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Ethical Decision Making Ltd.

"Changing the world one decision at a time."

Game-changing solutions to improve ethical decision-making.

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About Us

Ethical Decision Making Ltd.’s mission is to cultivate ethically fluent leaders capable of tackling the unprecedented challenges of the 21st century. Ethical Decision Making (EDM) is revolutionising the talent management industry by addressing critical gaps in how we hire and assess leaders.

“39% of CEOs are fired in the first 18 months due to unethical behavior including fraud, bribery and insider trading.” - Korn Ferry Institute

We can and must do better.

EDM was founded to solve this unsustainable and unacceptable failure rate of CEO’s. In addition to disruption and high turnover costs, this high failure rate of CEOs creates catastrophic risks for all stakeholders and society. The list of recent ethical failures only grows in size and impact, eroding fundamental trust in capitalism: FTX, Boeing, Theranos, the opioid epidemic, Volkswagen, FIFA, …and the list goes on.

While well intended, DEI and ESG initiatives are largely compliance led and have failed to move the needle. The crisis of trust in our leaders and our institutions must be solved by selecting leaders who are trustworthy regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

So, where do we go from here?

The answer is simple: Ethics matter.

At EDM, we believe “We get what we measure.”

EDM’s proprietary suite of solutions puts game changing, new tools into the hands of investors, boards, executives and CHRO’s that for the first time, make it possible to rigorously assess, measure and develop the Ethical Leadership Quotients (ETQ) of your leaders, employees, and your organization. EDM’s solutions empower investors and boards to pro-actively mitigate downside risks, improve outcomes, and hold executives accountable.

Our revolutionary suite of 8KQ talent management solutions are powered by over a decade of rigorous academic research and include ethical executive assessment and development, board development, leadership training, and employee onboarding. EDM provides a scaleable, systemic upgrade to talent management systems that improves outcomes, enhances risk mitigation, and enriches reputation and brand management.

The time has come to revolutionize today’s ineffective talent solutions marketplace. Our innovative 8KQ solutions enable organisations to upgrade and align their talent management systems to meet today’s ethical demands and cultivate leaders who are not only prepared but inspired to confront today’s complex ethical challenges head-on.

Who We Are

We are a leading edge, strategic talent and training consulting firm. We are disruptors and innovative problem solvers who set out to revolutionize today’s ineffective talent solutions marketplace which has tolerated a 39% failure rate.

At EDM, we believe we can and must do better.

Change begins one leader, one team and one decision at a time. How we assess, select, hire, measure, train and onboard employees and future generations of young people matters.

EDM’s proprietary ethical decision-making solutions set a new standard by focusing on the two key top-down talent levers that make the biggest impact:

“Who’s leading the place?”

Embedding ethical decision-making and ethical assessment at the center of your key-man hiring decisions and CEO succession planning is the new gold standard to determine not only “Who is leading the place?" but “Who should be leading the place?”

“How are they leading the place?”

The current mantras popularized by Silicon Valley, short-term quarterly financial reporting and the rapid pace of change are well known in today’s business circles:

“Break things fast, fix them later.”

“Ask for forgiveness, not permission.”

“Hit your numbers and win at all costs.”

At the core of this relentless focus on speed is reductionist thinking. While “failing fast” drives innovation in engineering and product development labs, it has far-reaching and unintended consequences when it seeps into executive decision-making and into the culture at large. The latest research in behavioral science and neuroscience has proven that it is a dangerous misconception, as we actually make our best decisions when we slow down.

At EDM, we believe that improving how decisions are made is key to creating change and improving outcomes. We therefore stand by a few, more old-fashioned mantras that have stood the test of time:

“Garbage In = Garbage Out”

“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

“Slow down to speed up.”

EDM’s suite of ethical decision-making tools address the “Garbage In” issue by empowering boards, leaders, and teams to slow down to speed up, expose unconscious biases, and identify unforeseen or unintended consequences. Our bottom-up focus is on creating ethically fluent leaders at all levels of the organization through 8KQTM led team workshops, performance management, training and development, online certifications, and onboarding. EDM’s game-changing new tools are proven to improve decision making processes and produce better outcomes.

The time has come to revolutionize today’s ineffective talent solutions marketplace and upgrade talent management systems to drive more ethical outcomes. How we assess, select, hire, measure, train and onboard employees and future generations of young people matters.

EDM’s vision is to create a future of ethically fluent and ethically centered leaders. EDM’s proprietary solutions and tools set a new gold standard for improving the ETQ of leaders and upgrading to ethical talent mangement systems.

Together, we can and must build a more ethical, sustainable talent mangement ecosystem and improve ethical decision making skills and fluency at all levels of society. This is our raison d’etre. We look forward to working with our clients to lead this ethical talent management revolution.

Our Services

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Board Services

Board Facilitation and Ethical Workshops

Bespoke board facilitation half-day or full-day workshops to address risk mitigation, specific board governance issues, board dynamics, CEO succession planning and ethical challenges.

Ethical Executive Assessment & CEO Succession Planning

8KQ Ethical Executive Assessment is the only rigorous, academically proven ethical assessment that measures Ethical Leadership Quotients (ETQ) allowing boards and hiring managers to de-risk critical hires and key-man risk including CEO, C-Suite, and CEO succession planning.

M&A Due Diligence
Improved risk mitigation through rigorous, pre-deal assessment of key man risks and management team ETQ..

C-Suite Decision Making and Top Team Effectiveness

Top team facilitation and custom workshops to improve ethical decision-making, team effectiveness and improve outcomes. Individual executive coaching & onboarding/integration coaching
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Organizational Solutions

Ethical Organizational Cultrue Assessment & Culture Change

Ethical Organization Assessment to baseline and measure culture change annually. Integrated organization design, and culture change roadmaps. 8KQTM Organizational Certification and biennial reaccreditation.

Leadership Development

Custom 8KQTM ethical leadership team development programs and learning modules to complement existing development programs.

Employee Onboarding and Certification

Proprietary online 8KQTM Ethical Leader Certifications (Levels I, II and III), onboarding, and training. EDM Certifications improve ethical decision-making skills, measure employees' ETQ and create ethically fluent leaders throughout your organization.

A Culture of Ethical Fluency

Certifying the whole organization for ethical fluency
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Education & Certification

Educational Solutions

K-12 educational solutions and teacher guides are available. We are openly looking to collaborate with innovative players in the education market. Please contact us to discuss ideas and potential partnerships.

Online Training and Certification

Our proprietary online 8KQTM training and certification platform is in development. Level I, Level II and Level III training and EDM Ethical Leader Certifications will be available in multiple languages to provide universal access and help us scale the ethical decision-making revolution beyond corporate walls. EDM Certifications will improve ethical decision-making skills, measure proficiency and create ethically certified leaders across the globe. Stay tuned for the official launch announcement.

Why EDM?

EDM’s proprietary, research-driven 8KQ set of talent solutions upgrade today’s outdated talent management systems and put ethical decision making at the core of all you do. EDM’s suite of solutions and our edu-tech platform are user friendly while also being rigorous, measurable, and scalable. Our proprietary 8KQ solutions are backed by 10+ years of academic research and incorporate the latest research in neuroscience and behavioral science. 8KQ Ethical Executive Assessment is the only rigorous, academically proven ethical assessment that measures Ethical Leadership Quotients (ETQ) allowing boards and hiring managers to de-risk critical hires and key-man risk including CEO, C-Suite, and CEO succession planning.

Our proprietary 8KQTM solutions are being introduced to the corporate and K-12 education markets for the first time by our team of leadership experts. Imagine a future where you can improve decision outcomes at all levels of the organization and are empowered to:

  • De-risk selection and hiring by identifying those who brush past ethical considerations
  • Require all key decisions to be considered through an ethical decision-making filter
  • Measure and develop the Ethical Decision Making Quotient (ETQ) of key executives and all your employees
  • Identify and train for new behaviors that embed ethical decision making skills in all training and development
We are disrupting the talent management industry to lead the way to more ethical capitalism. EDM’s revolutionary ethical decision making and talent management solutions empower boards, executives and CHRO’s to upgrade their systems and embed ethical talent management ensuring organizations are fit to lead and address the unprecedented challenges we face in the 21st century.

We are committed to being part of the solution and empowering you, our clients, with new tools proven to improve your decision making and outcomes. Working together, we can and must lead the way to a more sustainable, ethical capitalism for all.

It’s a future we are excited to create with you.

Our Team

We are an elite team of individuals from leading talent management and enterprise solution firms who have been lifelong innovators and game changers in our respective fields. As a founding team, we share EDM’s vision and core values for ethical leadership as the key to all we do:

  • making a positive impact on our world
  • excellence and rigour
  • collaboration and the power of teamwork
  • empowering clients.
We look forward to partnering with you to positively disrupt the talent industry, lead the ethical talent management revolution and create a future led by ethically fluent leaders and sustainable ethical capitalism.
Leslie Little
Founder & CEO
Leslie Little
Founder and CEO of E3 International Ltd. and previously partner at The River Group, Korn Ferry, and Egon Zehnder International; Managing Director Europe Vanguard and WFNIA; highly experienced in dealing with global boards and C suite clients in all aspects of OD, leadership, board governance, CEO succession planning and selection, management assessment, and talent management. Expertise in inclusive cultures and gender issues; leadership research includes Sexual Misconduct is a Failure of Leadership. Adjunct Professor at the Haas School and London Business School; prior Board Member and Advisor Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, UC Berkeley; Trustee of Lumos, JK Rowling’s children’s charity.
Gavin Fenn-Smith
Chief Product Officer
Gavin Fenn-Smith
Executive Leadership Coach at MIT’s Sloan School of Management (the MIT Leadership Center and the Executive Education Center). Previously Partner and Co-Founder, The River Group, and expert at Mercer Delta; highly experienced in dealing with global boards and C suite clients in all aspects of OD, leadership, board governance and talent management. Leadership research includes: The Experience of First-Time CEOs, How Founders Learn to Let Go and Grow Their Business, and Sexual Misconduct is a Failure of Leadership.
John Smith
Chief Behavioral Scientist
Dr. John Mervyn-Smith
John is one of the UK’s leading psychologists. He is a co-creator of a number of organisational development tools including The GC Index which is currently being used for talent assessment and development in over 50 countries and by over 5000 organisations. He is an author, broadcaster and key-note speaker with an expertise that reflects a hybrid career as an academic, clinical and occupational psychologist. He is an Associate Fellow of The British Psychological Society and Chartered Clinical Psychologist. He has published on subjects from leadership assessment and development to wellbeing.

Collaborations

James Madison University, Ethics In Action Department

Omaha Business Ethics Alliance

Heider School of Business, Creighton University

Contact us to discuss how we can align,
and upgrade your existing talent management systems to put ethical decision making at the core of all you do.

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