osiosc013 Taking Leadership fmol Great | Wey Business Journal @ (https:/twitter.com/lveyBusiness) (https://www.facebook.comviveybusiness) @ (httpsis BUSINESS https://iveybusinessjournal.. ARTICLES v SUBMISSIONS AND REPRINTS ABOUT (HTTPS://IVEYBUSINESSJOURNAL. CONMSUBSISSEDNESISINESSJOURD Taking Leadership«fr@m Good to Great Tags: Entrepreneurship (hitps:/iveybusinessjoural,conviag/entrepreneurship/), Governance (https:/iveybusinessjournal.com/tag/governance-2/), Leadership (hitps:fiveybusinessjoumal.com/taglleadership-2/), and Strategy 4d835e/9334ef6b58title=Ivey+Business+ Journal%3A+Taking+Leadership Hfrom+Good+to+ Great&url=https ‘{43A%2F %2Fiveybusinessjoumal.com%2F taking-leadership-from-good-to-greal%2F&ct=1) G+ (http/api_addthis. com/oexchange/0.8/forwardigoogleplus/offer?pubi #Leadership+ from+Good+1o+Great&url=https 4d835ef9334ef6b5atitle=Ivey+Business+Journal%3A+Tab (http://api.addthis.com/oexchange/0.8/forwarditfacebook/offer?pubid=ra- 4d8350f9334e(6b5&title~Ivey+Business+ Joumal’%43A+ Taking+Leadershin+ from+Good+to+ Great&urt=hitps from-good-to-great%2F&ct=1) °%43A%2F%2Fiveybusinessjournal.com%2Ftaking-leaders! (http://apiaddthis.com/oexchange/0.8/forward/twitter/offer?pubi 4d835ef9334ef6b58title=Ivey +Business + Journal%3A+Taking+Leadership Hrom+Good+to+ Great&url=https %3A%2F%2Fiveybusinessjournal,com%2F taking-leadershi {rail hitps:iveybusinessjoumal.com/taking Jeadership-fom-good-o-great! (0:2subje ane‘rey Business Joumalis being shate® HHP 0D ONHOD VOM Lesh tom Good to v I I ’y_are great at the job. Some are, most aren't. The difference is self-awareness and willingness to develop character.:%20%0D%0A%0D%0ARead the article at Search online for quotes about human character and you will be flooded with results. But when it comes to finding words uniquely relevant to today’s leadership challenges, it is hard to top the insightful pen of French writer Frangois-Marie Arouet (1694-1778). As the man better known as Voltaire noted over two centuries ago, “Every man, as to character, is the creature of the age in which he lives. Very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of their times.” Unfortunately, ideas about leadership in this disruptive age are particularly hard to rise above because they tend to ignore or underestimate the importance of character. It is strength of character that underpins the disposition to lead, something needed for not only those in a position to lead, but all members of an organization, ‘Academic research conducted since the global financial crisis has clearly identified the need for an increased focus on leader character development. And yet, most organizations underestimate the role that character plays in the exercise of great leadership. Why? As Jim Collins observed, “good is the enemy of great.” Simply put, most successful leaders are not inspired to greatness because their career performance has been “good enough’ to get them to the top. Even when the importance of character is recognized, there is all too often an assumption that greatness in leadership is reserved for individuals with unique personalities like Nelson Mandela. This is a critical issue—and not just because leaders of questionable character appear to dominate today's headlines. After all, to help organizations and societies navigate the complexities and unprecedented challenges created by the Digital Age, the world needs great leadership like never before. And contrary to popular belief, strength of character can indeed be developed. hitps:iveybusinessjoumal.com/taking Jeadership-rom-good-o-great! aneOtf@PSfitles have described Ivey Business 'Senberreetren fins NRPeH ana ctUF HFEHeSYO effective leadership and organizational performance, and how character can be developed and embedded in HR practices (see references), After briefly returning to those themes, this article seeks to explain why people tend to underestimate the need for leader character and overestimate their personal strength of character. Building on our experience working with executives, we strive to answer the following question once asked by Mandela: “How do we inspire ourselves to greatness when nothing less will do?” As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to What lies within us.” Great leadership has always required character, competence, and commitment, When any of these pillars of effective leadership are deficient, the shortfall will ultimately create problems. And yet, while ample attention has long been given to recruiting committed leaders and developing their competencies, relatively little attention has been given to the importance of leader character to organizational success until recently, partly because the role of character is not widely understood. However, following the numerous leadership failures that contributed to the near-collapse of the world economy in 2009, researchers at Ivey's lan O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership partnered with over 2,000 executives to define leader character and deeply explore its relationship with sustainable performance, Building on philosophical insights—ranging from Plato and Aristotle to Martin Seligman and Christopher Petersen—the Ivey team utilized both qualitative and quantitative research to develop a leadership framework that identified 11 interconnected dimensions of character (see Figure 1) responsible for making or breaking performance over the long term. Figure 1: 11 Dimensions of Leader Character /www.ivey.uwo,calleadership/research/develoy haracter!),” the key takeaway from Ivey's research is the need for leaders to possess the capacity to flex each of these dimensions of character to promote sound judgment—what Aristotle referred to as practical wisdom—when executive decisions are made. Depending on the contextual pressures faced, the dimensions that need to be deployed in the service of an organization's best interests can vary significantly. As a result, any imbalance in the capacity to deploy the identified character dimensions raises the risk of poor or self-serving decision-making. hitps:iveybusinessjoumal.com/taking Jeadership-rom-good-o-great! an