Although sound moral judgment is an important characteristic of an effective leader, it is not as important as a leader’s ability to maintain the respect of his or her peers.

For a person to be an effective leader he needs a set of skills which makes him stand out in the crowd and makes people willingly follow him. Moral judgement is a vital part of the characteristics of a leader. However, respect of his or her peers is also an important part of the leadership. I agree with the statement because in the past we have seen that even though people were lacking moral judgement, they were followed relentlessly. The statement can be further elucidated with the help of the following 2 examples.
A leader becomes a leader because of his followers and peers. People of the society have different opinions on different topics and the definition of moral judgement is limited to one's personal understanding. What one might find morally justified may be wrong in the eyes of another. For example, Adolf Hitler, who is considered as one of history's most reckless generals, was a leader to those who believed in him and was also respected by many other generals who shared his view, however his moral judgement was somewhat questionable. Even though his merciless acts are a scar on the pages of history, he is considered as one of the most followed leaders of his time. Therefore, it can be established that a leader’s ability to maintain the respect of his peers is highly crucial to be in that position.
Further, if a person is not respected by his peers, he also loses the respect of his followers, which is not trivial to a person who desires to continue being in a leadership role. Nowadays in corporate offices, we see that there are team leaders who lead the team with his personal judgement and skills, however he may be morally wrong but the solution may benefit the team, in that case he may employ that solution and that may result in the benefit of the company in the long run. As a result, even though he was morally wrong, he will be followed and respected which is an important part of being an effective leader.
In conclusion, having the correct moral judgement is good for a leader but having the ability to maintain a respectful environment in the leadership is also tantamount for an effective leader.