Character-Driven Leaders

Key findings from the research behind the book, Return On Character, by Fred Kiel, PhD, reveal that:

Leaders who rank high on character achieve nearly five times greater return on assets than leaders who rank low on character.

Plus, character-driven organizations achieve multiple gains over organizations with self-focused leadership, including:

A 26% higher level of workforce engagement.
A 20% advantage in keystone leadership skills of vision, strategic focus, accountability and senior team development.

Character is an individual’s unique combination of beliefs and character habits that motivate and shape how he or she relates to others.

Character is a habit that can be learned, unlearned, adopted, and adapted.

Four key character habits lead to specific positive business outcomes: Integrity leads to Confidence in Management, Compassion leads to Collaboration, Forgiveness leads to Innovation, and Responsibility leads to a Culture of Accountability.

Kiel recommends you take these four best steps to develop strong character habits:

Keep your promises and follow through on your commitments.
Own up to your mistake and correct them.
Accept that people make mistakes and forgive them.
Treat people as people, not commodities or numbers.

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me a copy of the book.

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