by Jane Anderson, Featured Contributor
ON SEPTEMBER 22, 2012 I published my first ever book review. That number is now in excess of 20. In effect that first book, The Character-Based Leader changed my life. Before you roll your eyes in disbelief, you should know that this story is the unvarnished truth of how an email intended for someone else and a network was a pivotal point in my career. Back then I was working in a position that paid well, had health insurance, and a growing 401K. I appreciated the work and never said no to opportunities to support the corporate vision, but inside I felt the effects of being in a place where my values were out of alignment with the leadership of the organization.
One day I received a personal email inviting me to a Lead Change Group project meeting to discuss chapters in their collaborative work on their book, The Character-Based Leader. I recognized the name of the sender as a co-worker from 20 years earlier, which in itself was a mystery. I had no knowledge of the Lead Change Group or any other online community at that time. I know now that the Jane being invited was not Jane Anderson (me) but Jane Perdue, Author and Leadership Futurist. Many months later I was one of the first to purchase their book, the Character-Based Leader. That was the beginning of how I began my hobby of writing book reviews.
It isn’t purchasing the book that changed my life though. It’s the chain reaction and the power of networking. The book was the catalyst for getting me to make some life changing decisions. When I began to read the book, I realized that there really are principled leaders whose organizations are held to a high standard of values. Through that book, I discovered a network of entrepreneurs, authors, and online communities that I may have never found otherwise. Writing book reviews and participating in online communities has introduced me to the most remarkable people! Thought leaders, followers, masterminds, influencers, authors, readers, business prophets, bloggers and every genre of personality in between. They are members of online communities, have connected with me on LinkedIn, followed me on Twitter, and have become my Facebook friends. Of even greater impact though is realizing the positive impact these leaders have on the world. This article is not your typical leadership content, but then I’m not a typical community member. I appreciate and admire every person I have come to call friend through this network and to think it all started because I love reading – and of course writing occasional comments.
Since the book, The Character-Based Leader was the implausible gateway into this network, I decided to write a review highlighting some of my favorite parts of the book. Remember this book is a goldmine for leaders, encapsulating the writing of 21 authors, so there are many chapters not covered in this post.
Why Character-Based Leadership – In this chapter Cheryl Gegelman says when she uses quotes in social media posts that touch on a source of pain and need for change in our workplaces and society, she receives the greatest number of responses. People want to be valued, to be understood and to be given the opportunity to make a difference. Character-Based Leaders have the ability to unleash greatness in each individual and throughout the organization. Cheryl recommends starting with you. Find someone to hold you accountable for your actions and behavior, focus everyone on a shared vision and purpose, then dig deep to uncover the gifts of 
each team member, and finally focus on yourself – on serving and developing individuals and team as a whole. There is a crisis of character in leadership today and through this chapter, Cheryl calls out issues in government, military, doctors, corporations, clergy, teachers and parents. Violations of trust are the result of poor choices, not about skill, techniques or methods. She says, “When everyone of good character draws a line and says that character counts all the time in all places, the revolution [for change] begins.”
Leadership Touchstones – People in organizations have interpersonal benchmarks they use to evaluate the trustworthiness of their leaders. Jennifer Miller uses the analogy of ancient touchstones where different types of stones were used to test the quality of metals. Each person is, in a sense, toting around a handful of stones, deciding whether to trust their leaders. She calls these internal barometers and they are unique for each individual. Jennifer identifies three broad categories of trust touchstones.
- Ethics Touchstone: Evaluates moral character of the leader
- Interpersonal Touchstone: This comes from chemistry, the blend of personality traits and daily interactions that affects how leaders connect with others.
- Work Focus Touchstone: Leaders have an opportunity to build trust with people through their methods of getting work done. A leader’s work focus is based on behaviors that are an outward expression of their interior life.
The bedrock of Character-Based Leadership is that morals and ethics must be impeccable because they funnel into trustworthiness.
Mastering the Inner Game of Personal Integrity – My eyes fell on this quote as I was reading this chapter by Susan Mazza. She had been discussing authenticity and accountability at length. “Choosing to do the right thing because doing the wrong thing would make you look bad is an act of manipulation, not integrity.” Did I read that right? So motives matter to the Character-Based Leader. Susan implores leaders to mindfully choose values and principles to guide their words, actions, and decisions. Here’s her primer on getting clear on your personal code of ethics as the foundation of your integrity. Keep in mind that the book delves deeper into each of these points.
- Draft your values and guiding principles.
- Think back to how your values and guiding principles have affected your actions.
- Decide what your values and guiding principles could be.
- Choose the values and principles you will commit to.
- Declare your personal code of ethics. Clear values and principles ensure your thoughts, words, and deeds are consistently aligned.
Exploring Integrity and Leadership – “Character-Based Leaders strive for concordance between what they say and what they do.” In her segment of the book Monica Diaz explores ways to develop integrity in every day leadership.
- Know where you stand. Know your own moral compass so you can express it to the world.
- Always respect your principles. Respect the principles of others too.
- Learn to find your way back. Find people who will give you honest feedback. When you make a mistake they will give you recommendations on how to improve.
- Put yourself first. Shocker huh? But really, to serve others, you do have to put yourself first in integrity, wholeness, aliveness, and wellness. Leaders need to take care of themselves so they can take care of others.
Leading Yourself into Integrity – What does it take to make it as a leader? Courage? Vision? How about passion or drive? Education is one hot topic in an interview but does it translate to great leadership ability? None of these have an impact like plain old fashioned humility. Any leadership quality fails without humility. Humility is evidenced in lifting others up, stepping aside so others can shine, and taking the blame while giving credit. Humility can be learned, but only from practice. Dan Rockwell writes about 7 practices to lead yourself to humility.
Respect: Bring Your Team to Life – I have a tendency to root for the underdog and feel bad when anyone loses. It’s hard for me to choose sides because I want everyone to win. Mike Henry, in this chapter says, “Respect is the pursuit of win-win.” In fact I like the way he says he seeks the win-win-win in relationships. Character-Based Leaders practically manufacture respect because they model it, they share it, they expect it. Although respect is not a natural quality, it can be earned and it can be learned. Mike discusses the need for humility and warns about maintaining a balance. Too much humility leads to under-appreciation of self, but too little humility leads to under-appreciation of others. Humility comes from an accurate understanding of where we fit in the world. Respect is what we give others when we accurately understand where they fit.
This chapter takes a deep dive into the many ways respect is earned, developed, practiced, and applied. Mike says Character-Based Leadership is an endless source of energy and life for an organization. He relates the impact of respect when dealing with conflict and resolution. He says respect is the key to bringing life to a team and giving everyone in the organization an opportunity to lead in some sphere.
It shouldn’t surprise you that the theme of this entire book, The Character-Based Leader, was about personal integrity. While these summaries barely scratched the surface, this sums up some relevant thoughts on personal integrity.
Authenticity is walking your talk with values, principles, words and actions aligned. You are being true to your inner integrity.
Accountability is about being true to your word when making promises to others. You are living a life of integrity.
