Leadership - Character and Traits

Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing. - Warren Bennis, Ph.D. On Becoming a Leader

Building Excellence

Leaders do not command excellence, they build excellence. Excellence is "being all you can be" within the bounds of doing what is right for your organization. To reach excellence you must first be a leader of good character. You must do everything you are supposed to do. An organizations will not achieve excellence by figuring out where it wants to go, then having leaders do whatever they have to in order to get the job done, and then hope their leaders acted with good character. This type of thinking is backwards. Pursuing excellence should not be confused with accomplishing a job or task. When you do planning, you do it by backwards planning. But you do not achieve excellence by backwards planning. Excellence starts with leaders of good and strong character who engage in the entire process of leadership. And the first process is being a person of honorable character.

Waste no time arguing what a good man should be. Be one. - Marcus Aurelius

Character develops over time. Many think that much of a person's character is formed early in life. However, we do not know exactly how much or how early character develops. But, it is safe to claim that character does not change quickly. A person's observable behavior is an indication of her character. This behavior can be strong or weak, good or bad. A person with strong character shows drive, energy, determination, self-discipline, willpower, and nerve. She sees what she wants and goes after it. She attracts followers. On the other hand, a person with weak character shows none of these traits. She does not know what she wants. Her traits are disorganized, she vacillates and is inconsistent. She will attract no followers.

A strong person can be good or bad. A gang leader is an example of a strong person with a bad character, while an outstanding community leader is one with both strong and good characteristics. An organization needs leaders with both strong and good characteristics, people who will guide them to the future and show that they can be trusted.

Courage - not complacency - is our need today. Leadership not salesmanship. - John F. Kennedy

To be an effective leader, your followers must have trust in you and they need to be sold on your vision. Korn-Ferry International, an executive search company, performed a survey on what organizations want from their leaders. The respondents said they wanted people who were both ethical and who convey a strong vision of the future. In any organization, a leader's actions set the pace. This behavior wins trust, loyalty, and ensures the organization's continued vitality. One of the ways to build trust is to display a good sense of character composed of beliefs, values, skills, and traits:

Beliefs are what we hold dear to us and are rooted deeply within us. They could be assumptions or convictions that you hold true regarding people, concepts, or things. They could be the beliefs about life, death, religion, what is good, what is bad, what is human nature, etc.

Values are attitudes about the worth of people, concepts, or things. For example, you might value a good car, home, friendship, personal comfort, or relatives. Values are important as they influence a person's behavior to weigh the importance of alternatives. For example, you might value friends more than privacy, while others might be the opposite.

Skills are the knowledge and abilities that a person gains throughout life. The ability to learn a new skill varies with each individual. Some skills come almost naturally, while others come only by complete devotion to study and practice.

Traits are distinguishing qualities or characteristics of a person, while character is the sum total of these traits. There are hundreds of personality traits, far too many to be discussed here. Instead, we will focus on a few that are crucial for a leader. The more of these you display as a leader, the more your followers will believe and trust in you.

Traits of a Good Leader

Compiled by the Santa Clara University and the Tom Peters Group:

• Honesty - Display sincerity, integrity, and candor in all your actions. Deceptive behavior will not inspire trust.
• Competent - Your actions should be based on reason and moral principles. Do not make decisions based on childlike emotional desires or feelings.
• Forward-looking Set goals and have a vision of the future. The vision must be owned throughout the organization. Effective leaders envision what they want and how to get it. They habitually pick priorities stemming from their basic values.
• Inspiring - Display confidence in all that you do. By showing endurance in mental, physical, and spiritual stamina, you will inspire others to reach for new heights. Take charge when necessary.
• Intelligent - Read, study, and seek challenging assignments.
• Fair-minded - Show fair treatment to all people. Prejudice is the enemy of justice. Display empathy by being sensitive to the feelings, values, interests, and well-being of others.
• Broad-minded - Seek out diversity.
• Courageous - Have the perseverance to accomplish a goal, regardless of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Display a confident calmness when under stress.
• Straightforward - Use sound judgment to make a good decisions at the right time.
• Imaginative - Make timely and appropriate changes in your thinking, plans, and methods. Show creativity by thinking of new and better goals, ideas, and solutions to problems. Be innovative!

Retreat Hell! We've just got here! - Attributed to several World War I Marine Corps officers, Belleau Wood, June 1918. (key ideal - take a stand)

Attributes

Attributes establish what leaders are, and every leader needs at least three of them:

Standard Bearers

establish the ethical framework within an organization. This demands a commitment to live and defend the climate and culture that you want to permeate your organization. What you set as an example will soon become the rule as unlike knowledge, ethical behavior is learned more by observing that by listening. And in fast moving situations, examples become certainty. Being a standard bearer creates trust and openness in your employees, who in turn, fulfill your visions.

Developers

help others learn through teaching, training, and coaching. This creates an exciting place to work and learn. Never miss an opportunity to teach or learn something new yourself. Coaching suggests someone who cares enough to get involved by encouraging and developing others who are less experienced. Employees who work for developers know that they can take risks, learn by making mistakes, and winning in the end.

Integrators

orchestrate the many activities that take place throughout an organization by providing a view of the future and the ability to obtain it. Success can only be achieved when there is a unity of effort. Integrators have a sixth sense about where problems will occur and make their presence felt during critical times. They know that their employees do their best when they are left to work within a vision-based framework.

Goddam it, you will never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me! - Captain Henry P. "Jim" Crowe, USMC, Guadalcanal, 13 January 1943. (key words - follow me, NOT "go")

Perspectives of Character and Traits

Traits (acronym - JJ did tie buckle)

• Justice
• Judgment
• Dependability
• Initiative
• Decisiveness
• Tact
• Integrity
• Enthusiasm
• Bearing
• Unselfishness
• Courage
• Knowledge
• Loyalty
• Endurance

The Image of Leadership - John Schoolland

A leader's a man who commands much respect,
But due to the natures of all,
He's only as good as the image he casts
In the mirror that hangs on the wall.
He usually sees what he wants, and no more,
He's afraid to look deep in his soul.
He doesn't consider himself as at fault,
But wants others to help reach his goal.
When failures arise he blames it on all
Who failed to help or take part,
"They never did what they were told, " he would say,
"they haven't the skill or the art."
What kind of a leader are you going to be - the kind who thinks he is the best?
Or will you be one of the very few greats
Who attributes success to the rest.
Don't fail to look at the help you received
From parents and friends all your life.
They comforted you, praised you, and gave you the push
To help you through trouble and strife.
Another whose help you should never forget,
Who gave you your life and His love,
The One to whom all of our assets are known
Is the One whom we pray to above.
Be humble in all of your leadership traits.
Thank those who have made you so tall.
Be human to others, consider them too,
Then smile through the glass on the wall.

The U.S. Army's Eleven Leadership Principles

• Be tactically and technically proficient
• Know yourself and seek self-improvement
• Know your soldiers and look out for their welfare
• Keep your soldiers informed
• Set the example
• Ensure the task is understood, supervised and accomplished
• Train your soldiers as a team
• Make sound and timely decisions
• Develop a sense of responsibility in your subordinates
• Employ your unit in accordance with its capabilities
• Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions

Organizations consist of three components:

1. The structure gives the organization its form and dictates the way it will interact.
2. The followers respond to the structure and the leaders.
3. The leaders determine the ultimate effectiveness of the organization as the character and skills that they bring determine the way problems are solved and tasks are accomplished.

U.S. Army 23 Traits of Character

• Bearing
• Confidence
• Courage
• Integrity
• Decisiveness
• Justice
• Endurance
• Tact
• Initiative
• Coolness
• Maturity
• Improvement
• Will
• Assertiveness
• Candor
• Sense of humor
• Competence
• Commitment
• Creativity
• Self-discipline
• Humility
• Flexibility
• Empathy/Compassion

More Thoughts on Character

Are managers leaders? Are leaders managers?

Managers need to be leaders...their workers need vision and guidance! On the other hand, leaders need to be good managers of the resources entrusted to them.

Is Character Developed Via Nature or Nurture?

I do not believe that the nature vs. nurture debate is linear enough to put percentages on it -- on one side of the fence we have nature and on the other side we have nurture. And while nature (genes) certainly has its influences on us, the environment normally determines the impact of a gene.

For example, one of the classics examples for discussing genes is Konrad Lorenz's work on the imprinting that occurs in baby geese -- they have it within them to imprint whatever is moving near them, which is normally their mother. However, it could be anything else that is moving around them, such as a person. But no matter what they imprint on, rather it be their mother, a human, or an inanimate object, the piece of the environment that they actually imprint on is going to have a huge impact on their life. Thus gene provides the goal, but the environment provides the process, and it is what happens during the process that will determine the outcome.

Piaget was probably the first person to think of children as species equipped with a characteristic mind, rather than as apprentice adults (little adults). He discovered they went through a series of five developmental stages that were always in the same order, but not always at the same rate: 1) sensorimotor, 2) preoperational, 3) concrete operations, and in adolescence they have 3) abstract thought and finally 4) deductive reasoning.

Piaget's two contemporaries, Konrad Lorenz and B.F. Skinner took up extreme positions. Lorenz as a champion of nature and Skinner as a champion of nurture. Piaget, however, dived right down the middle of this debate. He believed a gene's meaning depends heavily on its context with the surrounding environment. That is, while a child goes through five stages of development (genes), it is the active engagement of the mind with the surrounding environment (nurture) that causes development. The two main forces of the environment are feedback and social interaction. From this, the child assimilates predicted experiences and accommodates it to unexpected experiences.

For some time it was believed that animals grew no new neurons in the cortex of their brains upon reaching adulthood, thus their fate was basically sealed by their generic nature. This was apparently proved by a Pasco Rakix, a neuroscientist. However, Fernando Nottebohm soon found that adult canaries made new neurons when they learn new songs. So Rakix replied that it was only adult mammals that could not grow neurons. But soon afterward, Elizabeth Gould found that rats grow new neurons. So Rakix replied primates could not. Gould next discovered that tree shrews grew new neurons. Rakix that higher primates could not grow new neurons. Gould then found them in marmosets. Rakix zeroed it down to old-world primates. Gould then discovered them in macaques.

Today it is almost certain that all primates, including humans, grow new neurons in response to new experiences, and loose neurons in response to neglect. Thus, with all the determinism built into the initial wiring of our brain, experience with our surrounding environment refines and in some cases rewires that initial wiring.

Nature may be our internal guide (map), but nurture is our explorer that has the final say in what we do (destination).