Leadership from the Inside Out: The Character of Leadership

The purpose of this book is to help leaders and aspiring leaders strengthen their leadership character, and, as a consequence, position themselves for greater opportunity, influence, and impact. When your character is strengthened your leadership will expand because you will become the kind person people want to follow.

Character has become a crucial issue today precisely because of the myriad of leaders in the political, business, and religious worlds who have fallen morally. How many leaders have ruined their lives and damaged the lives of others through immorality? Leaders need to remember that they influence many others beyond themselves; they never fall in a vacuum. They also need to realize that replacing fallen leaders is a slow and difficult process.

So how can we guard against falling? First, we must take care not to emphasize the gifts of a leader over his or her character. We have an unhealthy tendency to see and reward the gift more than the character; but both are to be developed. We must strike the following balance if we are to finish well.

While some believe that leadership is determined by one’s leadership skills and abilities such as; good communicator, the power of persuasion, knowledge, vision and experience, but if you want to become an influencer, you must be a person of character because it is the foundation upon which the above qualities are built on. If that foundation of character is weak or fundamentally flawed, then being a person of influence becomes impossible.