Values and Virtues

This blog is the third in a series of blogs focusing on the importance of character and how it impacts leaders and leadership. Following on the previous blog “What is Character in Business Leadership“, In this blog we’ll seek to understand a little bit about values and virtues and how we might measure them.

Values are deeply held beliefs that reflect what is really important or meaningful to a person, a group or an organization.  An individual’s personal values will influence their thinking and by extension will impact the decisions they make and the behaviors that they choose in any particular situation.

A person’s values are often reflected in the virtues that they exhibit.  Virtues are qualities or traits that are held by someone, that reflect good moral principles. With a little research, one can find many lists of virtues.  Aristotle, Benjamin Franklin, Bible scriptures all write about virtues.  For example – traits such as generosity, temperance, patience, kindness, humility, hard work and resolve can be found as being common to many of the lists of virtues. One way to simplify our understanding of virtues is to sort them into three “buckets” – virtues that exemplify our attitudes, our beliefs and our commitments. This “bucket” approach enables us to begin to assess and measure the approach that people take to certain situations in order to evaluate their character.

Attitude is important and it is a choice. I remember coming across an expression “success comes in cans”, a statement that emphasizes the value of a “can do” attitude.  W. Mitchell authored a book entitled “It’s Not What Happens To You, It’s What You Do About It ” that chronicles the personal challenges he faced when he sustained burns to over 65% of his body in a motor vehicle accident and when he later injured his spinal cord when he crashed on takeoff in a small plane he was piloting.  Throughout it all he maintained a very positive attitude, refusing to assume the role of a victim.

John Wooden, a college basketball coach who achieved the unprecedented feat of achieving 10 NCAA national championships over a 12 year period was famous for his emphasis on instilling a positive attitude in his players and was quoted as saying:  “Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.”  Wooden asserted that attitude is a choice and is a key component of good character.

In my next blog I will continue to explore how a positive attitude is related to character.
In the meantime, I welcome your feedback. You can connect with me via email or telephone or leave a comment right here on the site.

Dave

David Town, CHRP, is a facilitator and coach of leadership and management principles that enable individuals and organizations to build greater leadership competency, resulting in higher performance and higher employee engagement.  David has a particular focus on effectively managing conversations involving confrontation or conflict.  As well, he provides insights and assessment strategies for integrating character competencies into leadership skills resulting in increased trust and reduced risk for leaders.  David is President of Your Leadership Matters Inc.