Character means many things, which is inbuilt, the innate self, the individual's intelligence, sharpness, and dynamism, it’s the combination of values, attitude, and integrity.
Character-based leaders and professionals have consistency to be who they are regardless of circumstances; persistence to do what they need to do to fulfill the vision and achieve the goals; as well as resilience to overcome barriers and fail forward. Here are three key factors in building strong characters.
Authenticity: Being authentic is defined as being real or genuine, discovering your strength and uniqueness, being yourself, even if you are not perfect, and nobody is. Authenticity is perhaps the prerequisite for character development and defining your true purpose is a helpful instrument to guide yourself toward the tough journey continuously through lots of challenges to test your character. There are psychological and personality factors in character. The mind of every individual is different, the actual mental understanding and subsequent manifestations in action will be different for each individual as well. Character-based leaders and professionals show integrity to make sound judgment, think and act authentically to enhance accountability. Independent thinking differentiates an authentic and character-based leader from a followers and defines an outstanding professional from mediocre employees. It takes the character to be confident, energetic and persistent.
Strong character reveals authenticity, improves professionalism, and highlights uniqueness. As authenticity comes from self-awareness, value proposition, and fair judgment. In many traditional organizations with cultural inertia, people feel unsafe to express themselves or try to imitate others but lose their own identity or character. Collectively, they encourage mediocrity, overly emphasize on compliance, So the corporate culture - their business character is also weak, gradually, they become irrelevant in their industry or the society. Ideally, organizations should cultivate the culture of authenticity - encourage people to be authentic and inspire inclusiveness. The organization can develop a strong brand and great reputation.
Courage: Character is the backbone of- mental toughness and professional fitness. Character based leaders and professionals show courage to break down old rules or “we always do things like that” mentality. Without courage, character cannot shine through. Being courageous is not only about being brave or bold, but it is also the combination of vision, passion, and intellectual risk-taking. The character needs to be built. The content of character may come from nature, part of DNA, but the context of character can be developed via life experience - to be courageous to do something you believe it’s right; to be courageous to listen to what you don’t want to hear; to have the guts to make tough decisions; to be courageous to walk through trial and adversary without losing your confidence. Adversity may test what you are made of at that particular moment only. But you can improve character from these experiences and learn to be more resilient. Once you have formed and built your character through cognition and experiences, those experiences define who you are and clarify your identity.
Character-based leaders and professionals are more purposeful. Being courageous is not the absence of fear. It is acting in spite of it. Without courage, there is no innovation or character based leadership. Character is neither the same as stubbornness nor inflexibility; because character inspires people to hold on their belief and shows courage to do something meaningful with persistence; while being stubborn perhaps implies you head toward the wrong direction or insist on doing something that does not make logical sense; being inflexible means you don’t know how to reach your vision and destiny via alternative path. Character based leadership won’t compromise principles or discipline, but it’s technically fine for them to make compromises on using different methodology or practice; so they show flexible ways to achieve their purpose. To simply put, without character, you cannot turn around tough situations. Without character, leadership cannot reach the high level of maturity.
Consistency: Character-based leaders and professionals are more consistent with their thinking, saying, and doing, ensuring that their voice and actions are in synchronization by combined action, endurance, and with the right spirit. Change is only constant, the character based leaders and professionals define their values and follow the leadership principles with consistency; can strike the right balance, capture the leadership substance and trace the root at the heart of change dynamics. Being consistent means being true to that in every aspect: thinking, saying and doing. If this standard is internalized, then it should guide behavior. Not only do character-based leaders keep consistent on themselves; but they also look for consistency in their teams, in their organization as well as in the ecosystem, as consistency harmonizes humanities.
To be consistent means to be who you are, keep your authenticity and demonstrate character. Characters can synchronize one’s mind and heart. Consistency enforces trust and increases credibility and integrity, or better said, "consistency" is essential in earning and holding the trust of each other. You are what you continue thinking and doing in a consistent way. Character enhances competency development and competency comes from sharpening your strength, while competent leaders also reveal character, courage, present the ideas with confidence, pursue the meaningful goal with persistence, and practice the leadership discipline with openness.
Character means many things, which is inbuilt, the innate self, the individual's intelligence, sharpness, and dynamism, it’s the combination of values, attitude, and integrity. The character is like the seed, with the uniqueness & color theme, the nurturing environment helps to strengthen it further.Character-based leadership is more trustworthy and influential. Character building is a life-long journey at which each individual refine themselves via test and trial, explore purpose & meanings and develop competency and strength.
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