

Organizations often treat ethics as a matter of formal directives: codes of conduct, compliance frameworks, mandatory training modules. Yet in practice, the most powerful ethical messages within an organization are communicated neither through policy nor proclamation. They are transmitted through signals—the subtle, continuous behaviours of senior leaders that set expectations, shape culture, and define what the organization believes to be normal, permissible, or aspirational.

The phrase “tone from the top” is widely used to describe this dynamic. But in many institutions it has become little more than a familiar slogan, invoked in annual reports or compliance documents without serious reflection. What requires rethinking is not the concept itself, but the mechanism underlying it. Tone from the top is not a speech act; it is a system of ethical signalling—a form of cultural communication that operates through small, often unnoticed behaviours that accumulate into a normative environment.

This essay examines how ethical signalling works in practice, why misalignment between stated values and executive behaviour erodes trust, and how leaders can cultivate signalling practices that strengthen organizational integrity.

I. The Limits of Stated Values

Almost every organization has a set of published values—integrity, accountability, respect, transparency. These are necessary, but they are not sufficient. Employees quickly learn that values written on walls or websites matter far less than the behaviours leadership rewards, tolerates, or overlooks.

This divergence between espoused values and enacted values is one of the most persistent sources of ethical ambiguity in modern organizations. Staff do not evaluate ethical culture based on what leaders say during annual town halls or strategic retreats. They judge it through everyday observations, often made unconsciously:

• whose concerns are taken seriously,

• what behaviours are quietly accepted,

• how leaders respond to uncomfortable truths,

• and which principles are upheld when decisions become costly.

Tone from the top, therefore, does not emerge from corporate statements. It emerges from the accumulation of micro-behaviours that reveal the organization’s real priorities.

II. Ethical Signalling: The Unspoken Language of Leadership

Ethical signalling refers to the nonverbal, behavioural cues through which leaders communicate what truly matters. These signals travel quickly across an organization, often more quickly than policy, and shape culture more effectively than any written directive.

Three characteristics define this mode of communication:

1. Continuous, Not Episodic

Everyday actions—how a leader allocates time, how they respond to minor misconduct, whether they listen attentively to frontline staff—send stronger signals than major announcements.

2. Operative Through Contrast

Employees constantly compare what leaders say with what they do. Even small inconsistencies can produce large cultural effects. When behaviour contradicts stated values, the behaviour becomes the real message.

3. Creators of Normative Boundaries

Over time, signals determine what is encouraged, what is discouraged, and what is ignored. These boundaries become the unwritten moral architecture of the workplace.

Understanding ethical signalling requires paying attention to moments that typically escape formal analysis: a leader admitting uncertainty, the seriousness with which they treat small mistakes, or their choice of whose voice to include during a difficult conversation. These micro-interactions become cultural anchors.

III. How Mixed Signals Undermine Culture

Organizations do not generally suffer from malicious leadership. They suffer from contradictory signals. These inconsistencies weaken cultural cohesion and erode trust.

Common patterns include:

1. Speed Over Integrity

If leaders celebrate rapid results without acknowledging ethical pressures, staff conclude that speed outranks principles. Shortcuts become normalized.

2. Loyalty Over Accountability

When high performers are shielded from scrutiny despite toxic behaviour, the message is clear: performance grants immunity.

3. Silence Over Transparency

Handling sensitive issues quietly—without explanation or context—can signal that discretion matters more than accountability, even when appropriate transparency could build trust.

4. Politeness Over Candour

Avoiding tension for the sake of harmony conveys that truth is negotiable. Difficult conversations become rare, and concerns go underground.

Such contradictions weaken confidence in leadership and create ethical drift. Employees stop raising concerns, frontline decisions become less principled under pressure, and informal norms diverge from formal ones. Over time, these gaps form cultural blind spots that no policy intervention can correct.

IV. Ethical Signalling as a Leadership Discipline

To strengthen culture, leaders must treat signalling as an intentional practice. Ethical signalling is not accidental; it is a discipline that requires self-awareness, consistency, and deliberation.

Four practices are central:

1. Visibility of Process, Not Just Outcomes

Leaders who articulate why a decision was made—not just what was decided—signal that integrity matters. This reduces speculation, models transparency, and teaches ethical reasoning.

2. Calibration of Praise and Correction

Recognizing behaviours that embody values—and promptly addressing early drift—signals that culture is actively stewarded, not passively assumed.

3. Ethical Consistency Under Stress

Staff watch leaders most closely during crisis or uncertainty. Fairness during restructuring, clarity during change, and humility during mistakes signal that values are not suspended when conditions are difficult.

4. Accountability That Includes the Powerful

Perhaps the strongest signal occurs when leaders hold themselves to the same standard they expect of others. When executives correct their own behaviour or acknowledge misjudgments, they signal that ethical responsibility flows upward—not just downward.

V. A Model for Ethical Signalling

Drawing on insights from Sterling Insight Group’s Rapid Ethics Scan and Executive Ethics Awareness programs, an effective signalling model consists of four interconnected layers:

1. Symbolic Signals

Small actions that carry disproportionate cultural weight: inviting dissenting views, acknowledging uncertainty, crediting teams publicly, or treating minor concerns seriously.

2. Ritualized Practices

Structured and repeated behaviours that reinforce values: ethical debriefs, decision reviews, or embedding ethical questions in planning processes.

3. Systemic Alignment

Ensuring that incentives, performance metrics, hiring, and promotion actually reflect the organization’s stated values. Misaligned systems produce the strongest negative signals.

4. Cultural Reinforcement

Narratives, stories, recognition systems, and shared language amplify signals and help them become part of organizational memory.

Together, these layers create a coherent ethical ecology—a cultural environment where leaders not only articulate values but embody them in visible, interpretable, and repeatable ways.

Conclusion: Leadership as a Living Signal

Ethical leadership today is defined not by statements of principle, but by signals—the continuous, subtle behaviours through which leaders communicate what the organization truly stands for. When signals are coherent, transparent, and resilient, they cultivate a culture of trust that no policy can replicate. When they are inconsistent, they quietly erode the moral foundation upon which responsible organizations depend.

Rethinking “tone from the top” as ethical signalling allows leaders to understand their influence more clearly and act with greater intentionality. In a period of rapid change and heightened scrutiny, this form of leadership is not only ethically necessary—it is strategically indispensable.

Works Cited

Brown, Michael E., and Linda K. Treviño. “Ethical Leadership: A Review and Future Directions.” The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 6, 2006, pp. 595–616.

Schein, Edgar H. Organizational Culture and Leadership. 5th ed., Wiley, 2017.

Treviño, Linda Klebe, and Katherine A. Nelson. Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk About How to Do the Right Thing. 8th ed., Wiley, 2021.