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Leadership is the capacity and will to rally people to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence – Bernard Montgomery

Character

How leaders deal with circumstances of life tells you many things about their character. Crisis does not make character, it does however reveal it. Adversity, when it strikes will offer two paths for you to follow. One is the path of character and the other is the path of compromise. Nobel Peace Prize winner, Alexander Solzhenitsyn stated, “The meaning of earthly existing lies, not as we have grown used to thinking, in prospering, but in the development of the soul.”

The development of character is at the heart of our development not just as a leader, but as human beings. Notice the following 4 insights on character.

Character Is More Than Talk

Anyone can say they have integrity, but our actions are the real indicator of character. Who you are determines what you see. What you see determines what you do. This is why you can never separate character from actions. If a leaders actions are constantly working against you, then look at their character to determine WHY.

Talent Is A Gift, Character Is A Choice

We have zero control over a lot of things in this life. You did not choose your birth parents or location of birth. You did not choose your IQ capacity of talents. But we all choose our character. In fact we create our character every time we make choices either to cop our or dig in for the long haul of life; to bend the truth or stand under the weight of it. As you live your life and make choices today, you are continuing to create your character.

Character Brings Lasting Success With People

True leadership always involves other people. The old leadership axiom is true; “If you think you are leading and no one follows then you are only taking a lonely walk.” Followers do trust leaders whose character they know to be flawed and they will not continue following them.

Leaders Cannot Rise Above The Limitations of Their Character

Have you seen highly skilled people suddenly fall when they achieve a certain level of success? Steven Berlas, psychologist at Harvard Medical School states when people achieve great heights, but lack bedrock character are headed for a disaster. He suggests they will become one if not several of the 4-A’s – Arrogance, Aloneness, Adventure-Seekers, or Adultery. Each is a terrible price to pay for weak character.

To improve your character consider the following:

• Search for cracks – spend some time examining your work, family, marriage, service, etc. Where are you cutting corners. Write them down and make this your most important to-do-list.
• Look for patterns – Look closely at each item you just wrote down to discovery weaknesses or particular problems that keep resurfacing? Detectable patterns will help diagnose character issues,
• Face the music – the beginning of character repair comes when you face your flaws, apologize, and deal with the consequences.
• Rebuild – It is one thing to face past failures and then look to build a new future.

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Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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