The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has urged Ghanaian business leaders to place integrity, honesty and humility at the centre of corporate leadership, warning that sustainable businesses cannot thrive without trust.

Speaking at the Ghana Business Leaders Conclave at the University of Professional Studies, Accra, the Asantehene said ethical leadership was indispensable for national development and long-term business success.

“Business has always been built on trust,” he said.

“Long before technology, long before contracts and long before complex legal language, the foundation of business was a simple principle — my word is my bond.”

Otumfuo explained that integrity was not merely a theoretical concept but a practical standard reflected in everyday decisions.

“Integrity is how a person behaves when nobody is watching. It is how a leader acts when power is in his hands. It is how a manager decides when profits are at stake,” he stated.

The Asantehene referenced the six core values of integrity identified by the International Centre for Academic Integrity — honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage — and noted that these principles aligned deeply with Ghanaian cultural values and traditions.

“These are not foreign values. They are universal values,” he said.

He cautioned business executives against unethical practices such as tax evasion, dishonesty and exploitation of workers.

“The honest business leader does not cut corners. He does not cheat the state and then complain that the nation is weak,” he stressed.

According to him, dishonesty at the leadership level eventually spreads throughout organisations.

“If a manager teaches workers to cut corners for the business, one day those same workers will cut corners for themselves,” he warned.

Otumfuo also criticised arrogance in leadership, saying many organisations suffer from avoidable personality conflicts and ego-driven management cultures.

“Arrogance is not leadership. Arrogance is a hindrance to harmony,” he declared.

“A person who has risen to the office of chief executive must not assume that wisdom begins and ends with him.”

The monarch urged leaders in both the public and private sectors to exercise humility and recognise that institutional success depended on collective effort.

“You are only one person in a long chain of actors whose combined efforts produce success,” he advised.

He further argued that Ghana’s private sector needed greater stimulation and support but said private enterprises themselves must uphold ethical standards if they expect public trust and long-term growth.

“Business without integrity is danger, leadership without humility is arrogance and prosperity without ethics is fragile,” the Asantehene concluded.