Character - The First Base A Leader Must Run To

NOTE: The following article is taken from my leadership ebook, Touching All Four - Living Leadership One Base At A Time. You can download the ebook for free by clicking here.

“Life is built on character, but character is built on decisions. The decisions you make, small or great, do to your life what the sculptor's chisel does to the block of marble. You are shaping your life by your thoughts, attitudes, and actions...”

-Warren Wiersbe

Once a leader has stepped up to the plate and is clear about the direction he is headed, then it's time to move toward first base (put on your arm floaties kids because the next statement is taking us to the deep end).

First base is called first base because it is the base we must run to first!

Pretty profound, huh? First base reminds the leader that he cannot lead others until he first leads himself. Character is an inside job (closely tied to the compass, yet distinct because it doesn't reveal where a person is going as much as it shows the kind of person he is). This is the base where a leader deals internally with such things as integrity, honesty, ethics, fairness, disposition, ego and justice. These character issues will come to the surface and reveal a person's true self in times of crisis and tension.

Character is formed through the day-to-day decisions, choices and actions of a leader. First base is the first true test of leadership. It is here the leaders asks, "Can I adequately lead myself?" Everything else a leader does flows out of and is flavored by the answer to that question. If your compass tells you where you are going, then your character tells you and those around you who you really are at this stage of the journey.

Without getting too far ahead of myself, what I am proposing, no, insisting upon is that a leader must “touch” all of the bases each day while keeping his eyes on home plate. In addition, one cannot be effective in touching the rest of the bases until one has touched the “character” base first. The bases are in the order they're in - called what they're called - for a reason.

There are no easy shortcuts to effective leadership. It is an intentional process that requires people of good character. A person with good character doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll be a good leader. But a good leader must definitely be a person with good character.

Too many scandals have erupted. Too many leaders have fallen. Too many people have been left stranded in the vacuum of broken leaders. The reason? Leaders who failed to touch first base every day. Leaders who thought they could take a shortcut "just this once," and ended up taking an entire company down with them. Leaders who forgot that it's impossible to be an effective leader of others without first leading themselves.

In a word, character.

One example of a company bouncing back from a corporate, character meltdown at the top is Tyco. When Tyco's CEO was removed because of criminal actions, the company quickly looked to re-establish the ethical core of it's leadership and its organization. Tyco hired Eric Pillmore for the newly created position of Vice President of Corporate Governance. Through the following months, Eric worked with leaders around the company to create Tyco's Guide to Ethical Conduct. Tyco learned the hard way that who you are will speak more loudly than what you say. People are listening. Your followers are watching. The kind of life you live will make more of an impact than a speech at a stockholder's meeting.

To learn what each of the bases represents, please read Touching All Four - Living Leadership One Base At A Time.