CHARACTER MATTERS

Proverbs chapter 22






Today we are walking in: Character Matters








Today we look to the word-LEADER- H5057 nagiyd-- leader, ruler, captain, prince; excellent thing, (chief) governor, leader, noble, prince, (chief) ruler.







The Torah Testifies.............................

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The prophets proclaim...............







Isaiah 55:4 - Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader H5057 and commander to the people.


















The writings bear witness.............







2Chronicles 32:21 - And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders H5057 and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword








CHAPTER 1


Character Matters
“A man’s character is his fate.” —Heraclitus, Greek philosopher


On the day that former business magnate Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for his massive Ponzi scheme—which cost his clients billions of dollars—the judge made some striking comments about Madoff’s life and leadership:


In terms of mitigating factors in a white-collar fraud case such as this, I would expect to see letters from family and friends and colleagues. But not a single letter has been submitted attesting to Mr. Madoff’s good deeds or good character or civic or charitable activities. The absence of such support is telling.1


Remarkably—and significantly—not one friend, family member, neighbor, colleague, or acquaintance came forward to offer a positive statement about Madoff’s character or deeds. Such a statement might have helped to commute his sentence, allowing him the possibility of being released on bail some time before the end of his life.


“Better than Gold”


An ancient proverb declares, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.”2 Many fallen leaders could affirm the truth of this proverb. While some have fallen from higher and more public places than others, they have all suffered losses. These losses were avoidable, but they came about because the leaders lacked “a good name,” or integrity.


Starting Strong Then Self-destructing


I have been training leaders for more than thirty years, in more than seventy nations. It has been a true joy to see men and women throughout the world discover who they were born to be, and subsequently make an impact on their homes, communities, businesses, and nations through their personal leadership.


There’s nothing I want more than for leaders to be successful—fulfilling their purpose and vision in life. Specifically, I want you, as a leader, to succeed.


Yet I have observed a troubling development in our world. Too many leaders start strong but then fail or self-destruct because of defects in their moral compass. As a result, they lose much—or all—they have worked for. They nullify their potential, so that they are unable to make future contributions to their generation. And every leader’s contribution is needed today as we face a myriad of complicated issues and crises across the globe that need the influence of strong leadership. This is a critical time in our world when the future of leadership is at stake.


The Greatest Obstacle to Leadership Success


As a leadership consultant, I have witnessed the frustrations of national leaders and their cabinet ministers as they have tried to deal with the complex political, economic, and social challenges confronting their nations. I have worked with corporate executives who were determined to discover a more principled and effective leadership approach for themselves and their staff members. I have observed the string of fallen leaders in a variety of fields whose ethical failings have been shouted to the world almost daily via news headlines and talk show programs.


Everywhere, people are struggling with the idea of what it means to be a leader and on what foundation they can build true leadership.


This is a critical time in our world when the future of leadership is at stake.


Certainly, there are times when a leader fails because his knowledge and skills aren’t right for the particular business, organization, or government for which he works. Or, the timing may not be right for him—perhaps he was promoted too soon and isn’t able to handle the responsibility. It could be that his lack of training in the essential principles of leadership keeps him from pursuing his purpose and potential, or from recognizing the right time to move to the next level of leadership. In such cases, the person’s position is not one that can—or should—be preserved. He needs to step back and reevaluate his true place as a leader.


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.


What Kind of Character?


Throughout this series, we will be examining various definitions of character so that we may have a full picture of its meanings and applications. We’ll begin with one of the most universal. Character is:


• the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group, or nation.


In the sense of this definition, everyone has “character.” We are each identified by the sum of our mental and ethical traits.


But the question we are asking is this: As we exercise leadership, of what kind, or quality, are our mental and ethical traits? Are they positive or negative? Do they build up or tear down? As we talk about character, therefore, we will focus on what it means to develop and manifest honorable principles and ethics that will distinguish our lives.


In the world of leadership training, there is an abundance of seminars and workshops that offer instruction on the leader’s purpose, vision, and passion. There are also many academic courses available on leadership principles, business management, team building, and so forth. While important, they focus mainly on the mechanics of leadership.


How many courses or training sessions do you see offered on the topic of character formation and the establishment of strong values? On how to live according to one’s conscience, not compromising one’s standards? Not many. This vital aspect of leadership is being overlooked—to our own detriment.


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. A leader must know how to establish a solid foundation for living that will sustain him and keep him on the right path in times of uncertainty, temptation, and crisis.


“Convicted” for Good Character


The judge’s comments about Bernie Madoff’s character lead us to ask ourselves some probing questions about our own lives:


If my family, friends, and colleagues were asked to give a statement under oath in court about the strength of my character, what would they say? Would they be able to talk about my good values and the positive contributions I have made to society?


Changing the analogy around, would their testimony be strong enough to “convict” me for my good character? If so, would their assessment be true in light of what I know about myself?


How much importance have I placed on having a good name—and the character to back it up?


What difference would it make to my family, my business, or my organization for me to be acknowledged as a person of genuine integrity?


Am I living ethically in all areas of my life—such as the ways I work with others, meet my responsibilities, and treat others in the world?


Your Personal Security System


Good character is like a personal security system for your life. Many people install security devices in their homes and places of business to protect them from outside forces—such as thieves who would steal from them and intruders who would do harm to their family members or employees.


Suppose a would-be thief tried to open a window of a home that was electronically “armed” by the security system. An alarm would sound, exposing the intruder, with the goal of scaring him off, while alerting the security company. Or, what if a trespasser managed to sneak into an office building during working hours and lie low until everyone had left for the day? If the security system has been installed properly, the moment he came out of hiding to steal or ransack, the system would detect his movement and set off a signal, alerting security and/or law enforcement officials to his presence.


Good character, or moral force, is like a personal security system for your life.


We can “install” character in our lives so that it will work like those security systems. 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. These negative influences can threaten our leadership by invading our lives and stealing our willpower, common sense, and better judgment. Values and ethics also safeguard us from internal “intruders”—our own human frailties that cause us to rationalize immoral behavior and take ethical shortcuts.


True leadership has always been built on strong character. That is why we need a new respect for this essential leadership quality. Not only that, but we must immediately begin to promote its restoration. Many leaders today are attempting, unsuccessfully, to separate the ethics of their personal lives from the responsibilities of their public lives. That approach might seem legitimate on face value. Yet below the surface is this crucial reality: Leadership is not just a role one plays; it is a life one leads.


A Foundation of Character


Some people have a cavalier attitude toward ethics and morals—aware of them but essentially disregarding them. However, other people have never really been trained in the principles of character, so they make unwise decisions that lead to their downfall. We can all think of people who were admirable in many ways but fell because they lacked the discretion or discipline that comes from cultivating good character. For example, they may have started associating with “friends” who weren’t looking out for their welfare and drew them into illegal activity. Or, they may have begun experimenting with drugs or alcohol because it seemed “fun” or provided a release from life’s pressures, only to fall into the snare of addiction.


A failure in character can happen to anyone, in any vocation or stratum of life. For example, there was the case of two elementary school cafeteria workers from Pennsylvania who were described as “sweet, hard working lunch ladies” but who stole more than ninety thousand dollars of lunch money over a period of eight years to feed their gambling addictions.3 Similar stories have unfolded in communities across the globe.


I recognize that addictions to gambling or to alcohol, drugs, or other substances can be the result of physical predispositions or deep emotional issues. These often require the assistance of a professional counselor. Yet character training is an essential part of the healing process in these cases. As we will see, 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.


No matter what type of leader you are or how widespread your influence, you face personal temptations, challenges, and stresses. And only a foundation of character will sustain you and your leadership.
Leadership is not just a role one plays; it is a life one leads.


“Easier Kept than Recovered”


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. One of the most serious of these disorders is untrustworthiness. Once you lose the trust of your family, your friends, or your colleagues, it is very difficult to win it back.


Imagine you owned a business and had been using a particular supplier for many years. Then, the supplier was exposed as having been repeatedly dishonest in his billing practices. Assuming he wasn’t put in jail, would you continue to do business with him?


Or, suppose you had supported a particular politician but found out that he had been taking bribes for years, living a lavish lifestyle. Would you continue to support him?
Chances are, no.


We can easily understand why leaders who have ethical defects lose the trust of their followers, because we have all experienced some type of betrayal, as well as the pain and anger it generates. Perhaps you have been overcharged for repair services, had your house broken into and robbed, been blindsided by the unfaithfulness of a spouse, or had a colleague gossip about confidential information you shared. You understand what it means to be a victim of someone who is operating with a character deficit. 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?”


Once you lose the trust of others, it is very difficult to win it back.


The Courage to Identify and Root Out Weaknesses


It is not just the Bernie Madoffs of this world who have character flaws. And it is not only “big” ethical issues like fraud and infidelity that erode our integrity, injure our credibility, and wrong others, damaging the quality of our leadership. Character has many practical, everyday implications.


For example, how would you rate your consistency? If you are always delinquent in paying your bills due to carelessness, it can, among other things, affect your credit standing and that of your family or business. One result is that you could miss out on opportunities to acquire loans to expand your company, thereby limiting the growth of your business. In a similar way, if you are regularly late for appointments and meetings, you can erode others’ confidence in you and prompt them to decline future collaborations that would have been advantageous for you.


Or, could a lack of self-discipline be undermining your strengths? For instance, do negative emotions such as anger control you? If you hold on to grudges, you may lose out on beneficial relationships, as well as sacrifice your own peace of mind as you waste unnecessary energy dwelling on bitter thoughts. Or, if you allow yourself to abuse alcohol or drugs, you will not only do harm to your health but also put yourself at serious risk of losing the respect of people you value and who can support your leadership (not to mention the ramifications of any legal violations).


All of our negative attitudes and careless behaviors weaken our leadership. The effects of our unaddressed character flaws inevitably cause us damage. Whenever we fail to pay attention to issues of character, we will experience some kind of loss.


The fallen leaders whom we know personally or read about in the headlines are warnings to us. We must recognize that every decision we make adds a sentence to our life story. Will the complete story of your life and leadership add up to something positive and honorable? There is only one way to ensure this outcome—through the intentional development of character.


A leader who desires to be strong and effective will summon the courage to identify and root out his weaknesses.


Most people have certain positive character traits and certain negative character traits. Picture a continuum where some people have moved toward the positive side of character, while some have moved toward the negative side. Where are you on that measure? Are you on the positive side, with conviction and integrity—or on the negative side, with duplicity and moral compromise? Your answer will require some introspection, including an examination of your personal motives. 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.


A leader who desires to be strong and effective will summon the courage to identify and root out his weaknesses, preventing them from growing into larger, more damaging issues.


The Priority of Character


There are many components to leadership, but I consider the following three areas to be indispensable: (1) purpose and vision; (2) potential and ability; and (3) values, ethics, and principles. Of these three areas, the most important is the third, because values, ethics, and principles protect a leader’s purpose from being sidelined or destroyed.


Purpose and vision show a leader what direction he is meant to go in life. All leaders live by a sense of meaning. They believe they are here on earth to do something important for humanity. The knowledge of their purpose is a catalyst, giving them internal motivation.


Potential is a leader’s innate gifts and qualities, while ability includes all the skills, expertise, education, knowledge, wisdom, and insights a leader has developed and acquired, as well as all the other resources at his disposal that will enable him to accomplish his purpose. Leaders must believe in their own capacity to fulfill the vision that resides in their mind and heart.


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. Consequently, the leader has a sense of responsibility toward himself and others.


“The price of greatness is responsibility.” —Winston Churchill


Let’s shorten the titles of these three components of leadership and simply refer to them as purpose, potential, and principles. Many leaders do not see principles as being more important than—or even equally as important as— the other two areas. Yet purpose, potential, and principles must all be in balance for leadership to work—they are a trinity of leadership success.


To sum up, 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.


The Most Powerful Force


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. Without character, every other aspect of leadership is at risk. Let’s look at some of the ways that character protects and preserves one’s leadership.


Character Protects a Leader’s Inner Life


Character establishes a leader’s integrity and enables his growth as a person of ethics and values. Leadership training and development must start with the inner life of the leader before it can move on to the principles and process of leadership.


Having character will not prevent you from experiencing various struggles and setbacks in life—all leaders have those. But for long-term personal and professional success—and for the ultimate summation of your life— maintaining character is indispensable.


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


Character Extends the Longevity of Leadership


As we have seen, leaders across the globe—in all levels and arenas of society—are being removed from their leadership roles and positions due to ethical violations and moral concerns. Their downfalls have cut short their leadership, causing them to lose their ability to exercise their innate gifts, through which they were meant to fulfill their purpose and vision in life.


A point that we will return to as we explore the nature of character is that leadership is a privilege given by the followers. When a leader violates moral standards, he forfeits the privilege to use his gift in the service of the followers who gave it. Leaders don’t have a “right” to be followed. The privilege of leadership is one that leaders must protect through their character and the trust it evokes. Only the power of genuine character can restore the faith in leadership and authority that many people lack today.


I have watched many highly gifted leaders who have manifested a character failure act as if they had done nothing wrong. Believing they could cruise along on their gifts alone, they didn’t understand that they had forfeited the opportunity to continue serving their talents and abilities to the world—at least until they had effectively addressed their character defects. Leaders who have fallen need to stop and correct their ethical issues first. Then, they can begin to earn others’ trust again, and, hopefully, move forward in genuine leadership.


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.
A leader’s gift is only as safe as the character that contains 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. Years ago, one of my mentors told me, “Whatever you compromise to gain, you will lose.” Many people have sacrificed a great future on the altar of compromise. They have taken their potential to impact the world and thrown it away for momentary pleasure or monetary gain.


Jesse Jackson Jr., a former U.S. Congressman and the son of the civil rights leader, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for using campaign funds to make more than 3,000 personal purchases over a period of seven years, totaling approximately $750,000.4 The prosecutor for the case commented, “Jackson’s political potential was unlimited.... He squandered his great capacity for public service through outright theft.”5


The consequences of lost leadership affect not only individuals but also corporate entities. Energy company Enron went bankrupt and had to sell off all its assets after some of its executives used fraudulent accounting practices to hide its debt. The actions of those executives helped to crack the foundation of the whole company, and their own contributions as leaders were cut short.


Accordingly, leaders must become aware of an often-overlooked, but very real, threat to their leadership longevity: success. Don’t expect your success to carry you in life. Rather, let your success be carried by your character. Many people cannot handle achievement well because the accompanying responsibility, rewards, and stakes weigh too heavily on them. People can fall into all kinds of moral and ethical problems when they are successful because they suddenly feel all-powerful and unrestrained. They don’t realize that they are setting themselves up for a disastrous fall.


People become leaders when they make the decision not to sacrifice their principles on the altar of convenience or compromise.


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?”6 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. In doing so, he can lose his leadership impact and longevity—not to mention the reason for his very existence. That is a tragic waste of his leadership and his life.


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.


Character Preserves a Leader’s Cause and Legacy


As we have noted, a leader’s failure can damage the reputation of the government, company, organization, or associates with which he is connected. This truth illustrates another foundational principle that we will explore more fully later on: A leader’s values are personal—but they are never private.


Some years ago, when United Way chairman William Aramony was sentenced to prison for embezzling the organization’s funds, the news of his actions damaged the charity’s reputation. When a scandal occurs within an organization, that organization has to rebuild its reputation and earn the public’s trust all over again. The United Way board took immediate action to restore the faith of its donors by hiring as their interim chairman a businessman who was known for his integrity.


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


Some leaders fall dramatically and publicly, destroying their legacies in an instant. Other leaders unravel their legacies over a long, slow moral descent that eventually ruins their lives. When the longevity of an individual’s leadership is cut short by a character issue, he is often unable to leave the legacy that he was meant to give to his generation. He has to forfeit his vision —or, if not his vision itself, then his own participation in that vision.


Shortly after Lance Armstrong stepped down as chairman of his charity due to doping charges, the charity—which helps those who are dealing with cancer—changed its name from the Lance Armstrong Foundation to the LIVESTRONG Foundation. Former Executive Vice President of Operations Andy Miller said, “We set about charting an independent course forward.”7 Ironically, the name of the charity’s founder and former leader had to be
removed to help safeguard its future.


No matter how much good a person may have done, his contributions can be overshadowed by even one questionable act. For two hundred years, Elbridge Gerry, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and vice president of the United States, has been more widely remembered for the term that was coined based on his single act of political maneuvering than for any other part of his time in public service: gerrymandering.


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. It was his commitment to control his anger at the injustices and insults that were continually hurled against him, and to channel that anger toward constructive purposes. “King had reason enough to be provoked, time and again. He was physically threatened and attacked by bigoted people, repeatedly jailed by state authorities (sometimes on trivial traffic violations), harassed by the FBI and even vilified by fellow black leaders who preferred more aggressive forms of resistance.”


Wadhwa then quoted from King’s autobiography, in which the civil rights leader recorded how he admonished himself, “You must not harbor anger.... You must be willing to suffer the anger of the opponent, and yet not return anger. You must not become bitter.” 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.”8


When we intentionally develop our character, we strengthen our frailties, tame our vices, and prepare ourselves to fulfill our personal leadership role.


Character Prevents a Leader from Hurting Those Around Him


A leader’s fall can deeply hurt those close to him and others who have put their trust in him. It can destroy not only his life but also the lives of his victims, the families of his victims, his own family members, his associates, and his associates’ families. Returning to the example of 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.


Moreover, not one member of Madoff’s family was present in the courtroom to support him when he was sentenced to the longest prison term for fraud ever given.9 Either he had alienated them by his deception, or they were afraid to be seen with him.


In addition, tragedy has stricken the former tycoon’s family. His older son, Mark, committed suicide on the two-year anniversary of his father’s arrest.10 His younger son, Andrew, is currently fighting stage IV cancer of the blood. He had been in remission from the disease, but he feels that “the stress and shame that he dealt with after hearing about his father’s...Ponzi scheme caused his cancer to surface again.” He declared, “Even on my deathbed I will never forgive him for what he did.”11 Once more, our personal behavior often has consequences for others. We can jeopardize their futures, as well as our own.


The only way to stay focused on your vision and keep moving forward in the midst of the inevitable stress, criticism, attacks, temptations, and setbacks that come with leadership is to develop personal character. The only way to contribute meaningfully to your generation is to maintain character.


What do you want to achieve? What do you want to contribute to the world? Character will pave the way to its fulfillment and also protect it.


No Substitute


We are living in difficult social and economic times when we must refocus on the priority of character—because character is the foundation for all aspects of effective leadership.


Authority, gifts, skill, knowledge, experience, expertise, and so forth are integral elements of leadership, but they can never substitute for character. Unless we want to see the conditions of our world grow increasingly worse, and unless we disregard the lives and legacies of our leaders—and that includes us—we can’t move into the future with the same methods and values of leadership that we’re employing today. 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.
Character is the foundation for all aspects of effective leadership.


We face a great “war” today: the struggle between character and compromise. I believe character will ultimately win, as more and more leaders commit to becoming ethically conscious and principled, because true character rests on a strong foundation that has the power to defeat compromise.


All leaders should be encouraged to value integrity so that they will not turn away from their ethical standards and thereby sacrifice the great potential they possess. Those in high office and in other visible positions must take this truth especially to heart. 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.


Your Leadership Rests on Your Character


Despite current trends, it is possible for leaders to have character in the twenty-first century. We have many examples of people from former times who faced similar challenges with conviction and who can inspire and encourage us. Think of Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks became a leader simply by insisting on being treated equally when she rode the city bus. She refused to sacrifice her principles on the altar of convenience or compromise.


No matter in what domain you are a leader—financial, political, educational, religious, medical, corporate, scientific, artistic, and so forth—your leadership rests on your character. In The Power of Character in Leadership, we will explore...


What character, or moral force, is, and how to develop it.


How your beliefs shape your values, morals, ethics, and principles.


How to build your leadership so that it is both effective and enduring.


How to develop specific qualities of principled leaders.
How to be restored after a failure in character.


You will be challenged to assess the strength of your current beliefs and values, and to make a new or renewed personal commitment to ethical leadership. This will necessitate making changes in your life. Yet change is the best thing that can happen to us when we take what is weak and make it strong, and when we take something good and make it even better.


Character matters to you because...


1. It establishes and strengthens your inner life, so
that you are a person of integrity and honor.


2. It enables you to effectively fulfill your purpose and potential.


3. It protects your leadership and your vision— preventing you from canceling them prematurely, and enabling you to leave a legacy for your own generation and future generations.


Character matters to the world because...


1. It is the key to inspirational leadership. People
need the encouragement and influence of genuine leaders if they are to fulfill their own purposes and live peaceful, productive lives.


2. It safeguards the well-being of those who are under the authority of leaders or are otherwise affected by leaders’ actions and influence.


3. It enables leaders to build and maintain healthy communities while addressing critical problems with ethics and integrity.


Your family, community, and nation need you to be a leader of principle. Guard your character, prizing it as “better than silver or gold.” Learn the theories and practical skills of leadership, but first establish values and ethics that will free you from moral hindrances and empower you to carry out your singular purpose in life.