I want you to know about a useful book I recently read called “Virtuous Leadership: An Agenda for Personal Excellence.” In many ways, the book is a natural follow-up to The GEO Principle.
Virtuous Leadership is written by Alexander Havard, who runs something called the European Center for Leadership Development. He is coming to the Twin Cities this weekend, and I hope to meet him.
At 172 pages, the book poses only a modest investment in reading time. Havard does a very good job describing virtue and what it means in the context of leadership. He cites examples from the worlds of business, politics and religion. Sometimes I wish he would have developed his examples more, but certainly what he provides provokes thought.
What I have found in life, however, is that it is not so hard to define what good is, but it is figuring out how to do what is good. We know what we are doing, we know what we should be doing; now, how do we get from A to B? How do we transform our lives so that we start doing what we know we should be doing?
Havard’s answer comes in the last pages of the book. He offers a simple three-part solution: First, develop a method for daily self-evaluation; second, find someone to give you sound spiritual direction, and third, develop an overall “plan of life” and work hard to live by it.
Havard’s prescription is not rocket science. In fact, long ago I heard the well-known football coach Lou Holtz describe something similar. He coached at the University of Minnesota shortly after I graduated from there, and he is perhaps best known for his stint at the University of Notre Dame. Holtz does a lot of public speaking where he explains that he instructed his players to evaluate themselves every day. He would encourage them to think about their day before going to sleep every night. He would invite them to ask themselves whether they did the right thing in every situation they faced that day. He advised the players to listen to their parents, professors and coaches. And he encouraged them to make goals for themselves, and to write down strategies for achieving those goals. Holtz found that this formula worked for a lot of his players; and I am sure Havard is finding it is working for a lot of people in business.
The main point of Havard’s book is that if you want to lead others then you have to lead yourself first. Most of the book is devoted to discussion about the need to discipline yourself so that you develop a virtuous character. Authentic leadership, he argues, is virtuous. “By strengthening our character –- i.e., by growing in virtue -– we improve our ability to deliberate in the light of reason… Virtues enlighten our intellect, strengthen our will and purify our feelings,” Havard writes.
The GEO Principle is about bringing God to work. We all have to live in the world, but we don’t have to succumb to the world. We can enlighten it with the glory of God. The perfect place to start is where we spend so much time, that is, on the job. Havard essentially says the same thing. Here is how he puts it:
“The noble virtues of magnanimity and humility are losing ground to the rampant egoism of modern culture, manifested in current philosophical trends, modes of behavior and social conventions. The first step towards becoming a leader is to be aware of this state of affairs. The next is to declare your independence from it.”
In the end, Havard’s message is that virtuous leadership is about leading people out of darkness. The ideas presented in this little book will help you bring God to Every Occupation, starting with your own.
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