The Power of Character in Leadership by Myles Munroe [Summary] 

Main Summary: Myles Munroe’s The Power of Character in Leadership explores why character, not talent or power, is the foundation of true leadership. It shows how beliefs, values, and principles shape leaders, how character is tested and developed, and how restoring character can transform families, organizations, and nations.

Lessons You’ll Learn From This Book 

● Character Matters
● Leaders of Conviction
● How Character Develops
● How Character Develops
● How Character Develops
● The Role of Values in Corporate Life
● The Origin of Our Moral Conscience
● The Power of Principles
● Key Concepts of Character
● Tempting Your Character
● Core Qualities of Principled Leaders
● Integrating Vision and Values

Also read Making Good Habits  Breaking Bad Habits by Joyce Meyer Pt1  [Summary] 

The most valuable component of leadership is not power, position, influence, notoriety, fame, talent, gifting, dynamic oratory, persuasiveness, intellectual superiority, academic achievement, or management skills. It is character.

Character Matters

● Character matters more than power, position, influence, fame, talent, or management skill.
● A good name is better than silver or gold, and fallen leaders often lose what they built because they lacked integrity.
● Many leaders start strong and then self-destruct when their moral compass fails.
● The greatest obstacle to lasting leadership success is a deficit of character.
● Character means the mental and ethical traits that mark and individualize a person, group, or nation.
● Leadership training often focuses on mechanics like vision and management but neglects character formation.
● Moral deficits cause lost promotions, lost jobs, lost savings, betrayed families, surrendered dreams, and prison time.
● Good character works like a personal security system that protects a leader from external pressures and internal weaknesses.
● Leadership is not just a role one plays; it is a life one leads.
● Character is easier to keep than to recover, and lost trust is very hard to win back.
● Leaders must summon courage to identify and root out weaknesses before they grow.
● Purpose, potential, and principles form a trinity of leadership success, but principles protect the other two.
● Character protects a leader’s inner life, cause, legacy, and the people around him.
● Talent, skill, knowledge, and charisma can never substitute for character.
● Character matters to the leader and to the world because it safeguards trust, communities, and future generations.

Leadership is not about controlling others—it is about serving them.

Leaders of Conviction

● The author compares leadership to a bird’s natural flight rather than a plane’s mechanical flight.
● He says genuine leadership cannot be separated from the leader’s essence as a person.
● He describes leadership development as a process moving from purpose to conviction, vision, passion, inspiration, influence, and leadership.
● A leader first discovers his inherent purpose and the unique gift he was born to serve.
● That discovery produces conviction, which becomes a deep commitment to a worthy life assignment.
● Conviction also includes foundational beliefs that guide conduct and shape character.
● A true leader develops a clear vision of a preferred future that makes his purpose practical.
● Vision gives the leader passion, which is a desire stronger than death.
● Passion inspires others and moves them to join the leader’s cause voluntarily.
● True leaders inspire people rather than manipulate, intimidate, or clone them.
● True leaders help others discover and fulfill their own personal visions within a larger corporate vision.
● Leaders influence followers’ mindsets, attitudes, morality, commitment, and destiny.
● History shows both positive and destructive examples of leadership influence.
● People must evaluate leaders by their convictions and character, not by charisma, power, or titles.
● Blind leaders and blind followers fall together, so followers must know where a leader is taking them.
● Conviction and character distinguish true leaders from people who merely hold titles and positions.
● Leadership is not about gaining followers, manipulating people, having power over people, or controlling others.
● Leadership is about pursuing purpose, inspiring people, empowering people, serving others, and becoming a person of noble aspirations.

Also read 21 Qualities of Leaders in the Bible by John C. Maxwell [Summary] Pt1 

If you want to know the true character of a person, give him one or all of the following: power, position, or money.

How Character Develops: What We Believe

● The author says leaders lead out of their beliefs.
● Character development follows a progression from beliefs to convictions, values, morals, principles, conduct, discipline, ethics, character, and lifestyle.
● Beliefs sit at the foundation of the entire character process.
● Many leaders suffer from deficient philosophical training about who they are and why they exist.
● Culture often feeds people flawed philosophies that shape their thinking and leadership.
● A leader who believes “it’s everyone for himself” will neglect, mistreat, or abuse followers.
● True leaders place the highest value on human dignity and the worth of all people.
● A leader’s personal beliefs eventually appear in his public policy and treatment of others.
● Solomon’s proverb says, “As a person thinks in his heart, so is he.”
● The author interprets the “heart” as the subconscious mind, where beliefs are stored.
● Most people live according to ideas buried in their subconscious mind.
● What a person genuinely believes directs his life and leadership more than what he says.
● Established beliefs give rise to convictions, and character is measured by the depth of those convictions.
● Weak beliefs produce inconsistent standards and vacillating ethics.
● Traditional leadership concepts come from Greco-Roman philosophy and still influence the world today.
● The “Birth Trait” theory claims leaders are born with special traits and most people are destined to follow.
● The “Chosen by the Gods” theory reserves leadership for a favored elite and supports class systems.
● The “Charismatic Personality” theory assumes only charming, gifted, extroverted people can lead.
● The “External Factors” theory says circumstances or leadership training alone make a leader.
● Greco-Roman ideas spread through the Roman Empire and later through European colonies.
● These ideas produced an assumed superiority of leaders over followers.
● Many leaders subconsciously feel superior once they receive a title or position.
● The “Black Crab Syndrome” describes oppressed people pulling down others who try to rise.
● Leadership training often overemphasizes power, position, titles, skills, gifts, talents, education, knowledge, and personality.
● These external qualities do not define a true leader and cannot replace character.
● Natural attributes and acquired skills have not prevented many leaders from failing through greed, indiscretion, or hubris.
● What people believe about leadership determines whether they build honorable character or destructive character flaws.

Talent without character is like a shooting star. It shines brightly for a moment but then is gone.

How Character Develops: What We Value

● The character a person develops is determined by his beliefs and the focus of his convictions.
● Those beliefs and convictions express themselves through his values.
● Many people today are confused about values because values are shifting in their nations and communities.
● Some value changes are beneficial, but others damage ethical standards and society.
● Many people do not stop to consider what they truly believe or value.
● They often live by the opinions of family, friends, coworkers, and celebrities instead of their own convictions.
● Everyone begins life guided by others, but maturity requires making personal decisions about beliefs and values.
● Trusted counsel is wise, but a person must still establish his own belief system and values.
● Values are ideas, principles, and qualities on which a person places high worth.
● Values are also standards or ideals that determine conduct and policy.
● Values grow out of a personal or corporate philosophy.
● Values are more important than rules because strong values create internal self-government.
● Values can build others up or tear them down.
● Values are personal but never private because they always affect other people.
● Values outlive goals because goals are temporary while values are timeless.
● Values send a message about what a person truly stands for.
● Values attract similar values and shape key associations.
● Values shape corporate entities and create corporate culture.
● Values manifest in corporate and public life through treatment of others.
● Values function when a person identifies, believes, receives, lives out, and shares them.
● Values must motivate and regulate conduct and policies.
● Leadership is not about comfort but about discomfort with injustice and complacency.
● A major false value is valuing talent over character.
● Talent is a person’s gifts and abilities, but character is his submission to principles that protect those gifts.
● People often overlook character flaws when dazzled by talent, glamour, or fame.
● Talent without character is unstable and unreliable, like a shooting star.
● Character is consistent and reliable, like the sun.
● Another false value is valuing reputation over character.
● Reputation is what others think, but character is the truth about a person.
● Leaders should protect character rather than reputation.
● A third false value is valuing position over character.
● Position, rank, or status does not equal genuine leadership.
● Leaders should develop a strong disposition and inner life rather than chase titles.
● Many people choose leaders based on experience, knowledge, popularity, or appearance instead of character.
● Leaders must live with integrity, keep their convictions, and remember that people trust them.

Also read Maximizing Your Potential by Myles Munroe [Summary] 

The greatest enemy of progress is your last success.

How Character Develops: What We Serve

● Character development moves from values to moral standards, or principles.
● Moral standards describe a person’s beliefs about right and wrong behavior.
● Principles are fundamental laws, doctrines, or assumptions that guide life.
● True leaders esteem time-honored moral standards and do not treat them lightly.
● Leaders of character live by standards, not by expediency.
● Political correctness often becomes a modern form of expediency that compromises values.
● Moral standards come from within the heart, or subconscious mind.
● Immoral actions begin in the heart before they appear in behavior.
● People often rehearse lies, theft, adultery, and other unethical acts before committing them.
● Moral standards are personal decisions, not just good ideas.
● Whatever a person truly believes, he will serve.
● A leader must decide beforehand what he will serve, or impulses and opinions will control him.
● Leaders can fall into a double standard by expecting others to follow principles they ignore.
● Moral leadership does not always require many words because character carries its own atmosphere.
● Written moral standards help a leader translate values into faithful conduct.
● Discipline begins in the mind and requires setting priorities and making choices.
● Self-imposed parameters protect a leader from wasting time, money, and energy on secondary pursuits.
● Personal discipline trains a leader to remain aligned with his convictions.
● A code of ethics synthesizes beliefs, convictions, values, moral standards, priorities, and discipline.
● Character controls lifestyle, so a person’s character becomes his life.
● Leaders must identify and correct character flaws instead of letting them magnify.
● Power, position, and wealth often reveal character defects that were hidden before.
● King David showed conviction by sparing Saul, but later he committed adultery and murder after gaining power.
● Character defects are like sleeping snakes that awaken when a leader receives power and success.
● Success is one of the greatest tests of character because many people cannot handle it.
● A committed code of ethics protects a leader by eliminating sleeping snakes.
● A leader is never finished growing and must not be impressed by past accomplishments.
● The greatest enemy of progress is a person’s last success.
● Leaders must hold fast to principles so their leadership is not cut short by moral failure.
● Success is part of leadership, but character must carry it.

An organization’s core values are the guiding principles by which it is committed to achieving its vision.

The Role of Values in Corporate Life

● The author used Nigeria’s electricity crisis to show how leaders without values can hold a nation back.
● He explains that politicians allegedly blocked a national grid because they owned generator companies and fuel businesses.
● He says that when leaders catch a vision of character, they change their values and conduct.
● Their values then become their policies.
● A leader’s personal values and moral principles influence everyone who participates in a corporate effort.
● The author uses “corporate” to mean any joint effort, including families, churches, businesses, communities, governments, and nations.
● Leaders set the tone for followers by shaping vision, culture, policy, direction, security, prosperity, standards, and change.
● Leaders are also members of other corporate entities whose values influence them.
● Every corporate body has a character that can be positive or negative depending on its values.
● If a leader leads a group long enough, his character eventually permeates the community.
● Leaders must be intentional about establishing positive corporate values.
● Values are the foundation of a corporate entity.
● Core ethical values become moral standards and disciplines for the group.
● A group’s values are the source of its character and its center of control.
● Solid corporate values minimize corruption, while unprincipled corporate entities allow corruption to spread.
● The Red Cross shows strong values by providing compassionate care to people in need worldwide.
● Companies also express values through specific ideas and focuses.
● Rolls-Royce values craftsmanship and the driving experience, so it builds cars by hand.
● American car companies once valued speed and cost over quality, while Japanese companies valued quality and reliability.
● Corporate values must promote positive values for the group to function well.
● Societies must support values like cooperation, honesty, and trust, or they will decline.
● Consumers trust bottled water companies, banks, and car dealers because they rely on shared values.
● Governments create agencies like the FDA and FDIC to protect public trust and safety.
● Business agreements depend on mutual trust between employers, employees, buyers, and sellers.
● The author lists destructive ways of living, including wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, and politics without principles.
● He adds an eighth destructive way: action without accountability.
● A breakdown of ethics becomes a perpetual problem when unethical leaders shape the culture and produce new unethical leaders.
● People often expect leaders to become moral after election, but leaders usually reflect the culture that produced them.
● Character development must begin with individual leaders and spread at the grassroots level.
● Values are integral to national and social development.
● Nations must decide which values they will monitor, protect, and maintain.
● Corporate values may be unspoken yet recognized, such as courtesy on public transportation or trust in a dry cleaner.
● Core values must be communicated clearly to members.
● The FDIC models clear corporate values through integrity, competence, teamwork, effectiveness, accountability, and fairness.
● Core values require total corporate commitment.
● Core values must become the personal values of individual members.
● If members do not align with corporate values, they become detached, and their contribution diminishes.
● When people join a group, they may need to adjust their values to align with the organization’s values.
● Leaders and followers alike must commit to corporate values.
● Leaders are not above the community’s values and must not say, “Do what I say, not what I do.”
● When shared core values break down, members may function by unspoken negative values.
● Negative values include phrases like “Don’t contradict the boss,” “Don’t rock the boat,” and “Win at all costs.”
● Negative values develop when members become frustrated by flawed policies, lack of cooperation, or selfish motives.
● Leaders must discover why negative values developed and help members recommit to stated core values.
● Members must also assess whether they have accepted negative values.
● Corporate leaders must create environments where people discover and exercise their gifts.
● Leaders must build diverse, unified teams where strengths complement weaknesses.
● Leaders must promote and demonstrate strong values, morals, and ethics as operational standards.
● Good leaders do not only employ others; they deploy them.
● The commission of a leader of character is to communicate and demonstrate corporate values.

Leadership is not measured by how many people serve you. It’s measured by whether you are serving others.

The Origin of Our Moral Conscience

● A house is only as valuable as its foundation, and a foundation is only as strong as what it is built upon.
● Character needs a bedrock that will hold it secure when storms and quakes come.
● The conscience is a permanent internal guide that gives moral direction.
● The conscience is the sense of moral goodness or blameworthiness of one’s conduct, intentions, or character.
● A principled leader is led by his conscience and makes declarations based on it.
● Only when beliefs align with conscience can they become strong convictions.
● The conscience is not the same as emotions because it deals with moral certainty, not feelings.
● A principled leader does not let the crowd’s opinions override his conscience.
● Many leaders today ignore their conscience and follow self-centered considerations instead.
● Leadership training often neglects the conscience, so many people have an underactive conscience.
● A leader who ignores his conscience can develop a seared conscience that no longer responds to moral truth.
● Adolf Hitler is an example of someone who ignored his conscience and followed a contaminated philosophy.
● The moral conscience is like a compass with a “true north” that evaluates and confirms accuracy.
● The author identifies “true north” as God, who gave humans the conscience as part of His divine nature.
● Many people no longer understand God or have purposely set aside that understanding.
● Martin Luther King Jr. said Americans had “unconsciously left God behind.”
● A knowledge of God and His nature is the only rock on which character can be secured.
● God gave humans the conscience as a moral compass and also gave principles as additional safeguards.
● Principles are comprehensive and fundamental laws, doctrines, or assumptions.
● Biblical principles are time-tested, stable, and civically sound.
● Spiritual bedrock anchors character so leaders remain strong when storms and quakes come.
● Humans are made in the image and likeness of God, designed to represent His character.
● The Hebrew word for “image” means essential nature, and “likeness” means the original after which a thing is patterned.
● Character is the Creator’s intrinsic nature, and He does not change.
● God is always predictable because His nature is constant.
● God is always trustworthy, just, loving, and compassionate.
● Character preceded the gift of leadership because God gave His image before He gave dominion.
● God did not entrust humans with power until He gave them character.
● Leadership is natural to humans because they were designed to rule and influence the earth according to God’s character.
● Leadership is a cooperative endeavor, and God created a community of leaders, not a few elite rulers.
● Leadership does not mean dominating other people because humans were meant to rule over the earth, not each other.
● Humans must develop an environment of character both internally and externally.
● An ethical culture begins with individuals’ personal commitment to live by strong values.
● Human beings lost character when the first man and woman doubted God’s justice and broke a key principle.
● That decision warped human character and brought strife, sickness, and physical death.
● Sin is humanity’s rejection of the Creator’s principles, and it caused human nature to be “fallen.”
● The loss of true character produced a distortion of God’s image in humanity.
● Fallen human traits include inconsistency, unpredictability, unfaithfulness, compromise, injustice, prejudice, untrustworthiness, domination, vindictiveness, unforgiveness, and cruelty.
● Humans also became confused about self-image and self-worth after rejecting God’s image.
● Without character, humans became unstable and often fail to keep promises.
● A person of character gives a glimpse of what all human beings used to be like and what most desire to be like.
● God initiated a plan to restore humanity through Jesus of Nazareth, also called Jesus the Christ.
● Jesus came to give humans back their character and restore the Creator’s nature within them.
● When people accept what Jesus did, they are restored to God and receive His nature again.
● The kingdom of God is the influence of heaven on earth and the restoration of God’s culture.
● Jesus taught that leaders in God’s kingdom must be servants, not lords over people.
● Leadership is not measured by how many people serve you but by whether you are serving other people.
● The kingdom of God clashes with fallen human cultures and their false patterns of leadership.
● Leaders must remain steady and dedicated to values, principles, and ethics even when cultures clash.
● Cultures will be transformed as leaders follow their moral conscience and manifest God’s nature.

The key to living effectively on this earth is to know, accept, and apply the Manufacturer’s principles.

The Power of Principles

● A manufacturer publishes a user’s manual with principles showing how a product functions, operates, and lasts.
● God gave human beings a “Corporate User’s Manual” in the Bible with principles for life and leadership.
● The key to living effectively is to know, accept, and apply the Manufacturer’s principles.
● Comprehending principles gives wisdom, and following them makes leaders of character.
● The Manufacturer, not the product, sets the principles by which the product functions.
● Human beings did not create themselves, so they cannot define the principles by which they operate.
● God’s principles are specific to human purpose and uphold moral nature in His image.
● Principles are “first laws” that pertain to both the physical and moral realms.
● Physical laws like gravity govern the natural world, and moral laws govern ethical conduct.
● Principles are permanent and unchanging, and resisting them does not alter them.
● People can defy gravity by jumping off a building, but the law still pulls them down.
● Moral principles work the same way because fixed laws apply to everyone.
● Principles safeguard people from substitutes invented by other “products.”
● Many leaders today advance their own principles about what is morally acceptable.
● Nations decline when influential people lead by philosophies based on other “manuals.”
● New principles are not recognized by the Manufacturer and will not lead to lasting success.
● Trying to add “new” principles is like overpacking a suitcase until the seams pull apart.
● Shifting morals may look like progress, but they cannot cancel first laws.
● Putting orange juice in a car tank does not change how an internal combustion engine works.
● The psalmist says God laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.
● First laws are not optional, not open for discussion, and not stagnant.
● First laws apply to all people, in all eras, and they are life-giving.
● King David wrote that nations conspire and rulers plot in vain against the Lord.
● God laughs at these plots because His principles are already set.
● No government leader or legislative body can supplant God’s authority.
● People who invent contrary laws will not live in harmony with themselves, others, or their Creator.
● Following God’s established standards is the only way humans can live productively and peacefully.
● Principles simplify life and decision-making because they show how to respond in ethical situations.
● The psalmist walked in freedom because he sought out God’s precepts.
● Observing foundational principles enables people to walk with new confidence.
● The psalmist had more insight than his teachers and more understanding than the elders because he obeyed God’s precepts.
● Studying the Creator’s principles makes a person wiser than many leaders today.
● Most problems in companies involve violations of first laws about ethics, relationships, and financial practices.
● If you understand principles, solutions to many concerns become second nature.
● Knowing first laws tells you exactly what to do and what not to do.
● Proverbs uses the ant to teach the perils of laziness and the rewards of working to provide for your needs.
● Jesus taught people to address their own shortcomings before correcting others’ faults.
● Violating the Creator’s principles prevents people from reaching their full potential.
● Following God’s laws enables people to fulfill their destiny.
● Obedience simply means following proven principles.
● Seeds must be planted in soil to grow, just as people must adhere to moral principles to fulfill their potential.
● Applying a principle requires knowing it, valuing it, and acting on it.
● Without first laws, life becomes an experiment with foundational elements of human life.
● Experimentation in moral matters is a dangerous practice.
● Experimentation leads to distrust and disillusionment between generations, citizens and politicians, parishioners and clergy, and students and teachers.
● Widespread distrust results in apathy, compromise, permissiveness, sexual confusion, devaluation of human life, and a culture of violence and death.
● Experimentation leads to lawlessness because values and standards are treated as relative.
● Relativism and license take over when moral references and parameters are rejected.
● The only way to solve lawlessness is to restore character.
● Principled leaders establish moral boundaries and set ethical “stakes.”
● Leaders who reject moral principles have led us into lawlessness.
● Leaders who understand and live by moral principles will lead us back to lawfulness.
● Governments cannot avoid legislating morality because all decisions have moral implications.
● All governmental policies and laws reflect the values and ethics of those who institute them.
● Moral principles can be promoted in any form of “government,” including families, civic groups, universities, and businesses.
● When leaders implement fabricated principles opposed to first laws, malfunctions occur.
● The Creator’s principles are like lighthouses that remain constant and guide people to solid ground.
● The author grew up poor in the Bahamas, but discovering the Creator’s principles changed his life.
● Many of his classmates failed because they believed negative labels or violated moral principles.
● Whether a person consciously or unconsciously violates first laws, the result is decline and destruction.
● Most things in life are not killed; they die on their own.
● No matter what crime someone commits, it results from a denial of principles.
● If a leader does not know and implement first laws, the future of his organization is predictable.
● Corporate growth requires honesty, wise decisions, and people of integrity who value the corporate vision.
● Leaders of character do not live by transient movements or emotions but by solid principles.
● Recommitting to first laws is like rebooting a stalled computer to return to original mode.
● Studying and implementing the User’s Manual protects leaders from moral compromise and ethical missteps.
● Following principles enables leaders to say, “I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.”

We manifest character when self-sacrifice for the sake of our principles becomes more important to us than compromise for the sake of popularity.

Key Concepts of Character

● Fictional stories contain a “character arc” where the hero transforms through challenges.
● Real life contains many character arcs because character development is ongoing.
● The English word character comes from a Latin word meaning “mark” or “distinctive quality.”
● Character is what marks, defines, and identifies a person.
● Genuine character is fixed, predictable, and stable.
● Character is fixed, or set, meaning a leader of character has no “price” for compromise.
● His principles are his life, so he cannot be bought.
● The fixed nature of character is like letters of the alphabet, numbers, and physical laws.
● Cement is malleable when wet but becomes unchangeable when set.
● A person with character is “set” and cannot be changed from his convictions.
● If someone offers cash to look the other way and you refuse, your character is solid and secure.
● Personal discipline says, “I cannot do this. It’s against my convictions.”
● Character is predictable, meaning consistently responsible and trustworthy.
● God is predictable because He is not one thing one day and another the next.
● A principled leader is so predictable that his character speaks for him in his absence.
● People know him well enough to accurately predict what he would or would not do.
● Character is stable, and instability is a consequence of humanity’s loss of true character.
● James said a double-minded man is unstable in everything he does.
● Character defects in one area inevitably produce flaws in other areas.
● Jesus said the kingdom of God is like yeast that works through all the dough.
● Character must work its way through every part of a person.
● A principled leader does not change his values no matter the external circumstances.
● A true leader takes criticism and mistreatment and still retains his character.
● Jesus perfectly reflected the Creator’s nature even while dying on the cross.
● Character means having a commitment to a set of values without compromise.
● Leaders of principle do not relinquish values under pressure.
● Moral compromise is different from conceding an opinion.
● Many leaders accept popularity as their price for moral compromise.
● When you look back on your life, you will remember what you stood for.
● Character means being dedicated to a set of standards without wavering.
● A principled leader sets his own moral standards and does not violate them for anyone.
● Joseph was sold as a slave by his brothers but kept his moral standards.
● Joseph refused Potiphar’s wife and said he could not sin against God.
● Every time Joseph kept to his convictions, it strengthened his character further.
● Character means making a continual effort to integrate thoughts, words, and actions.
● Integrity and integrate come from the Latin word integer, meaning “whole” and “entire.”
● A leader with integrity can declare, “What I say, what I do, and who I am are the same.”
● There is no “break” from character in life because character requires daily maintenance.
● Integrity means having one face, not two or more.
● A person with integrity is the same in private and in public.
● The Greek word hypokrites, from which we get “hypocrite,” referred to actors wearing masks.
● Jesus called religious leaders hypocrites because they wore masks and lacked true character.
● Character means making sacrifices in support of your principles.
● Mahatma Gandhi went on hunger strikes and sacrificed for his vision.
● Character means imposing self-discipline in keeping with your values and moral standards.
● Character is manifested when values are tested, when we persevere under pressure, and when self-sacrifice becomes more important than compromise for popularity.
● Munroe shares an example of a preacher who divorced his wife and later married a third wife.
● The preacher was a “character” instead of having character.
● Each person must take responsibility for the crisis of character in the world.
● Winston Churchill said, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”

The distinguishing mark of a leader is character. The distinguishing mark of character is trustworthiness. Trustworthiness is a product of stability established through tests over time.

Tempting Your Character

● The author toured Israel and saw ancient Roman artifacts, including a smelting pot, pieces of metal, a broken sword, a broken dagger, and an intact sword.
● A guide explained that Roman swords were powerful because they had been properly tempered.
● A Roman blacksmith beat iron ore on an anvil to make it flat and even.
● The blacksmith put the metal in a furnace and looked for dark spots that indicated weakness.
● He hammered every weak spot until he could no longer see it.
● He thrust the glowing metal into very cold water to strengthen it.
● He repeated the process of fire, hammering, and cold water until no more spots remained.
● The blacksmith engraved his own name or mark on every sword he finished.
● A blacksmith who worked for the Roman army could be put to death if any of his swords broke.
● Soldiers trusted their swords because they knew the swords had gone through the tempering process.
● The verb temper means to make stronger and more resilient through hardship.
● The author compares the tempering of swords to the process of being tempted.
● Being tempted is not the same as succumbing to temptation.
● Temptation reveals what is genuine in character and what is false.
● Refining gold in fire burns away everything that is not pure gold.
● Every day of life tests character, and these tests strengthen rather than defeat.
● Testing and tempering check for weaknesses more than strengths.
● Every person has weak areas in character.
● To be tempted is to be assessed for moral weaknesses, or “spots,” so they can be removed.
● As character is strengthened, a leader proves his trustworthiness to lead others.
● Paul wrote that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope.
● The Greek word for character in that passage indicates the process or result of trial, proving, and approval.
● Sufferings can be equated to tests and challenges.
● To persevere means to bear up under pressure and remain consistent and stable.
● Every temptation is an opportunity to strengthen weak areas of life.
● Discipline seems painful at the time, but it later produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.
● Difficulties expose weaknesses so people can acknowledge them and apply the right ethical principle.
● Character building involves self-evaluation, just as the blacksmith searched for weak spots.
● A leader should assess himself according to the moral principles he has committed to follow.
● A leader should eliminate every character flaw he finds and then search for another.
● Character cannot develop without a personal commitment to convictions and moral standards.
● A leader must state his convictions and standards to himself, his family, his colleagues, his constituents, and his community.
● Declarations such as “I will” or “I will not” reinforce convictions and encourage personal discipline.
● When a leader commits to a moral standard, life tests him to prove that he believes it.
● Peter claimed he was ready to go to prison and to death with Jesus.
● Jesus knew Peter’s weakness and predicted that Peter would deny Him three times.
● Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail and told him to strengthen others after he came through the test.
● When people fail life’s tests, they must learn from them and recommit to their core beliefs.
● There can be no secret or private moral codes in a leader’s life.
● A leader may strengthen personal character privately for a season, but his convictions must eventually become public.
● All great leaders face opposition to their convictions.
● Character is forged in the public declaration of values and moral standards.
● Gandhi might have lived a safe life as a lawyer if he had never spoken publicly about human dignity and equality.
● A leader should identify ethical weaknesses and immediately begin to correct them.
● A woman committed to moral standards was tested the next day when an old boyfriend made her a tempting offer.
● No one else can keep a leader’s character for him, though others can encourage and challenge him.
● Allowing life to expose ethical flaws and rooting out weaknesses is an ongoing process.
● People are always in one stage or another of development: hot, cold, or getting hammered.
● The distinguishing mark of a leader is character.
● The distinguishing mark of character is trustworthiness.
● Trustworthiness is a product of stability established through tests over time.
● A leader becomes trustworthy by staying consistent through tests and trials over time.
● People trust a leader based on the tests he has come through, not merely by what he says.
● If a leader loses the trust of his followers, he has lost his followers.
● The ultimate pursuit of a leader should be character, not skill, power, or influence.
● Life tests people to see if they have developed responsibility, competence, loyalty, honesty, fairness, and goodwill.
● People do not know their true character until it has been tested.
● People do not know who they really are until they have been tempted to compromise.
● Character is tested in commitment, loyalty under pressure, dedication to values, faithfulness to right and just, and honesty and integrity.
● Character cannot mature unless it is tested and tempted.
● The tempering process is necessary for cultivating moral force.
● Satan is the enemy of humanity and tests people for weakness, including Jesus.
● God allows the tempter to test people as part of the tempering process.
● James wrote that each person is tempted when his own evil desire drags him away and entices him.
● Critics can be among a leader’s greatest assets because criticism puts character on trial.
● Satan does not tempt people in areas where they are strong.
● Satan tests people in areas where they are unstable or uncertain.
● Every time a person resists temptation in a weak area, he fortifies that area with character.
● A leader’s position and title do not exempt him from being honest.
● A leader may face pressure from friends or relatives who want contracts or favors.
● A leader must never compromise integrity to please another person.
● Leaders fail when they sacrifice their character on the altar of compromise.
● Jesus passed every test without compromising His integrity.
● Satan tried to make Jesus doubt His position and twisted a principle out of context.
● Jesus knew the Creator’s principles thoroughly and refuted the tempter’s deception.
● The three major types of temptation are the test of the appetites, the test of fame, and the test of power.
● Every fallen leader has been snared by at least one of those three temptations.
● The second temptation Jesus faced was essentially the offer of instant fame and success.
● The author says he believes in overnight success if the “night” lasts about twenty-five years.
● Principled leaders usually go through a long process of character building and perseverance.
● Many people who become successful overnight end up as instant failures soon afterward.
● Leaders should not jump from the pinnacle but take the long walk through testing.
● People observe leaders as they go through tests and trials.
● If leaders become ethically shaky, they lose the most important gift a leader has: the trust of followers.
● The currency of true leadership is trust.
● Trust is like an account that people make deposits into on a leader’s behalf based on his character.
● Without the currency of trust, a leader cannot function.
● Without trust, there is no leadership.
● A leader cannot lead people who do not trust him.
● The account of trust between a leader and his followers is sacred.
● A leader’s personal decisions should protect the confidence his followers have placed in him.
● Trust is earned and maintained by consistency through tests over time.
● People observe how a leader goes through challenges and trials to determine his true character.
● When people see a leader stay steady, they deposit trust into his leadership account.
● If a leader violates people’s faith in him, he cannot buy their trust back.
● Character is a moral force that convinces people a leader has earned the right to be heard and followed.
● Great leadership is not attained by pursuing greatness but by persevering through great tests.
● A leader’s character is defined by the tests he has endured.
● A leader may feel heat, hammering, and icy trouble during significant periods of life.
● Character is developed through pressure, demands, temptations, and resolve.
● The Creator sees a leader’s potential and the finished product even before others see it.
● The sculptor applied pressure with a chisel over weeks and months to reveal the statue.
● The developing statue would have called the process painful if it could feel and speak.
● Leaders sometimes experience sustained difficulty and feel as if everything is falling apart.
● At such times, beliefs, convictions, and values tell a leader to stay steady and hold on.
● Moral discipline tells a leader that he is still standing even when life hits him again.
● When big pieces drop from life, character says that those things were holding the leader back.
● Leaders are artistic projects of their Creator.
● The process of character development reveals who a leader really is and who he was always meant to be.
● Leaders were created to be strong, steady, and noble and to fulfill their purpose and vision with excellence.
● Some people have not reached their leadership goals because their character needs more development first.
● Some people want to be in the public eye too soon, before negative chunks of their lives fall away.
● The author says he has gone through more than four decades of being chiseled and having excess rock broken off.
● The ongoing process of chiseling has given Munroe stability and established him in life and leadership.
● Leaders should be grateful for the chiseling and hammering of trials and tribulations.
● Every stress, problem, and challenging circumstance can prepare a leader to fulfill his leadership vision.

A leader’s willingness to be accountable reflects his commitment to always be consistent in what he says, what he does, and who he is.

Core Qualities of Principled Leaders

● Good character is not formed quickly but is created little by little, day by day.
● Leaders must cultivate many attitudes and characteristics, but several core qualities are essential for character-based leadership.
● Strong convictions refer to a leader’s certainty that he has a unique purpose in life.
● Convictions also include a wholehearted personal commitment to a vision worth sacrificing for.
● An established belief system gives rise to convictions.
● To have convictions is to sense that there is something you must do while on this earth.
● Skills, methods, and styles of leadership mean little without real convictions that guide life.
● Accountability means answering to a higher authority for attitudes and actions.
● Accountability reflects a commitment to personal integrity.
● Leaders are accountable on three levels: to themselves, to other people, and to the Creator.
● Self-evaluation involves regularly examining conduct to assess if one is living according to moral principles.
● Written principles help leaders refer back to their beliefs, convictions, values, and ethical code.
● Evaluation by others means submitting attitudes and actions to a qualified individual or group.
● No one can see all his own weaknesses, so outside perspective is necessary.
● Accountability partners meet regularly to encourage and challenge each other.
● Accountability should be given only to someone of proven character who has your best interests at heart.
● A principled leader welcomes accountability and is not afraid of constructive criticism.
● Unprincipled leaders avoid evaluation and become “lone wolves.”
● Many leaders fall due to a lack of accountability.
● A leader should report not only to those over him but also to those under him.
● Ultimate accountability is to God, who observes everything a leader says and does.
● “Fear of the Lord” means reverence and respect, not being afraid of God.
● Joseph demonstrated reverence for God when interpreting Pharaoh’s dream.
● Joseph said, “I cannot do it, but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”
● A principled leader gives credit to God rather than taking it for himself.
● Humility comes from the Latin word humus, meaning “earth,” so it means being down-to-earth.
● Humility means expressing and manifesting your true self in accordance with your unique purpose.
● A leader manifests true humility only after accepting his significance as a person and as a leader.
● If a person tries to be humble, he has missed the true meaning of humility.
● Humility is manifested through servant leadership.
● Jesus said whoever wants to become great must serve other people.
● A principled leader has an attitude of service, not a spirit of ordering people around.
● Humble leaders have a healthy attitude toward areas where they still need to grow.
● Leaders who do not understand their inherent purpose and worth have difficulty being humble.
● Principled leaders have found a personal assignment and are busy pursuing it.
● Genuinely humble people are less controlled by other people’s opinions.
● Timidity is related to fear, while humility is related to peace.
● Fear of other people undermines character and hinders the fulfillment of vision.
● A person with confidence in his inherent worth does not fear authority.
● “Fear of man will prove to be a snare.”
● Integrity means incorruptibility.
● An incorruptible person cannot be enticed by desires or pressure to violate moral standards.
● Responsibleness means acting responsibly and eagerly accepting responsibility.
● One of the Creator’s first laws is that faithfulness over small tasks leads to greater ones.
● A principled leader loves responsibility and welcomes opportunities to be productive.
● Joseph worked diligently as Pharaoh’s second-in-command, preparing for famine.
● Joseph stored huge quantities of grain like the sand of the sea.
● Some people avoid work and responsibility but appear when exciting opportunities come.
● Responsibility is good training for leaders of character.
● Leaders who are eager to take on responsibility are useful and dependable.
● Discipline and sacrifice are core qualities of principled leaders.
● Leaders of principle govern themselves and exercise self-control without external discipline.
● They discipline each area of life to protect it from ethical lapses and prepare it for productivity.
● Sacrifice based on conviction leads to inspiration.
● Inspiration leads other people to join in fulfilling the leader’s vision.

Having character involves pursuing the fulfillment of your vision in a way that corresponds with ethical principles.

Integrating Vision and Values

● Character in contemporary culture has become like a forgotten treasure.
● Society has relegated values and moral standards to the attics and basements of culture.
● Many people do not realize what a treasure society has lost because it is out of their moral range of vision.
● Character can come back into view only when leaders clearly manifest it in their lives.
● Leaders must make the reintroduction and development of character their number one priority.
● Teachers, professors, and educational administrators must reprioritize their programs to teach character.
● Leaders in all fields must transform their conduct and rededicate themselves to high standards and noble values.
● The world needs a new breed of leader who embraces accountability to himself, his constituency, and the Creator.
● Leaders stand for something, which is vision, and they stand on something, which is values.
● Values are of higher importance than vision because they protect everything a leader pursues.
● If a leader does not actively commit to values, moral standards, principles, discipline, and an ethical code, all his endeavors will be weakened or nullified.
● Vision is an interpretation of values because it reflects and communicates them.
● A vision to help gang members become positive contributors shows that the leader values young people and community improvement.
● A home-based embroidery business shows that the owner values creativity, quality, enterprise, and financial stability.
● A leader’s vision can be used as a measure for assessing his principal values.
● Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
● Vision is protected by values because a vision is only as safe as the values that undergird it.
● There must be a marriage of purpose and principles.
● Vision may be compared to the head, and values to the heart.
● An ancient proverb says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
● The process is as important as the product when fulfilling a vision.
● The author once focused so hard on building the Diplomat Center that God told him, “You’re not leading the people. You are driving them.”
● Munroe had passion but no compassion, so he entered a season of solitude to regain balance.
● He publicly asked his people to forgive him for breaking the law of compassion.
● His confession changed the spirit of the organization, and people gave more money, time, and skills to the project.
● The author had stood for the vision but had not stood on the values needed to carry it out.
● Having character involves pursuing the fulfillment of your vision in a way that corresponds with ethical principles.
● Individual leaders and organizations should protect themselves against ethical breaches by setting strong values.
● An organization without established values lacks moral protection and is like a city without walls.
● Vision without values is a false attempt at reaching destiny without discipline.
● No matter how great a leader’s vision is, the process must be balanced by clear, strong values.
● Without discipline, a leader will short-circuit his destiny and be in danger of losing it completely.
● Dr. Richard Demeritte Jr. shared a time-honored value from his father: “When in doubt, do what’s right.”
● A leader of character should always live by that advice.
● Character gives leaders credibility because it is the only avenue for gaining respect and trust.
● When leaders demonstrate character, people make deposits in their trust account and advance them credit.
● If leaders remain consistent, people will keep following them.
● Character gives leaders moral force because character, not power, is the force of true leadership.
● A person with moral force does not need physical or emotional pressure to influence people.
● A dependable and stable leader becomes a true force in leadership.
● A leader’s presence brings peace when followers know they can rely on him.
● People are influenced when they are inspired, and inspiration comes from character.
● Character ensures that leaders maintain trustworthiness because trust is a privilege given by followers.
● Companies spend billions to protect their reputation after a product defect or malfunction.
● Leaders should be willing to pay the costs of self-control, discipline, and delayed gratification to protect their character.
● Character legitimizes leaders because it gives them a legitimate right to lead others.
● Leaders without character are “illegal” because they ask people to place faith in an untrustworthy source.
● Leaders without character who violate people’s faith take away trust, security, peace of mind, and hope.
● People become angry when leaders betray them because they have invested time, energy, talents, resources, and commitment.
● A church member feels personally betrayed when a pastor’s moral failure cancels the legitimacy of his leadership.
● People should shift their support from leaders’ promises to proven character.
● A leader should show people who he really is before asking for their trust.
● Character establishes integrity in leaders because integrity involves integrating thoughts, words, and actions over time.
● Leadership should not be given to people who have not yet been tested and tried.
● Emerging leaders must be tested under pressure to see if they can stand up when circumstances are difficult.
● Young or untried individuals should be given responsibility gradually so they can develop character with each level of accountability.
● Leaders should help their followers develop character so they can become trusted leaders.
● Vision gives meaning to people because leaders should help people believe in themselves, not just in the leader.
● Leaders should provide an avenue through which people discover meaning and manifest their purpose.
● When people are inspired by a leader’s passion, they often confuse the vision with the leader.
● A leader of principle takes the focus off himself and puts it on the vision.
● The vision, not the leader, gives people meaning and sustains their conviction.
● If leaders lose passion for their vision, the people may also lose energy for their vision.
● If leaders lose their commitment to strong character, the people may lose their way in life.
● Values preserve the vision because people must stay focused on the vision rather than on the leader.
● A cult of personality develops when people idolize a leader instead of the vision.
● Many organizations become defunct when worshipped leaders have major moral failures.
● Pride makes leaders think they should be idolized and that the vision is all about them.
● Leaders should humble themselves voluntarily if they do not want to be humiliated by failure.
● Humility is a core quality of principled leaders and protects both the leader and the vision.
● Leaders should not begin well and then have a moral failure before reaching their destiny.
● Leaders must stay true to their convictions and fulfill their purpose and vision according to strong values.
● Knowledge of character principles is not enough because leaders must act on what they know.
● No leader should enter politics, business, education, religion, sports, or any other realm until he has established personal moral standards.
● Ethical principles should be included in premarital counseling courses.
● Doing nothing about the crisis of character is not an option because the future of leadership and culture is at stake.
● The Creator established character as the foundation of human leadership and success.
● As a Leader, you must make a lasting commitment to stand on vision and to stand for values.

Now that you know character is the foundation of lasting leadership, take time to examine your own beliefs, values, and moral standards. Identify your weaknesses, commit to principled living, and become the leader of character your family, community, and nation desperately need.

Finally, here is a question we’d love you to answer.

If your family, friends, and colleagues were asked to testify about your character in court, what would they say about you?

We would love to hear from you. Please leave your answer and comment in the comment box below.

This book is available to buy or read in various online bookstores or from your local bookshop. It also contains a workbook to help you creates your values and build your Character

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