“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
― Abraham Lincoln

I received an e-mail that included a request from a magazine writer. She was looking for thoughts on how male leaders, who were allies to women, could support women in the workplace. This was written in the context of the recent accusations toward Harvey Weinstein and others in Hollywood and Washington.

As I thought about her request, I found myself bothered by the basic premise: That there was an acceptance of a fixed battle between genders in the workplace that requires the existence of allies.

I don’t argue that this battle can exist. But my answer to the question is: Leaders (of any gender) shouldn’t allow this kind of battle to exist. Not in their workplace. The battle, if or where it exists, should be quashed.

The words shouldn’t and should, above, only have meaning if ethics or morality have meaning.

I firmly believe that leaders should be people of character. They should act in the best interests of others.

It’s just good business – if personal virtue isn’t compelling enough.

The science around leadership and organizational dynamics support the business sense of the should. The common belief that successful business requires living in the gray, ethical murkiness or outright acceptance of sleight of hand or deceit doesn’t bear out. The often-accepted perspective that, “it’s not wrong if you can get away with it.” doesn’t translate to higher business performance.

I recently had a conversation with a senior staffer at a large local organization. This is a nationally recognized and award-winning outfit. However, she is wrestling with the corruption and lack of internal integrity that runs rampant internally.

I have significant personal experience with this organization. I know, for a fact, that regardless of awards – their financials, staffing situations, and outcomes are all struggling because of internal character issues. Primarily on the part of senior leaders.

Anecdotal evidence aside, an actual look at organizations and leaders will consistently demonstrate this. All other things being equal, organizations with character will perform better over the long run.

Why Is Corruption or Abuse of Power Tolerated?

I’ve worked in workplaces where sexual harassment and other kinds of abuses of power were common. In terms of sexual harassment, I’ve experienced it myself. Two times from women in positions of authority or seniority. Once from a man.

I’ve experienced many other cases of abuse of power as well.

In nearly all of these cases, people stayed silent.

The reasons weren’t far different from what happened with Harvey Weinstein or the others:

• The people who have the power to help – are the people misusing their power.
• Others are complicit. They know what is going on but feel they have something to lose and nothing to gain by speaking up on behalf of others.
• Everyone else acts like it is normal – so it’s easy to think it should be related to as normal. The abuser is enabled.
• The abuses of power are often slippery. They aren’t always easy to identify or point out what exactly happened.
• Many abusers are skilled manipulators, reframing their behaviors as understandable or excusable or at least deserving of being overlooked. They often target people less likely to speak up.
• The fear of loss or retribution is greater than the belief in justice.
• There may be shame. Someone feels shame at what happened – or fear that something else they’ve done will be exposed if they come forward.

Whatever the reason is, the current outrage is outrageous in and of itself. There is nothing being “revealed” in the news (apart from specific names) that people haven’t known and accepted as normal.

Why Is This So Prevalent?

Lord Acton, a 19th-century author and Cambridge professor penned the famous thought, “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men…”

I understand the observation, but I don’t agree with his conclusion or his understanding of cause and effect.

Instead, I’m inclined to agree George Bernard Shaw’s statement, “Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.”

That’s the problem: Power, like a drug, reduces social inhibitions. It amplifies existent character. Dr. Jekyll is set aside. Mr. Hyde feels free to do as he wills.

If you have power, particularly if you’ve internalized power as part of your self-image, you are naturally less inhibited.

When we are less inhibited, our true character is more likely to show. In fact, it is likely to be magnified or amplified.

Power, like money, is an amplifier. If you have good character, power will amplify that. If you have poor character, power will amplify that.

Our struggle isn’t with power. It is with ourselves.

The Real Question

Is it safe to let what is in us – out?

As leaders, do we actively cultivate our character?

What do we do when we start to see ourselves acting out –not necessarily sexually.

Perhaps we act out with impatience, anger, self-protection, vengeance, greed or any of the other very real base motivations that rattle around in each of us.

What Is Character?

So, what is character? What does it mean to be a person or leader of character? What does it mean to build an organization of character?

My belief is that leadership character is principally reflected in my answers to the question: “How do I treat others? Particularly those with less influence or power than myself?”

This is a rewording of the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.

Consider these four areas of application:

• How do I protect, increase or at least not damage the dignity or worth of others? How do I act so that at a minimum, I’m not robbing others of their dignity? Ideally, can I help them step into living a life with a greater sense of personal worth and value?
• How do I provide, advance or at least not threaten the sense of safety or security of others? Leaders have power. Employers have power. How do we use that so that others have room to live at peace? Even when we need to confront poor behavior or need to make hard & painful decisions – do we do this in a way to protect others as much as possible? (I’m not referring to preventing people from experiencing natural consequences of poor decisions. However, in those situations, a leader of character will attempt to coach, grow or encourage the person in question.)
• How do I support the growth of others or at least not inhibit it? The author and thinker Robert Greenleaf said it best: “The best test as a leader is: Do those served, grow as persons; do they become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become leaders?”
• How do I bring value to others? One of the great traps of leadership (and a great exposé of personal character) is the belief that, “I’ve made it to the top of the heap. Now everyone serves me, my vision, my desires!” Instead, the most significant leaders – in terms of producing the greatest amount of good – were focused on providing as much value as possible to those that they led. They saw their positions as vehicles of service. Not a throne from which to be served.

It’s my belief that as any leader answers the questions above (or even better – asks others to answer these questions about them) it will provide an accurate litmus test of character.

When considering this, remember character isn’t like carbon tax credits or the buying of indulgences. I can’t do five good things to allow myself to get away with four bad things.

There isn’t a scale. It’s a consistency of preference or an alignment of my life and my actions.

The Challenge

When I teach leadership, I often conduct an exercise with a room. I ask, “What is one word that describes a leader?”

I’ve conducted this exercise in multiple cultures and countries. The answers are always similar:

• Caring
• Takes charge
• Direction
• Mentor
• Helps
• Vision
• Solves problems

And so on.

Then I ask, “How many of these words seem positive? Neutral? Negative?”

In nearly all cases, the words are either positive or neutral.

Then I ask, “Have you ever had a leader who didn’t demonstrate these words?”

The room will always start to laugh, shift around physically, or begin to make comments. Everyone has experienced a leader who not only didn’t demonstrate the positive words – but also lived out negative ones.

My observation: At a gut level, people viscerally want leaders who can be trusted and relied on to look out for the interests of others.

That’s why learning to live this way is so critical. It matches up with what people intrinsically believe is right. When we do this, they naturally start to follow. Leadership becomes easy.

My last set of questions on that topic is, “How many of you consistently live out this list of words in your leadership role?” “Are you happy with your answer?”

“What are you willing to do to grow?”

This is my last question for you as well.

Take good care,

Christian

P.S. Would you like to talk to me, one-on-one, about how you can rapidly develop ideal leadership behaviors or habits? Or perhaps you’d like to increase your ability accomplish your priorities, decrease your unwanted workload, boost your profits or do more of what you love?

95% of my clients report positive results within the first 90 days of working together. Actually, they don’t report the positive results. The reports come from the people who they lead, colleagues and supervisors. It’s real change.

Additionally, they report adding between $120K and $1M in new, annual revenue or savings, usually within 12 months.  Contact me to learn more: christian@vantageconsulting.org or 907 522-7200.