Develop Character As A Leader

DEVELOP CHARACTER AS A LEADER

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The leaders who have emerged today seem to believe that the primary qualities needed to address our troubled, demanding times are vision; academic and intellectual superiority; dynamic oratory and other communications skills that have the power to influence and control others. However, time and again, history has shown that the most important quality that a true leader should and must have is the moral force of a noble and stable character. Today, every country has leaders who represent them and have the power, position, authority and ample potential to do the best for their people. Yet, many leaders across the globe have ethically and morally fallen apart. Many leaders started strong but ended up “crashing” in the end. These leaders may have looked very competent from outside, but their failure is due to the lack of the real substance within them i.e. CHARACTER. There are several examples of leaders in various arenas like sports, business, politics, religion, arts, media and entertainment world who have fallen down from a position of power due to their character defects.

Due to these leadership failures, there has been a psyche of Distrust creeping in the general public. People have lost trust in their leaders due to their ethical and moral degradation. Therefore, a strong and sound character must be the first and foremost priority of leaders in any organization. Let us define character first.

Character is a commitment to a set values and beliefs that you never violate or compromise with on the altar of convenience.

WHY CHARACTER MATTERS?

• To develop a strong and noble character which will survive through the test and trials of the difficult time, you need to understand the importance of Character in leadership:

• Character establishes and strengthens your inner life, so that you are a person of integrity and honor. Character ensures that you do not become a hypocrite. You do what you say and do not preach something to other people until you do it yourself.

• Character protects your leadership and your vision and prevents you from cancelling them and enabling you to have a legacy for your own generation and for future generations.

• Character is the key to Inspirational Leadership. If you are a person of character, then you have the ability to genuinely encourage and influence people so that they can fulfill their own purposes and live peaceful, productive lives. It also safeguards the well-being of  people who are under the authority of leaders or are affected by leaders actions and influence.

• Character establishes a trust account between the people and their leaders. By showing their stability and predictability through test and trial over time, the leaders can win the trust of  the people and eventually, influence them.

HOW CHARACTER DEVELOPS?

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• BELIEFS: Our belief system has been modified and keeps on evolving or changing throughout our lives by our responses to various influences on us. Those influences includes our families, our friends, our background, our social environment, our education, our religious institutions, the media and so forth. Generally people follow the same trend or course they develop their character whether positive or negative. It goes like this; Our beliefs lead to our convictions, Our convictions produce our values, our values form our morals, our morals lead to personal conduct, our conduct determines our ethics, our ethics forms our character and our character results in our lifestyle.

Therefore, If a person wants to change his belief system, he has to change his ideas about himself and his ideas about the world. The world looks the way, you see it. AS King Solomon rightly said, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he”. So, our beliefs about ourselves and the world determines our character and lifestyle.

• VALUES: Values simply means things which you value. Values are Ideas, principles and qualities on which you personally place high worth and putting standards on these things determines your conduct or policy. To become a person of character, you must identify, believe and share your values so that you keep yourself in touch with them. For example; If a person values honesty, then he will make a personal commitment to himself, that he will never tell lies. If a person values the property of others then he has committed himself to not to steal. The values eventually becomes a part of character. The things you value, becomes important to you. As a leader, you should ask yourself this question, “What do I value more than my convictions?”. Is it money? Is it power? Is it position? Is it the title given to you by some authority? Let me assure you, it would be much better for you to die poor with your character than to live rich with corruption. What are the things which you Value?

• Principles or Moral standards: The principles which you set for yourself determines what type of a character you will have. The more committed you are to your principles, the stronger is your character. Set for yourself some moral standards on which you commit yourself to and which you will never compromise even at the cost of your life. When you stand for something which is right, get yourself ready for the persecution and criticism from every direction. So, commit to your principles and make your character heavier than the words you speak.

Therefore, character plays a vital role in leadership as it protects our leadership. Character development is manifested through our beliefs, values and the principles that we set for ourselves. Develop your character as a leader and make a change in the world. Wish you all the very best!