Integrity Honesty and Accountability in Leadership

Good Character

Aristotle stated that the purpose of life is happiness and that the key to a happy life is the cultivation of good habits, or virtues, which shape the character. There are many virtues to speak of, such as integrity, honesty, charity and fortitude—all of these and many others help to develop a person’s good character. The opposite of virtue is vice, and vices prevent a person from happiness according to the Aristotelian concept of virtue ethics. Thus, when I think of what exhibiting good character means to me, I think of a person who has principles, acts on those principles, is kind toward others, refrains from judging other people, always tells the truth, and perseveres through hardship with courage and resilience—in short, a happy person.

Specific examples of my demonstrated behavior of good character would include my commitment to never telling a lie. I abhor the idea of lying to another person because I feel like it places wool over everyone’s eyes and promotes deception. And no one is happy when they feel deceived or feel they are deceiving others. In charity, I try to tell the truth and I also seek to know the truth insofar as it is pertinent or relevant to my life.

I also demonstrate integrity by defining the principles that are important to me and making it a point to live by these principles. For example, one of my principles is to treat everyone equally, as though each person was my own brother or sister. This principle is rooted in the Golden Rule, which is to treat others how you would like to be treated. But I try to see each person as someone who is part of my own extended family. A specific example of this principle in action is the other day when standing outside church a stranger approached me to ask a question. I was eager to get back inside the church for services, but I did not want to turn away the stranger so I answered his questions and listened to him talk without trying to excuse myself. I could tell he needed to talk to someone and I thought I should give him some of my time instead of rushing back inside, just as I would give my own brother or sister time if they needed it.

Good character is also represented by being able to lead others in positive ways. For instance, at my work, I try to lead by giving a good example of right conduct in the workplace: I follow the workplace rules, and don’t try to cheat the company by avoiding work while on the job. I also lead by serving others, which is called servant leadership. One co-worker was struggling with learning a new system at work and instead of grumbling about it or pushing him aside, I took the time to ask him what he was having trouble with and talked him through it. He was struggling with the basic concept of what the system did and how to implement it, as it was new and he was used to the old way. I saw that at a conceptual level he could not see the vision given us by management, so I conveyed this vision to him in a way that he could see it better. Then he began to understand the purpose of the system and how to engage with it. Here, I demonstrated the virtue of patience and charity, and those two virtues are really important in servant leadership.