Evaluating assertions by a Wells Fargo CEO of a ‘return to ethical conduct’

We explore the language used by the CEO of Wells Fargo, Timothy Sloan, to sustain claims that Wells Fargo and its staff would behave in an ethically appropriate way in the future. We focus on Sloan’s opening written statement to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs of the United States Senate on 3 October 2017. This statement was intended to salvage Wells Fargo’s reputation after it had been savaged by widespread allegations of unethical conduct. Sloan sought to display ethical leadership by drawing the senators’ and other stakeholders’ attention to an (alleged) epiphany in the managerial mindset of the company. This paper contributes by proposing three desirable hallmarks by which to analyze claims of ethical leadership: balanced framing, principled use of ideology and metaphor, and justified rhetoric. These hallmarks are then explored to assess the ethical leadership discourse in Sloan’s statement. The paper demonstrates that analysis of the micro discourse of a CEO can reveal lack of a sound appreciation of the human complexity of a large organization, superficial assumptions of leadership and followership, and cloud the location of agency for ethical lapses. We conclude that the written statement submitted to the senate committee by CEO Sloan was unconvincing in enlisting belief that Wells Fargo would ‘return to ethical conduct’.