Be True to Character

👉What It Means to Be True to Character
A leader who is true to character acts in accordance with their values and principles, even when it is difficult. They are honest, true, and have integrity. They are transparent in their dealings with others, and they are fair and ethical in their decisions. They are also accountable for their actions and take responsibility for their mistakes.

👉Why It Matters
People will respect and trust leaders they know to be honest, true, fair, and ethical. Productivity, collaboration, and morale thrive in the wake of this trust and credibility. People want to be a part of the resulting culture. When people fail the character test, however, productivity, trust, morale, collaboration, and communication all take a big dive.

Violating values is a slippery slope, and a single act can bring down the whole house.

Don’t leave your character to chance.

👉Here are some ways to be true to character and never allow yourself to fall down that slippery slope:

Know your values and principles. What is important to you? What do you believe in? Make a list. Write your values down, share them, memorize them, and keep them forefront of mind so that your decisions, actions, and thoughts are firmly and consistently value-driven. The more you live by your values, the easier it becomes!
Be honest and transparent. Be honest with yourself and with others. Be transparent about your decisions and the reasons behind them.
Be accountable for your actions. Everybody makes mistakes. The person of character owns their mistakes, takes responsibility, and learns from them.
Be open to feedback. Be willing to listen to feedback from others, even if it is negative. Use this feedback to improve yourself and your leadership.
Work on one virtue per week. Benjamin Franklin was famous, among other things, for his character. Why? Because he worked on it. He listed 13 virtues he wanted to define his character, and worked on one each week. There are 13 weeks in a quarter, so he’d work on one principle/virtue for four weeks each year.

There is a very strong correlation between knowing your values and being true to them (being true to character) and effective leadership.
Always, the best leaders are true to character. So, know your values, never violate them, be honest, be accountable, and don’t leave your character to chance — develop it by working on your virtues, just as Benjamín Franklin did, and you too will be remembered as a person of great character. 🤎