According to a survey done for the Harvard  Kennedy School For Public Leadership, six factors or qualities determine whether or not Americans have confidence in their leaders.  These qualities are:

• Trust
• Competence
• Working for the greater good
• Shared values
• Results
• Being in touch with people’s needs and concerns.

A close examination of these six qualities reveals that these are character traits to be practiced and not a set of skills to be learned.

Trust is more than honesty, but it is where honesty begins. You trust someone when you believe they are who and what they claim to be. When twentysomethings talk about authenticity they are really describing trust.  You develop trust not by through developing image but through practicing integrity.

Competence is about excellence and doing things well. Long-term excellence is achieved when you perform to the best of your ability not just because it is profitable, but as an act of obedience to God and because it is part of your value system.

Working for the greater good sounds very similar to the second greatest commandment of loving your neighbor as yourself.

Shared values provide evidence of the New Testament truth of how every part of the human body works together for the good of the total body.  The human body is an illustration of how the people the New Testament describes must work together in unity, employing their diverse giftings and talents for the common good.

Results are more than good intentions. On one occasion Jesus spoke of people who said all the right things but never did anything. He warned, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”  Failed intentions are usually not the result of unanswered prayers, but incomplete actions.

Being in touch with people’s needs and concerns reflects the judgment day teaching of Jesus in the 24th and 25th chapters of the Gospel according the Matthew that those who truly serve Him are those who do not neglect “the least of these.”

Instead of asking corporate, government, and religious leaders to attend leadership seminars, perhaps we ought to require them to enroll in character training.  And the very best preparation for character development is found at you local church on Sunday morning during the Bible study hour.

“Like a stray dog at a whistler’s convention” is an old witticism that portrays the way many people live. In fact, for most of us, some days it appears that everyone is calling for our attention.  However, if you attempt to respond to every external beckoning, you will feel like a frenetic, out-of-breath dog that is always chasing but never catching.

Unfortunately, many well-intentioned, high-energy people assume they must attempt to meet everyone’s high expectations and as result meet no one’s expectations. How do you keep from responding to all of the “whistlers” in your life?  The answer to that question does not begin with learning time management skills but with character development. 

Establishing priorities is a major step on the path toward good character. Good character will result when we make pleasing God our top priority.  If you do this you will neither damage your family life nor be an unproductive employee. Pleasing God does not eliminate our social lives; rather, it transforms and vitalizes our relationships with others.   Pleasing God will help you make time for family, work, and friends, but you will not be responding to their whistles for attention. All people—including you and I—make very self-centered demands on others. But God’s demands for our lives will lead not only to honoring Him, but will benefit us and others.

Begin each day by asking God to lead you in knowing how best to please and honor Him. You will find that this spiritual discipline will not only will keep you from living the exhausted and defeated life, but it will help you become a principled and disciplined person with good character.

Gary Fenton
www.Characterpath.com

Recently two new stories that under normal circumstances would have been ignored by the media became prime time news and the subject of many radio talk shows.  The first story involved a politician calling another politician a liar. That alone is about as newsworthy as the morning sunrise. It happens every day in every country. The second story involved a rapper expressing anger that a friend of his did not win at a music award ceremony.  Rap music is (generally) more about expressing anger than it is about harmony and melody, so to hear that a rapper is angry is as about as surprising as hearing that Jefferson County is broke. So why are these worthy of headlines?

Both occurred on national television in disrespectful and uncivil ways.  An elected U.S. Representative interrupted President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress to accuse the President of lying. The rapper stormed the stage at a music award ceremony to express his views on who he wanted to win the award.  Both were immature temper outbursts and violated civil discourse.

And what is so bad about that?  While civility is often perceived as being a wimpy virtue it is both a character and a democracy issue.

While civility is defined in several ways, it is described as “treating positions, people and systems with the respect due them.”  We are taught by Scripture and by common sense to respect positions of National leadership.  The South Carolinian may or may not have been accurate in his evaluation of the President Obama’s veracity, but in that setting Rep. Wilson was expressing contempt for office.  The rapper whose rhythmic anger has made him millions showed disdain for the winner rather than disagreement with how she was chosen. 

The only way a democratic society can function is when dialogue and public discourse can occur.  Loud protests, strong objections, sarcasm and raised voices all have their places in democracy. But when such actions are the result of uncontrolled anger, they support a mad “mobocracy” rather than a majority democracy.

Thankfully, Representative Joe Wilson and Kanye West have apologized, but this issue is larger than these two uncivil men whose good fortune apparently surpasses their maturity.  Both men apologized for not being able to control their emotions and by doing so acknowledged it was a character issue.

We are moving in the direction of becoming a society of boorish bullies.  Increasingly the person with the loudest voice and the strongest microphone is the only one heard.  Even the recent Health Care town hall meetings moved from being examples of democracy in action to Jerry Springer-like events in which voters who cannot control their emotions yell at politicians who cannot control spending or emotions.

Civility begins with self-control and that is a character issue.  

Apologies from Joe and Kanye’s public relations firms will not resolve this issue.  Neither will a partisan congressional resolution passed by folks publically wringing their hands and privately gleefully winking at each other’s fix it. It begins when all of us, not just politicians and rappers, learn how to control our emotions and to express disagreement and disapproval in an appropriate manner.  Elected officials and popular entertainers don’t set the example; they follow our example.  Ultimately, character is the result of allowing the fruit of the Spirit of God to be present in our lives.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” (Gal. 5:25-26)

Control your emotions today and you will take a major step down the character path and you will help others do so as well.
Gary Fenton
www.Characterpath.com

Have you ever heard John Cage’s three-movement piece entitled 4’33”?  John Cage, a well known composer who wrote this creative piece, and David Tudor, an accomplished pianist, debuted it in a piano recital in New York in August of 1952. If you are not familiar with it, stop by the church and I will play it for you on the grand piano in our sanctuary.

It is a rather unique composition in that it is a four minute and thirty three second presentation without any note being played. Cage always denied that it was four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence because there was always sound, just not piano or music. There was the scuffling of feet, coughing of the audience, and the sound of a gathered crowd. The composer intended the content to the piece to be to be perceived as the sounds of the environment.

While Cage’s composition was very controversial in the music world, it has become an excellent teaching tool regarding listening.  4’33” is now used to help people listen to the incidental sounds of life. Every moment we consciously and subconsciously block out sounds we do not wish to hear. While such discrimination is necessary, it can also become dangerous and destructive. Blocking and filtering out critical information will result in having a wrong perception of reality.

Rather than looking through rose-colored glasses and listening through mellowed earphones, people of character do not filter out all criticism. They listen not only to what was intended for them to hear, but for the hurt and disappointment often conveyed by the people with whom we speak. While people compliment us and congratulate us because it is socially accepted and expected, we can often hear in their tones and inflections the disillusionment, discouragement and distress they really feel but fear to put into words.

When you are on the character path you not only listen to the words, but you listen the incidental sounds that may reflect reality better than words. While 4’33” may not be technically great music, it can be wonderful teaching tool.

Today after you have visited with a colleague or someone you supervise, ask yourself what you really heard—not just what words, but what was really being said.

If you do this you will be one step further down the character path.
Gary Fenton
Characterpath.com

Staying on schedule can be a character issue.  This outstanding guest post will help you understand the character consequences of scheduling.  If you have a busy schedule this is a “must read.”

Recently my husband treated me to a weekend free of wife and motherhood duties.  I only had myself to pack before I flew off to another U.S. city for a brief retreat from regular life.  On the morning of my flight, I slept a few extra minutes past the alarm’s first ring.  I leisurely arose and caved in to the urge to check email and Facebook.  I proceeded with my unhurried approach until I stepped out of the shower and saw a clock.  Reality hit as less than 30 minutes remained to finish getting ready.  Immediately, I felt the crunch to complete what now seemed a lengthy list of final chores.  As my anxiety elevated, I began barking instruction to my husband, delegating my outstanding wrap-up.  By the time I bid my husband good bye, he was eager for my exit and resistant to a parting kiss.  Understandably he was frustrated with the stress he was forced to absorb amidst my panicked race to get out the door.

I stayed in this unpleasant mode after I arrived at the airport.  I sprinted to security, where the line was out to the atrium.  I ended up behind a large family traveling together for a destination wedding.   When it was time for my security line to merge with others in queue before approaching the agents, rather than wait my turn, I pretended to be with the wedding party.  Had I identified myself separately, I would have been the first person cut-off and forced to wait for the alternating line.  Assuming I was part of the wedding party and continuing a conversation begun with the family, a TSA screener inquired about how long I’d been married.  I snapped a quick and curt answer, hurriedly trying to move on.  I proceeded to dash to the tram, rattling the nerves of a young mother I gently swiped as I passed.  Once inside the terminal, I looked up to see a famous Atlanta family waiting at a nearby gate.  A tad bit star-struck, I caught myself wanting to observe their interactions but was quickly reminded of an impending plane-door closing.  

Yes, I made my plane.  But, there was so much lost.  As I found my seat on the plane I reflected (and repented) of a morning lost.  This should have been my perfect opportunity to show gratitude toward my husband, patiently wait my turn in the security line, graciously help the mother traveling with two young children, and enjoy the opportunity to people watch amidst a brief brush with fame.  From the minute I realized I was running late until I arrived at my gate I was in survival mode.   Behaviors benefiting anyone else were abandoned in my need for self-preservation.

How often do we turn ourselves or our families into survivors by failing to stay on schedule?  It is easy and tempting to desert our time budget as we get distracted or extend a moment of enjoyment too far.  We dismiss momentary and almost subconscious choices as insignificant.  But are they?  A child, who arrives late (or at the last minute) to school, arrives stressed.  And hurried activities are never quality activities.  We’ve all heard studies showing insufficient sleep yields underperformance in school or on the job.  Staying on schedule keeps us and our families at their best.   Unnecessary stress is avoided.  And honoring the time budget may even afford us the few extra moments to serve others in our midst. – Amy Fenton Lee

Amy Fenton Lee is an Atlanta area wife and mother who struggles like the dickens to stay on schedule.  Her new (school) year’s resolution is to be more disciplined with her time on email and Facebook.

Since this website is dedicated to character, I would be lacking good character if I withheld the full identity of the author of this excellent post.  Amy is my first-born and the mother of my oldest grandson.

When you deliberately move from surviving to serving you are taking a major step down the character path.
Gary Fenton
Characterpath.com

“Avoiding situations where you do not have to admit publicly that you don’t know something hinders learning.” (Thomas, Robert J.  Leader to Leader Vol. 50, Fall  2008)

To succeed in any endeavor requires having the right information at the right time.  Many companies and individual who fail blame it on a lack of good and timely information.  However, their failure may not be a flawed information system, but a chink in the character armor.

Individuals who are serious about walking the character path have to frequently drink from the well of learning.  Yet, far too often because of pride and a maintaining an image, they refuse to admit they don’t know what to do.  They attempt to bluff their way through the situation.  Imagine a marathoner on a warm day refusing any water offered to him along the way because he is fearful accepting a water will make him to appear under conditioned.  Due to dehydration the marathoner does not complete marathon.  Later, he explains that he could have finished the course if it had not been such a hot day.  While the heat may have been a factor, it was not the deciding factor.  The real culprit was his pride.

Many people blame their failure on their circumstances when the real issue is a character flaw.  People of character are aware they do not have all of the answers, so they drink freely from the spring of knowledge and information. When you admit you do not know you invite some who does know to fill your cup.

Today, if you encounter a situation when you don’t know something, admit it.  You are not only more likely to find the answer but also will be a better person.

Read 4 Life Truths by clicking on the Pastor’s blog on http://www.dawsonchurch.org

Sitting across from me in a Tel Aviv airport terminal, a lady engaged in conversation spoke loudly enough that several of us sitting nearby could hear her side of the conversation. It was 4:00 AM—not the time of day you want to hear anyone talk, let alone a stranger.  For much of the conversation she was describing a person who I assume was her new work supervisor. According to the woman, the difference between the new supervisor and the former one was daylight and dark and it sounded as though the new guy was a close runner-up to Jesus in the goodness derby.  One statement in particular attracted my attention: “Our new supervisor has such good character, he never ever gets angry.”

While I doubt the complete accuracy of this description, implied was an evaluation of the nature of character.  If this lady was suggesting that anger is a character flaw, she does not understand character.

Many people believe that to be “mellow” is always a character virtue and to have emotions flavored with the spice of anger is always bad.  Uncontrolled and misdirected anger is wrong, but anger expressed correctly and directed at evil is a virtue.

Last month one of America’s most prolific writers on the Holocaust died. Dr. Franklin Littell wrote from more than a historical perspective, he specifically addressed how Christians did and can contribute to persecution through latent prejudice and failure to act on the teaching of Jesus.  Though popularly unrecognized, Littell’s writing influenced not only his own denomination but many other Christian organizations concerning the need to aggressively work for justice.

His life’s work was the result of anger. In 1939 while participating in a conference in Europe, he attended a Nazi rally as a 21-year-old man. Watching Hitler being presented in almost god-like proportions and hearing the vilification of Jews and the glorification, he became so repelled that he left the rally.  His anger first repelled him from what he had seen but eventually drove him to be more aware of what ought to be and what could be.

If you cannot be angry about wrong, injustice, the suffering of innocents, and sin, don’t assume that is sign of virtue. Again, while anger can be very destructive if wrongly expressed and misdirected, proper anger can be evidence of good character.

In a previous century religious leaders frequently called this kind of anger “righteous indignation.” Our generation appears to have forgotten it is right to be angry about wrong. To truly have this kind of holy anger requires discernment, good decision-making, and discipline. But we will talk about those three in a later post on the character path.

Ephesians 4:26a says,  “Be ye angry, and sin not.” 

Today, remember that there’s more to good character than winning congeniality contests.
Gary Fenton
Characterpath.com

Here is a post you need to read! This was written by Rob Eaker who is definitely on the character path. -Gary Fenton

The recently released 2008 Annual Report for one of the world’s largest and most well-respected companies opens with the following words: “Dear Fellow Owners, 2008 was a tough year and we expect 2009 to be even tougher.”  The report acknowledges that the company failed to anticipate the “global financial system failure and its continuing economic fallout.”  Yet, according to the report, the company’s executives are committed to understanding the dynamics of a changed marketplace and staking out a new presence for the company: “Successful companies won’t just ‘hunker down’; they will seek out new opportunities in a reset world.” 

This company’s stance toward dealing with adversity in the marketplace carries significance for individuals’ character development.  Here are three things to consider:

1. When adversity strikes, we must come to terms with where we are now.  An inability to admit past mistakes and to agree with the reality of our current situation will lead to character stagnation.  Jesus tells the story of a shrewd manager who was accused of making poor business decisions.  But the manager didn’t “hunker down” or attempt to defend himself; rather, he said to himself, “What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg” (Luke 16:3).  In other words, he agreed with the reality of his situation.  Only then was he able to effect a plan of action and to receive the praise of his master.  

2. We must learn to harness the power of failure.  Those who desire to develop their character see failure as a mighty force propelling them forward, not a heavy weight holding them back.  Churchill defined success as “going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”  Even though it is necessary to understand where we are now and how we have failed in the past, we don’t focus solely on those failures.  Rather, we learn from the failures and move forward with a confident recognition of how to avoid making the same mistakes again, resulting in better decision making.

3. A renewed perspective leads us to new opportunities.  We should be thankful for failure because it gives us the opportunity to understand reality more clearly.  Failures expose faulty vision.  Being fitted with clearer vision allows us to focus our energies on what is truly important—things that are right, good and pure.  George Bernard Shaw stated, “This is true joy in life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” 

Indeed, 2009 may prove to be a tough year, but that doesn’t mean it must be devoid of opportunity. Today, like the company mentioned above, take one more step down the character path by assessing the reality of your current situation, even embracing your failures, so that you will be better equipped to seize today’s opportunities and be “used up” in a mighty endeavor.

People on the character path know the difference between vision and fantasy.

Vision and fantasy have little in common except they are future focused. They are opposing and competing forces in the battle for good character.

Vision is about making a positive contribution in the future. Vision involves setting goals, developing and implementing strategies, and constant evaluation and correction. The visionary is doing all of these things in order to make a contribution for the good of humanity and to live out God’s calling to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

Some folks develop a strategy to do so but most just hope they are at the right place at the right time. They hope they get lucky in relationships, possessions and in positions. They frequently think about how they will enjoy these privileges and how they can position themselves where fantasy will fall into their place.

Fantasy includes pornography, the lottery, prostitution, insider trading, and exploiting people by implying they are friends when you only want to use them to move you one step closer to receiving privilege.

The solution to the present economic recession is not fantasy but vision. It is easier to project this truth upon government leaders and forget that it begins with each of us individually. A person of vision will develop a strategy to use their gifts, passion, family and business for the good of humanity and the glory of God.

Proverbs 28:19 says, “He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.”

Take a step with me today down the character path by rejecting the temptation to dwell on fantasy, and instead dwell on the vision God has given you.
Gary Fenton
Characterpath.com

Surely you have seen a thought provoking slogan which is frequently displayed in the offices of many dental health professionals: “Ignore your teeth and they will go away.” 

To keep healthy teeth requires daily attention and frequent check-ups. Good teeth may be a gift of God, but good teeth for all your life also includes good care. Good character is similar. If you were so fortunate to be born into a family in which good character traits were taught and modeled, you received a character gift. But good character is never maintained by accident. It is the result of careful daily attention. Most major character failures do not occur suddenly, they are the result of allowing marginal habits and infected attitudes to create cavities in your character.  

We need frequent check-ups. Here are three good questions that have helped me to do a character self-examination.

First, I asked myself the question, “Do I always have to be right?” People who feel they must always be right are in the first stage of self-deception. If you think you are always right you will soon lie to others to prove you are right. If you cannot admit you are wrong, you are developing a character cavity. By the way, if you listen carefully, both your friends and enemies will help you become aware of this.

Second, “What am I learning about myself?” People of good character have self-awareness. If you are only learning information, acquiring skills, or gaining insight into the strengths and weaknesses of others, you will eventually make character mistakes. However, if you are learning your own strengths and weaknesses, you will know where your temptations are. Self-awareness is not only a key to success, it is significant step toward good character.  Recently, when I used this question as part of my daily prayer journal, I realized that I was much less disciplined than I thought I was. Interestingly enough it came as I was doing some writing on the subject of self-discipline. I had some great insight that I really felt that others needed to hear, but I realized that I was not practicing the ideas myself. To be disciplined does not mean I have consistent daily routine, but it means I choose to give time and energy to actions which reflect my values.

Third, “Can I laugh at myself?” People with bad character take themselves too seriously and life too lightly. People of good character realize life is the most serious endeavor but can still laugh at themselves. People who cannot laugh at themselves usually find humor in laughing at others. Humor is healthy but ridicule is an abscess that needs to be removed. If you can laugh at yourself you don’t have to lie about yourself.

Take a step with me today down the character path, by doing character self-examination.
Gary Fenton
Characterpath.com