The Virtues of Leaders

There is a bit of a debate about whether or not leadership is something that can be learned or is inherent. I would say it is a bit more complicated than that — it is a learned thing, but not so simple as learning a new skill. Being a leader means having some skill and commitment to five virtues that are learned over a lifetime. Being a leader takes courage, temperance, dignity, humility, and wisdom.

When you review this list, it becomes clear why we sometimes qualify types of leadership. Positional leadership signifies that someone has the position of power, without necessarily possessing these virtues.

Courage as a leader means being able to see difficult circumstances and still do the difficult thing, even at great personal cost. There is no courage in putting others at risk.

Temperance is the restrained use of power. Good leaders understand that tehor position gives them the ability to use coercion to get things done, but that doing so will significantly reduce their effectiveness as a leader,

Dignity is about indifference to what others think and their judgements of you. Dignity is about upholding your own best vision of yourself. Good leaders are not affected by the critics nor the acolytes.

Good leaders never lose their sense of humility. At the end, all of us will be buried in the same dirt, we are all the same. Leaders see themselves as servants to the organization, the people they lead, and the cause they are committed to.

Last, all great leaders have a wisdom that comes from experience. Simply going through experiences does not provide you with wisdom, it requires an awareness and an ability to reflect to turn experiences into wisdom.

In developing your own leadership acumen, or in helping a younger leader become better, consider focusing on these five virtues — the rest will take care of itself.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.

-C. S. Lewis