Last week I gave my first keynote address based on the Character of Leadership. During my preparation for that speech to WTS it occured that I needed to begin to talk about the need for character in leadership development by discussing the cost of character.
To make that connection I shared the facts related to a financial system collapse that cost the U.S. taxpayers $150 billion and saw the demise of 557 institutions. At its core, the collapse had the following causes:
- Deteriorating market conditions
- Over investment in single family residential mortgages
- Weak regulatory environment
- Increased lending powers
This collapse took place in 1987 and we are now paying billions more to learn the same lessons again. From my perspective the causes of the previous collapse and the one we now find ourselves in relate more closely with the character of leaders than with economic cycles. What examples do you have, large or small, public or private, that reflect the cost of character?
The Cost of Character must be measured in units of Trust. Effective leadership is based on the trust of those you lead, and in yourself to understand the challenges and make the best decisions possible. Just as our currency system is backed by gold, our Character is backed by Trust.
ReplyDeleteLoss of Trust will result in failure or collapse. Take our financial system: the stock market and the banking industry. Aren't they built on the Trust of those investing and saving? The loss of Trust will make markets fall and banks fail. The loss of money in these cases is secondary. The real loss is the loss of Trust in the Character of the system to provide a stabile economic platform.
We should come up with a Trust unit. What would you call a value system that defines Character in units of Trust? Should Trust be measured and valued in units named Lincolns (LNs)? Washingtons (WTs)? Kings (KGs)? Or maybe they should just be Units of Trust (UTs). Whatever we call them, they are in use today and while they may not be tangible or well defined, they definitely measure the value of Character.
Karl Meinhardt