Lessons in Leadership

It is a Question of Character
"Arch of Traits"

  • Crisis Managers see many full learning cycles of Success to Failure to Success.
  • Failure is generally the result of non-constructive and non-responsive conduct by management.
  • Under the stress of crisis, an individual's character is exposed and tested.
  • As a general rule, a company's most valuable asset is its employees, and how they are led in trying times can determine the outcome of the crisis.
  • Can we use an assessment of one's character as a general predictor of the long-term success/failure of a leader?

The aggregate of traits that form the individual nature of a person disposes one to express behavior in consistent patterns across a range of situations.

  • Your core traits are the foundation of what and who you are – you can lean into strengths and mitigate weaknesses.

Knowledge
  		Awareness or familiarity gained by learning or experiences. Knowledge is finite.

Hopefulness
  		Desire for an outcome and confidence in the possibility of its fulfillment.

Perseverance
  		Steady persistence in a course of action in spite of difficulties.

Confidence
  		Belief in one's abilities.
 

Courage
  		The quality of being modest and respectful, not believing you are superior to others.

Ambition
  		A strong desire for success, achievement, or distinction.

Self-Esteem
  		Holding a good opinion of one's self.

Utilitarian
  		Understanding the functionality and practicality of everyday life.

Independence
  		Not subject to the control of others, uses own judgment of facts and circumstances to form conclusions and opinions.

Wisdom
  		Knowing what you know as well as what you do not know, utilizing knowledge and experience with common sense and intuition. Wisdom is infinite.

Temperance
  		Restraint or moderation in yielding to one's desire.
 

Tolerance
  		A fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions differ from one's own.

Humility
  		The quality of being modest and respectful, not believing you are superior to others.

Prudence
  		The ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason.

Integrity
  		Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code of moral soundness.

Benevolence
  		The desire to do good to others.

Transcendence
  		Appreciation of beautiful things.

Empathy
  		Identification and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives.
Arch of Traits

Focused on self and/or displayed through what people do

Arch of Traits

Focused on others and/or displayed through what people do not do

Arch of Traits
  • Balance each other – the sooner you get arch in balance, the better harmony.
Arch of Traits

Knowing one's character traits and how what you do/ or do not do affects others and consequently your ability to accomplish an objective.

  • Knowledge
  • Hopefulness
  • Perseverance
  • Confidence
  • Courage
  • Ambition
  • Self-Esteem
  • Utilitarian
  • Independence
  • Arrogance
  • Unrealistic
  • Stubbornness
  • Insolence
  • Recklessness
  • Greed
  • Vanity
  • Small-Minded
  • Egotistical

Passive traits are harder to identify in a brief meeting. To identify the active traits of people, sometimes it is easier to focus on the negative side of active traits because they can some out in a casual conversation.

Each trait combination is a chapter that needs a catchy phrase for each. For example, Courage Prudence could be "mall in. Need several stones around each; include unbalanced and then balanced examples. Focus on examples that help illustrate behavior patterns. The purpose is to aid in allowing leaders to be more self-aware or boards to identify potential blind spots in management.

  • Smartest guy in the room (knowledge-wisdom)
  • Are you smoking crack? (hopefulness-temperance)
  • My way or the highway (perseverance-tolerance)
  • This place will not survive without me. (confidence-humility)
  • I’m all in (courage-prudence)
  • We can do this, but it will take sacrifices. (ambition-Integrity)
  • You work for me, and your opinion does not matter. (independence-empathy)
  • That is useless. (utilitarian-transcendence)
  • Where it comes from matters. (self-esteem-benevolence)
  • An understanding of how balanced one’s character traits will give you a general predictor of the long-term probability of success/failure of a leader.
  • Self-Awareness is the key to further developing individual and balancing collectively one’s character traits.