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Arguing that an individual's character--particularly as constituted by ten particular virtues--is the core factor in determining leadership ability, this book offers a fresh perspective on a subject which has spawned hundreds of books claiming to share the secret ingredients of a leader's success. Here, exemplars as varied as Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Steve Jobs, and Oprah Winfrey provide the evidence for ten core leadership virtues that combined to make them figures of inspiration and influence.
The authors bring their decades of scholarship in business, ethics, philosophy, and leadership to bear on a topic which could scarcely be more timely and resonant. They show how leadership is a
lived process that involves more than facts and theories, and that missing key characteristics lends itself all too easily to the conduct of 'misleadership'. Time, place, issues, and circumstances may shape the outcomes of those aspiring to govern the actions of their fellows, but true leadership flows from an individual's character, ethical principles, and desire to be of service to others.
List of contents
About the Authors x
Prologue xi
Part I Character Leadership 1 1 What Is Leadership? 3
A Reflection 4
Ethics, Virtue, and Character 9
2 Misleadership 13
What Is Bad Leadership? 14
Misleaders 15
Bad Followers 17
A Few Examples 18
3 Character and Leadership 22
Character and Integrity 24
The Dark Side of Character 28
Character as Goodwill 35
4 Leadership and Business Excellence 38
Ethics in Business 39
Workplace Ethics 41
Leaders as Role Models 42
A Culture of Narcissism 44
5 The Ten Virtues 47
Deep Honesty 51
Moral Courage 53
Moral Vision 54
Compassion and Care 55
Fairness 58
Intellectual Excellence 60
Creative Thinking 62
Aesthetic Sensitivity 63
Good Timing 64
Deep Selfl essness 65
Part II Leadership in Action 71 6 James Burke and the Tylenol Poisoning Episodes: Deep Honesty 73
Burke's Rise to Leadership 74
Response to Crisis 75
A Further Challenge 78
7 Abraham Lincoln/Rosa Parks: Moral Courage 81
Courage: Physical and Moral 82
Team of Rivals 84
An Important Bus Ride 86
Shared Convictions 87
8 Winston Churchill: Moral Judgment and Moral Vision 90
Churchill versus Halifax 91
The War Cabinet Meets 94
Churchill's Judgment 99
The Hinge of Fate 103
9 Oprah Winfrey: Compassion and Care 106
Star Status and More 107
Her Fan Base 109
The Book Club 111
Leadership Is a Relationship 113
10 Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Sicilian Slapping Incidents: Fairness 117
The Slapping Incidents 118
The Challenges Ike Faced 120
Ike's Response 122
11 FDR and the A-Bomb: Intellectual Excellence 127
The Scientifi c Background 128
Roosevelt's Preparation for Leadership 129
Hitler's Ascent to Leadership 133
The A-Bomb Decision: The United States 136
The A-Bomb Decision: Germany 139
12 Herb Kelleher and the People of Southwest Airlines:
Creative Thinking 145
Southwest's Start 146
Southwest's Service Innovations 147
Southwest and Its People 150
13 Steve Jobs and Apple: Aesthetic Sensitivity 158
Beginnings 158
The Macintosh 160
The Whole Widget 162
Learning from Failure 164
Apple Reborn 167
The Centrality of Design 170
14 Charles de Gaulle and Exiting Algeria: Good Timing 173
Youth and the First World War 174
Up to the Battle of France 175
Postwar Retreat amidst Political and Military Turmoil 177
Taking Command 179
Aftermath 183
15 Martin Luther King, Jr.: Deep Selflessness 185
His Calling 187
His Gift 189
His Legacy 193
16 Conclusion 195
Index 203
About the author
Al Gini is a Professor of Business Ethics and Chair of the Department of Management in the School of Business Administration at Loyola University Chicago. He is also the cofounder and long time Associate Editor of Business Ethics Quarterly, the journal of the Society for Business Ethics. For over twenty-three years he has been the Resident Philosopher on National Public Radio's Chicago affiliate, WBEZ-FM, and he regularly lectures to community and professional organizations on issues of business and ethics. His books include: My Job My Self: Work and the Creation of the Modern Individual (Routledge, 2000); The Importance of Being Lazy: In Praise of Play, Leisure and Vacations (Routledge, 2003); Why It's Hard to Be Good (Routledge, 2006); and, most recently, he helped to edit and wrote the prologues for The Seven Deadly Sins Sampler (The Great Books Foundation, 2007) and Even Deadlier: A Sequel (The Great Books Foundation, 2009).
Summary
What makes a good leader? Ten leaders, ten key virtues This readable distillation of the core common features of successful leaders shows how an individual's character, and especially their virtue, is the defining factor. Without these ten vital virtues, leadership becomes "misleadership.
