Power of Character in Leadership, The: How Values, Morals, Ethics, and Principles Affect Leaders - Myles Munroe (Highlight: 38; Note: 0)

Power of Character in Leadership, The: How Values, Morals, Ethics, and Principles Affect Leaders - Myles Munroe (Highlight: 38; Note: 0)

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Character Matters

“A man’s character is his fate.”

—Heraclitus, Greek philosopher

▪ Too many leaders start strong but then fail or self-destruct because of defects in their moral compass.

▪ Yet I have concluded that the greatest obstacle to a leader’s success is a deficit of character.

▪ If I could teach a leader one thing that I believe would preserve his leadership, and even his very life, it would be the priority of character—internal values and principles that one is committed to and that manifest in one’s life as ethical conduct.

▪ Moral deficits frequently lead people to negative or ruinous consequences—such as missing out on promotions and advancements, being fired from their jobs, losing their life savings, betraying their families, surrendering their lifelong dreams, and going to prison

▪ Good character is like a personal security system for your life

▪ We do this by developing values and establishing a code of ethics that will alert us to, and protect us from, the negative effects of various outside influences—such as life’s pressures, difficulties, and temptations.

▪ True leadership has always been built on strong character.

▪ Leadership is not just a role one plays; it is a life one leads.

▪ the development of character in an individual begins with the realization of his value as a human being and an understanding of what he was born to accomplish. With that awareness, he can gain a new sense of self-worth, internal strength, and hope for the future.

▪ Thomas Paine wrote, “Character is much easier kept than recovered.” Character is like preventive medicine—it keeps you morally healthy so that you won’t develop maladies as a result of ethical flaws.

▪ As leaders, we must ask ourselves, “Am I, in any way, violating the trust of those who have placed their faith in me? What impact am I having on those who are influenced or affected by my behavior?”

▪ Whenever we fail to pay attention to issues of character, we will experience some kind of loss.

▪ It is easy for us to overlook areas of ethical weakness in our lives, and to remain unaware of how these weaknesses affect the quality of our leadership.

▪ Values, ethics, and principles relate to a leader’s character. They are the standards that a leader establishes for himself—and lives according to—in the process of exercising his potential and ability for the accomplishment of his vision.

▪ “The price of greatness is responsibility.”

—Winston Churchill

▪ Leaders need (1) a guiding purpose that generates a passion to accomplish a vision; (2) a recognition of their innate gifts and a commitment to develop them, as well as to gather available resources; and (3) the formulation of values, ethics, and principles that order their conduct and guide the process by which they exercise their leadership.

▪ Purpose and potential are never more important than principles, because a lack of principles can nullify them.

▪ Character is the most powerful force a leader can possess because it protects his life, his leadership, and his legacy—it manifests who he is and shapes who he will become.

▪ “Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.”

—Theodore Roosevelt

▪ Businessman Elmer G. Leterman wrote, “Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open.”

▪ Your character—not your gift—is the fuel of your leadership. Your gift is validated by your character. So, when your character isn’t maintained and starts to “leak,” your gift loses the ethical power that propels it.

▪ So, while leaders have many opportunities to use their gifts and skills, it is character that ultimately determines the length and effectiveness of their leadership.

▪ Don’t expect your success to carry you in life. Rather, let your success be carried by your character

▪ People can fall into all kinds of moral and ethical problems when they are successful because they suddenly feel all-powerful and unrestrained.

▪ The great leader Jesus of Nazareth said, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

▪ In effect, a person can “gain the world” through the power and riches associated with his leadership but, at the same time, forfeit his soul—the very core of his being—by ignoring or betraying his own character

▪ The only way to protect what you hope to accomplish as a leader, and what you have already accomplished, is to develop and maintain strong personal character.

▪ A leader’s values are personal—but they are never private.

▪ No matter how much good a person may have done, his contributions can be overshadowed by even one questionable act

▪ Hitendra Wadhwa, a professor at Columbia Business School, wrote about one of the characteristics that made Martin Luther King Jr. a great leader and helped to preserve his purpose, message, and legacy.

▪ The professor concluded: “Only by taming his own anger did King earn the right to become a messenger of peaceful struggle to the people of the nation.

▪ Bernie Madoff, the businessman’s investors were afflicted with shock, anger, and economic devastation due to his Ponzi scam, as many of them lost much or all of their life savings.

▪ Once more, our personal behavior often has consequences for others. We can jeopardize their futures, as well as our own.

▪ Authority, gifts, skill, knowledge, experience, expertise, and so forth are integral elements of leadership, but they can never substitute for character.

▪ The public has been learning bad habits from its leaders. We must have a course correction—and it must start with each one of us.

▪ true character rests on a strong foundation that has the power to defeat compromise.

▪ Engineers know that the taller the building, the deeper the foundation must be. Similarly, the more exposure a leader has to the public—the more fame he acquires, the more influence he exerts—the more vigilant he must be to maintain deep, well-established character.