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For years, I’ve heard people say that you can’t teach judgment. Admittedly, I’ve said it myself a few times.

However, I have recently realized that it’s just not true.

There are two basic areas where judgment in legal, ethical and values-based workplace behavior can be taught.

The first area involves instances of leader misbehavior, as we saw with HP CEO Mark Hurd or even more blatant instances where leaders fraudulently violate rules for their own personal interest or financial gain.

Imagine this conversation:

Doctor: “We’ve reviewed the tests; our findings are in line with all of the other opinions. You need this operation. Without it, your life is at risk.”

Patient: “This is exactly what I’ve been told; I did my research and know you’re the best. Just one question: How long will it take to perform the surgery?”

Doctor: “The operation will last 3 hours.”

Patient: “Sorry, I’m too busy. I can only give you 2.”

Recognizing that unprofessional, disruptive workplace behavior can adversely affect patient care and safety, JCAHO (the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) announced new accreditation standards this month for healthcare organizations and their leadership.

The blatant cases of harassment and discrimination are gone, people keep telling us.

A few months ago, I was speaking to a client who told me there had been incidents of bad practices and ethical issues arising in her workplace.

I’ve thought a lot about leadership over the past few years – it’s what every firm says it needs to build better, more efficient, inclusive ethical and lawful workplaces. Go to any bookstore and the shelves will be lined with first-person or biographical accounts of epic leaders –Washington, Lincoln, King, Patton, Schwarzkopf, Welch, Jobs, Gates. Those leaders are few and far between, and most of us read about them hoping to find nuggets of wisdom we can apply.