Over the past 20 years, improving ethical awareness within organizations has become a priority in the public and private sectors. Ethics is formalized in the workplace, within structures, policies, and practices. However, few studies document the formalization of ethics with regard to its relationship to leadership. Findings from our previous research projects show that the type of culture prevailing in an organization is a determining factor for the promotion of ethical leadership. Based on these findings, we propose four types of ethical cultures: indifferent, controlling, supporting, and capacitating. To verify the theoretical validity of the typology, we conducted a study in a large Canadian high school. Results support the relevance of the typology, which highlighted the challenges met when changing school culture from hierarchical and controlling to ethically capacitating.