The Essence of Leadership
10 character virtues of a good leader. How do you measure up?
By Gerard Seijts, Jeffrey Gandz, Mary Crossan and Mark Reno

In assessing leaders at any level in an organization, we must always ask three questions. First, do they have the competencies to be a leader? Second, do they have the commitment to be a leader? Are leaders prepared to do the hard work of leadership, engage with others in fulfilling the organizational mission, achieve the vision and deliver on the goals? And third, do they have the character to be a good leader and strive to be an even better one? Do they have the values, traits and virtues that others – shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, regulators and the broader society within which they operate – will use to determine if they are good leaders?

Read the article as seen in Developing Leaders Issue 10:2013, by clicking here.

Mary Crossan is Professor of Strategic Management and the Taylor/Mingay Chair in Business Policy at the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario.
Jeffrey Gandz is Professor, Managing Director – Program Design, Executive Development, Richard Ivey School of Business.
Mark Reno is a lecturer in General Management at Richard Ivey School of Business. His research interests are in the area of leadership integrity.
Gerard Seijts is Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and holder of the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Chair in Leadership at the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario. He is also the executive director of the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership.