Paper short abstract:

Expectations from NGO leaders are higher than for others. They must combine ethical and technical competence to achieve development goals. This paper explores responsible leadership, ethics, enterprise and impact. Semi-structured interviews reveal distinctive challenges and concern for genuineness.

Paper long abstract:

According to a non-profit sector leader in a developing context (Nigeria), "leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to "win" as a team or an organisation; and it is dynamic, exciting, and inspiring". Yet, expectations from leaders in this sector are often higher than for leaders in the rest of the private sector. To start with, the sector is a high-trust arena due to the social motivation of its entrepreneurs and innovators. Secondly, due to the importance of their roles to society, CSO and NGO leaders are often held to higher standards since their ethics can drive or hinder the achievement of development goals. In addition, when trust is broken in the non-profit sector, as it sometimes is, this causes serious development setbacks. For these reasons, leadership training for this sector has to be robust for technical competence as well as for ethical competence, since good intentions are not enough; they must also be effectively carried out. This paper explores the ingredients for responsible leadership in the non-profit sector and the networked interfaces between ethics, enterprise and impact. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions on themes of ethics, enterprise and impact with leaders in the sector (health, education, and impact investment initiatives) reveal what their distinctive challenges are in a developing context. A strong concern for genuineness as a leadership dimension emerges from the interviewees.