{"id":451,"date":"2021-10-05T14:55:48","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T18:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/inthelead\/?p=451"},"modified":"2021-10-05T15:20:53","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T19:20:53","slug":"character-counts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/inthelead\/2021\/10\/05\/character-counts\/","title":{"rendered":"Character Counts"},"content":{"rendered":"

A chief executive in health care and higher education shares how leaders can engage in the critical skill of character development.<\/h3>\n

The most effective leaders are those who live authentic lives, whose character speaks for itself. Warren Bennis, a pioneer in leadership research, wrote that a successful leader is not about being tough or soft, sensitive or assertive, but about having strength of character. Effective leaders are committed to lifelong learning; character development is no exception and takes courage and determination.<\/p>\n

Leaders who are committed to character development practice a wide range of behaviors on a regular basis. Here are a few simple but highly effective examples:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cI was wrong.\u201d\u2002<\/strong>If leaders expect team members to acknowledge failings, leaders must model that behavior by publicly admitting when they have made an error in judgment or practice.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u201cI need help.\u201d\u2002<\/strong>No one has all the answers. The leader needs to find the answers but will never have all of the possible solutions. Asking for help gives team members the green light to express their own doubts and concerns.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

        \n
      1. \u201cI am sorry.\u201d\u2002<\/strong>Whether it is speaking ill of another or losing one\u2019s temper, leaders who apologize are more respected and trusted. Apologizing shows true concern for the other.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

         <\/p>\n

          \n
        1. \u201cI had a plan, but I think yours will be more effective.\u201d\u2002<\/strong>Acknowledging the ideas and input of others builds stronger and more motivated teams.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

           <\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Practicing silence.\u2002<\/strong>Robert Greenleaf often told the employees at AT&T that words should be spoken only if those words would improve the silence. Listening with full attention is a skill that can be learned and starts with a sincere desire to know the mind and heart of the other.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

             <\/p>\n

              \n
            1. \u201cThank you.\u201d\u2002<\/strong>Leaders often write memos expressing gratitude, but nothing is more meaningful than a personal acknowledgment of an achievement.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              A chief executive in health care and higher education shares how leaders can engage in the critical skill of character development. The most effective leaders are those who live authentic lives, whose character speaks for itself. Warren Bennis, a pioneer in leadership research, wrote that a successful leader is not about being tough or soft, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2021","category-leadership","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/inthelead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/inthelead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/inthelead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/inthelead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/inthelead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/inthelead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":452,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/inthelead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions\/452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/inthelead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/inthelead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/inthelead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/inthelead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}