What Does Ethical Stewardship Ask of Us?

As trust in institutions continues to erode, I’ve been thinking about stewardship as an ethical way of holding responsibility within systems.

Can we stand behind our behaviours?

Stewardship is the recognition that we hold much of what shapes our lives in trust. In leadership, organisations and our personal life, we carry responsibility for the roles we play, the decisions and relationships we make and the systems that surround us. This shapes the future we help to create.

Ethical stewardship invites a question: not just whether we are effective, but whether we are acting in ways we can stand behind. We are asked to notice whose interests are being served, whose are being overlooked and what kind of impact our choices leave behind.

In organisational research, stewardship theory stands in opposition to traditional agency theory: rather than assuming leaders act in self-interest and the need for control, it views leaders as intrinsically motivated custodians of shared purpose. What better way is there to rebuild trust in institutions?

Why choose ethical stewardship in leadership and life?

Ethical Stewardship goes to the heart of the professional and personal impact we have. As executive director, do I insist on taking or at least informing every high risk decision because I am the one answerable for the outcome? Or do I step back to account for the outcome while seeing the decision as owned by others? As part of a community, do I concern myself with my well-being, or the well-being of those around me? Even if I can say with truthfulness that my aim is the same, how do I choose to achieve it?

You will, I’m sure, point out that the ‘right’ approach depends on the context. I suggest that this is only part of the picture. The ‘ethical stewardship’ approach rests on the values you hold and the behaviours that you exhibit as the steward of the systems within which you operate. It frames the very concept of ‘right’.

In 2025, More In Common published research showing that 85% of Britons across all political parties had not very much to no faith in politicians. In addition, they reported a feeling that people did not have control over their own lives. While the causes will be many and varied, I wonder whether an ethical stewardship approach to leadership, politics and economics could begin to rebuild trust and restore a sense of agency. But how do we get there?

Shattered Britain More in Common (2025)