Chapter 1
Elements of Leaders of Character
Our world is changing at breakneck speed, and while much of our daily lives is becoming more and more about automation, autonomy, convenience, speed, and technology, one thing has not, and never will change: humans are social beings who need to interact socially with others. In this rampant change, it seems that many of the “old-timey” traditional family, hard work, self-supporting, and faith or virtue-based values that once helped guide civilized society’s culture made way for a more relaxed, casual, and (many believe) much less wholesome and robust culture. This new culture has advanced society in many ways, but it has also had some detrimental effects as well.
The culture of any society (as well as countries, communities, groups, organizations, and even families) is determined by the kind of people who make up the society. Therefore, in response to some of the detrimental cultural trends, there is an emerging (or reemerging) focus and concern on identifying the kind of people who positively advance society, discovering what it is about them that makes them the kind of people they are, and then introducing those attributes, practices, and principles back into the population in the hopes of developing more of that kind of person. This concern is not only for the betterment of society itself, but perhaps even the very future of civilized society because the most important factor in the rise and decline of societies is the character of the people who form that society. The strategy is this: a person’s character defines the kind of person he or she is, so improve the character of the people in a society and thereby improve society. This focus is also bringing attention to the absolutely critical role character plays in every aspect of a person’s life.
One example of the new focus is the discussion taking place on teaching character development in school (elementary, high school, and college) in conjunction with the traditional subjects and skills. The reality is becoming clearer that the abysmal educational dropout rate and resultant decimating social problems are much more about the character of the students, friends, and parents than they are about anything to do with the schools. The new thinking is to focus on developing the character of the kids in school so that they will become better students and the kind of people who understand the value of education and the incredibly positive impact education has on their lives, community, and country. Develop the character of the people, and all of society’s problems will begin to decrease.
Great idea!
Thankfully, there are already some great role models that we can learn about character from because it defines who they are and what they do. These role models are leaders of character, the subject of this book.
Elements of Leaders of Character—attributes, practices, and principles of leaders who value strong, positive, virtuous character—is a leadership book, but more specifically it is a leader development book. It is a textbook that serves as an introduction to the subjects of leaders of character and character-based leadership. Most importantly, it is a book about self-improvement through character development.
The primary goal of Elements of Leaders of Character is to promote development of more leaders of character by detailing the adoptable and developable elements (attributes, practices, and principles) that exemplify this kind of leader. This book is a comprehensive illustration and discussion of many of the components of leaders who value their good solid character and live their lives accordingly.
The elements are the basic foundational aspects of leaders of character. They include
Attributes: characteristics, descriptions, traits, ingredients, components
Practices: behaviors, actions, skills, habits, activities
Principles: beliefs, qualities, ideals, standards, values
Leaders of character are leaders who lead for the right reasons. They are people who place the highest value on good, strong, positive character because they fully know the impact of their character on their leadership and their lives. Leaders of character genuinely care about becoming better people and leaders in order to make a positive impact on the world. People, especially groups of people, naturally want and need someone to lead, to set a direction to head or an example to follow. A leader’s character is what determines his or her direction or example.
It will become obvious in the following pages that teaching or learning leadership is difficult because of the abstractness and ambiguity of the act or skill of leadership. Leadership cannot be learned from a single book. However, learning how to become a person of character is not as difficult since our character is comprised of a multitude of malleable and dynamic elements that can be intentionally positively developed.
So let’s begin with some good, clear descriptions to develop a common understanding.