The longer I lead and the more I see, the more I’m convinced that character ultimately determines a leader’s true success.
Moral failure takes out more leaders than it should. But real success is deeper than just avoiding the ditch.
So where does the deepest level of leadership success come from? Ultimately it doesn’t come from a leader’s skill set; it comes from a leader’s character.
Your character determines your true capacity.
Why is that?
Character—far more than skill set—determines how deeply and passionately people follow you. A leader with character is a leader worth following.
A leader who lacks integrity may have followers, but he’ll never gain their full trust or their hearts.
After all, we all know highly skilled leaders who are never truly embraced; they’re merely tolerated.
Character, more than anything else, draws the hearts of people to your leadership.
The greatest leaders are highly skilled people whom other people
love to be around. They’re people others admire, not just because they’re smart, but because they’re the kind of person other people want to become.
In my view, the greatest leaders I know pass all five of these character tests many others fail.
1. Handling Success
Often people will ask you how you handled your last failure. And that’s not an entirely bad question.
But how you handle your success is a far greater test.
Failure is, by nature, humiliating. It crushes pride.
Success does the opposite. It naturally inflates a leader’s pride. It’s intoxicating.
It takes both great self-awareness and great self-control to handle success. To not let the reports of your own brilliance or accomplishments go to your head.
The very best leaders remain humble, grounded and even self-deprecating. They don’t claim every perk of office and regularly help people who can’t help them back.
They avoid the gravitational pull of self-focus and, instead, stay focused on the mission before them and before everyone.
The ultimate test of a leader’s character is not failure, it’s success.
2. Being Misunderstood
At some point, every leader will be misunderstood.
People will say things about you behind your back (or to your face) that aren’t true. People will judge your motives and get it wrong.
Sometimes you’ll only be allowed to say certain things in public, not because you’re being secretive, but because revealing all the information would make others look bad or would be breaking confidence. So instead, you look bad.
That’s just the territory of leadership.
Leadership is a bit like parenting. You have to do the right thing even if it’s not the popular thing. I’ve been there many times as a leader (and as a parent).
Great leaders have forged enough character to overcome the incessant desire to be liked. (
Here are three hard but powerful truths about likability and leadership).
They are prepared to be misunderstood for a season, knowing that usually the truth comes out in the end.
And even if the truth doesn’t emerge in a particular instance, great leaders know that the overall track record of their leadership and character will speak for itself over time.
3. How It’s Going at Home
Success is intoxicating. And leadership is rewarding.
People generally do what you ask them to do. Results can be measured. And progress is steady. Sometimes it's even exponential.
If only it was that easy at home.
Your spouse isn’t impressed with your stats. Your kids don’t care about your awards.
They just need
you.
They simply want
you.
Too many leaders impose the high standards they carry at work on their family at home.
Your family doesn’t work for you.
They
love you (or at least they used to). And they want you to love
them.
4. Who You Are When No One’s Looking
What is character?
It’s who you are when the spotlight’s
not on you.
The best leaders are the same on stage or in the boardroom as they are in a private meeting.
They’re the same when they’re with one person as they are when they’re with a thousand.
And the truly great ones are the same when absolutely no one is around.
As John Wooden famously said, the true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.
5. Helping People Who Can’t Help You Back
If you’re not careful, the more successful you become, the more likely you will be to spend time only with those who can help you get to the next stage of whatever you’re trying to do.
You almost naturally become a social climber.
The greatest leaders will resist this pull. It’s not that they won’t spend time with other people who are as successful or more successful than they are. It’s that they will still spend time with people who aren’t.
The greatest leaders regularly find time to help people who can’t help them back.
And not just as a charity project…but because it’s just who they are.
They’re not so impressed by themselves that they can’t spend time with people who might not be impressed with them.
They’re not so caught up in what’s next that they can’t spend meaningful time with someone who isn’t on the same journey.
Sure…they’re still strategic with their time, but they have a deep sense of grounding that reminds them that life is indeed about others, not just about them.
