SEARCH SEARCH CHALLENGE US MY FAVOURITES ACCOUNT LOG OUT HOME ABOUT IDEAS LIBRARY IDEAS BY INSTITUTIONS Home Ideas Library Character - The Unspoken Essence of Leadership 10.13007/157 Ideas for Leaders #157 Character - The Unspoken Essence of Leadership Key Concept In assessing leaders at any level in an organization, three questions are asked: 1. Do they have the competencies to be a leader? 2. Do they have the commitment to be a leader? 3. Do they have the character to be a good leader? This Idea focuses on leadership character because it is the most difficult to define, measure, assess and develop. Its aim is to define those dimensions of leadership character that are most important in today’s business environment and suggest how character can be developed. Idea Summary The idea of character has been lost sight of. One reason could be that the educational system and organizations are completely competency focused, or perhaps because character seems an old-fashioned word. However, character is a vital part of leadership and it cannot be ignored. Character fundamentally shapes how we engage with the world around us, what we notice, what we reinforce, who we engage in conversation, what we value, what we chose to act on, how to decide, etc. This research on the failures of leadership points to character as a central theme. However, there is no consensus on a definition of character. This article will focus on personality traits, values and virtues. Traits: These are defined as habitual patterns of thought, behaviour and emotion that are considered to be relatively stable in individuals across situations and over time. Traits are not fixed, rather they evolve through life experiences e.g. childhood, education, families, etc. Values: These are beliefs that people have about what is important to them. Values influence behaviour because people seek more of what they value. Examples of values include autonomy, transparency, creativity, the importance of work/life balance and so on. Values may change with life stages. An important sub-set of values consists of those with ethical or social dimensions, such as honesty, integrity, compassion, fairness, charity and social responsibility. Such values may be strongly or weakly held and influence behaviour accordingly. Some may experience value conflicts in certain situations, for example when loyalty conflicts with honesty. Virtues: Virtues are like behavioural habits – something that is exhibited fairly consistently. Aristotle identified 12 virtues, for example: Courage, Temperance, Generosity, Magnificence, etc. The writers propose that business leaders who focus on the long-term performance of their organizations must demonstrate 10 virtues plus an over- riding or über-virtue: Authors Seijts, Gerard Gandz, Jeffrey Crossan, Mary Reno, Mark Institutions Ivey Business School at Western University Source Developing Leaders Idea Conceived 2013 Idea posted June 2013 DOI number Subject Values Leadership Emerging Leaders Organizational Behaviour Psychology