Objective:
Identify specific ways to strengthen your character and create a high-trust culture.
Foundation of Character
Being true to character means your actions reflect your beliefs based on correct guiding values. The foundation of character is integrity, honesty, respect for others, and aligning your life with those types of values.
One of the greatest assets a person or an organization can have is strength of character based on bedrock principles.
However, a strong character is not easily acquired. It is forged over time as we are tested, and our values and judgment skills are refined and tempered. People with strong character withstand tests and temptations by holding true to time-honored principles that have been identified as good and honorable throughout human history.
View the video below to learn about bedrock principles.
The Impact of Character
When you are true to character, you feel good, solid, and confident. The impact is remarkable in the sense of added confidence, increased opportunities, stronger relationships, expanded influence, and an enviable reputation.
People are endowed with a conscience; you know right from wrong. If you’re not tuned in to this feeling of right or wrong, you can get off course. The impact of violating character—integrity, honesty, and respect for others—is devastating. It can result in broken lives and relationships, shattered trust, destroyed organizations, disappointment, diminished opportunities, reduced influence, a tarnished reputation, and even prison time.
3 Keys to Strong Character
- Be Strong in the Moment of Choice
- Stand Up and Speak Out
- Guard Your Character
Be Strong in the Moment of Choice
Strength of character is demonstrated not just when things are going well but especially when things get tough. Character is displayed during the moment of choice.
Imagine standing at the junction of two divergent pathways at a decisive moment in your life. One represents a decision that is in harmony with the principles and values that guide your conscience and your character. The other would conflict with those principles and values. When you make decisions based on those factors, you generally experience positive consequences and benefits.
When you don’t live according to the principles and values that support your strength of character, you are usually thrown off course and out of balance. Unwanted consequences also may result. Remember that you will usually have opportunities to correct your mistakes, which beats continuing down the wrong pathway. If you choose poorly and don’t correct your wrong decisions, your life may not follow the path you’d hoped it would follow. You make key decisions every day, and the quality of those decisions determines the quality of your life.
Stand Up and Speak Out
Another measure of a strong character is a willingness to speak up when you see something happening that violates this principle – such as unethical behavior in the workplace. Such a display of strong character is the basis of many of our most famous tales of heroism, but we can also find examples of it in our daily lives, such as witnessing sexual harassment or racism, being asked to lie or “fudge the truth,” or witnessing fraudulent business transactions.
The actions we take, the decisions we make, and the lives we create are determined largely by the content of our character. If we fail to follow correct principles, it can have grave consequences.
Have the courage to be true to character. Exercise integrity, honesty, respect, and correct principles. Whether you are the leader of a country, an organization, a team, or simply in your daily life, determine that you will not sit idly on the sidelines of life when character issues arise. The strength of your character will be evident in how you conduct yourself with all people, and you will become a beacon in the world. Stand up and speak out when we see something that’s not right.
Guard Your Character
Being true to yourself is a hallmark of great character. In theory, this is easy to do, but it is tougher given the reality of the temptations and peer pressures encountered in daily life. In good times, it’s easy to say that you will be true to your principles and values and remain strong, but your true character is formed and displayed in challenging times.
John Wooden, a legendary UCLA basketball coach, said, “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
Learn from your mistakes. You should never allow yourself to feel that you are a lost cause. You may have made mistakes in the past. Many people experience momentary lapses of character. It’s tough to be perfect. The good news is that you can always turn your life around by deciding to be a person of integrity and honor from this point forward.
Real-World Example
An organization gave its employees charge cards to purchase gasoline for company vehicles used for business purposes.
One of the employees made a poor decision and displayed a weakness of character by filling up her car and then handing her company charge card to a friend, who was not an employee of the company, so that he could fuel his personal car.
The company’s accountants caught the suspicious double charges on the employee’s credit card during a review. The gasoline station security cameras captured all the evidence they needed. When confronted by her supervisor, the employee unwisely denied the theft. The result was that she lost her job, which was sad for everyone.
In this case, the employee actually had two moments of choice. The first came when she chose to fill up her friend’s car, and the second when her supervisor asked her about the suspected theft.
She had the opportunity to correct her mistake by telling her supervisor and accepting responsibility. If she had shown that she understood the error of her ways and seemed remorseful, she might have kept her job. But she did not do that, and the consequences were significant.
It is best to be strong in the initial moment of choice, but if you blow it, you will often have an opportunity to make a correction. Your objective should be to make your initial decision from a position of strength—the strength of character—each and every time. Of course, while that is the ideal and the goal, we are all human. We all have moments of weakness and poor judgment, but the ability to self-correct is critical if we want to build a strong character and a life of fulfillment and meaning.
Summary and Reflection
This module discussed the importance of Be true to character. You were introduced to three powerful keys to developing a strong character:
- Be strong in the moment of choice.
- Stand up and speak out.
- Guard your character.
These three qualities are true pillars of strength in your life, your relationships, and your organization. There are many rewards for building your life based on proven values and the highest principles. Some of them come with medals and public honors, but we believe the greatest are those that are nurtured within us.
To begin putting this information into practice, reflect on and answer the questions below in your journal:
- What does being true to character mean to you personally? What does being true to character mean for your team or organization?
- How can being true to character improve and strengthen your company culture and identity?
- What’s an example of a “moment of choice” in your personal or professional life? What was the impact of your choice (either positive or negative)?
- What’s something you will start doing today to better live this principle?
- What’s something your team or organization can do today to better live this principle?