Five virtues of leadership

Outstanding leadership is founded and grounded in human virtue. That may seem like a bold statement, since it would be easy to assume that the keys to leadership lie perhaps in strategic agility, or commercial acumen, or superior people skills. Across repeated conversations and client engagements with leaders I have seen evidence of virtue.

Major General Andy Salmon, former head of the British Royal Marines, surprised me when he named humility as an element of ‘commando culture’.1 Who would have thought humility had a place in what appears to be such a tough, unforgiving world?

He explained that personal ‘Commando Spirit’—determination, courage, cheerfulness in the face of adversity, and unselfishness — combines with collective values such as excellence and integrity to create the overall Commando ethos. Humility is one of the Commando group values.

‘Commandos need humility so they can learn from their mistakes,’ said General Salmon. ‘Ego and prima donnas don’t belong. As a part of our culture we practise “Team first, buddy second and self last”. In order to be humble and lose your ego, you have to lose yourself.’

This sounds obvious in a military environment, since failure to learn from mistakes could have tragic consequences in combat. But it seems to me that everyone, not just soldiers, needs a little humility in order to learn, grow and develop.

Humility is perhaps the key leadership virtue.

It enables leaders to listen to others, listen to feedback, and be comfortable with realising that they do not have all the answers. It works in harmony with what the ancient Greeks called the ‘cardinal’ virtues: practical wisdom, justice, courage and temperance (we could call this self-control).

You may recall that a virtue is a good habit you acquire through repeated practice. You can learn to be generous, to be patient, to be caring — by being generous, patient and caring in little moments when the opportunity arises. Over time you become generous, patient and caring. This is a very important point, and highlights the difference between values and virtues. A value is something you abide by, usually in accord with an organisational framework — e.g. our values include honesty, transparency, generosity, … The firm often explains the behaviours that demonstrate the value.

This is entirely different from a personal decision to acquire the virtue of generosity and become a generous person, and very different to the person who acts generous because it is a corporate value, while hoarding things at home.
You can become wise, just, temperate and courageous, and these form the foundation to greatness in your personal life and leadership. Think for a moment of leaders you admire. Do you observe these traits?

Practical wisdom combines an intellectual activity with reflection — you read as widely as possible, talk to as many people as possible, and take input from many and varied sources. You grow in wisdom as you turn this over in your mind, as you ruminate and reflect and turn information into insight, and discover new ways of applying what you know to the challenges facing you and others. It can be hard for leaders to take the time for this kind of reflection. As an aside, this is perhaps the most common piece of feedback I get from clients — that I create the time and space for them to do this level of thinking.

Courage, justice, and self-control are also acquired through repeated practice, accompanied by reflection. Courage risks your well being for the good of those you lead, justice ensures fairness and that you treat others responsibly and give them what they are owed. Self-control fundamentally gives leaders the ability to put others first and say no to your own desires — i.e. to be driven by what is right and good rather than what feels good to you. When I look at the extraordinary amounts of money some leaders are taking out of their companies or countries I see a failure in self-control. I happen to see a similar failure in myself when I waste hours clicking around the internet in pursuit of some irrelevant, and never satisfying, factoid.

This is one of the key differences you can observe in the great leaders — they possess virtues of humility, practical wisdom, courage, justice and self-control. They know they are not saints, however the presence of these virtues gives them the insight, foresight and knowledge to act wisely and well.

Look for the little moments where you can exercise humility, wisdom, or self-control, where you can demonstrate courage or justice. Doing this will change your leadership impact. It will make you more attractive to others who will want to be with you and work with you. People will want to engage with you in business, government and society.

The key to outstanding leadership is in a life of virtue.

Anthony Howard

I am passionate about building a more human world one leader at a time. I am a CEO, entrepreneur, thought leader, philosopher and author who has made a life out of questions.

People call me the ‘CEO Whisperer.’ As a mentor and coach I help leaders navigate complex, demanding environments so they can perform and lead at their best. If you have substantial responsibility in your firm, and a pressing strategic, operational, political or personal question, send me an email at the address below if you would appreciate one hour of my time at no cost.

Extracts from Humanise. Why Human-Centred Leadership is the Key to the 21st Century Anthony Howard, (c) 2015. Reprinted with permission of John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd. Humanise is based on a decade of research with leaders and is available for pre-order, or now via ebook.

Visit and follow my LinkedIn page for all my posts

If you want to lift your performance as a CEO, support your people as they navigate the challenges, or engage a speaker with new insights about leadership for your next event … call or email and we will find a time to talk.

Mobile +61 414 659 591 (Yes, I live in Australia and travel globally)
Email anthony.howard@confideregroup.com

? 2015, Anthony Howard