By Phil Eastman 

We are now 18 months into our journey with The Character of Leadership.  During that time we have received great encouragement.  We are nearing the end of the first printing of the book.  We are starting to get some traction on workshops and speaking engagements and yet, I am frustrated at the pace with which the model is moving.  To be honest, I would have been frustrated at any pace.  I am impatient in matters of business.

This month I wrote a blog post asking for help to understand what we can do with/to The Character of Leadership to increase its exposure and acceptance.  I have had many affirmations from people that the model is on the right track, and some have offered thoughts about increasing the momentum and pace of the model's use around the world.  Although I remain impatient, I am not discouraged.

When we launched the model as a self-publishing project, we knew that self-publishing would leave us in control of the model.  That is the good news.  The bad news is that we are in control of the model.  Self-publishing provides control, but it leaves us without a robust distribution system.  Learning to promote and distribute a comprehensive model like The Character of Leadership is like a treasure hunt.

One key to increasing the acceptance and use is to make it relevant to individuals and organizations.  As we move into the next phase of sharing the model, I want to address an aspect of The Character of Leadership that may not be fully understood.  That is that the model is intended to be open and flexible.  For the model to help leaders and organizations, it must be relevant.  To gain this relevancy, the behaviors included under the seven elements must be able to change based on context.  When I wrote the book and published the model, it contained 36 behaviors associated with the seven elements.  Those behaviors help bring the model to life and move the seven elements from philosophically interesting to practical and useful.  You can click here to see the 36 behaviors in our online assessment.

I view this initial set of behaviors as the bottom line for each of the model's elements.  However, the model was designed to be flexible enough to conform itself to different types of leaders operating in different organizations and industries across the globe.  For instance, the behaviors for The Character of Leadership in India would necessarily look different than those for The Character of Leadership in Kenya.  The behaviors for The Character of Leadership in Health Care would be unique to that industry, as would the behaviors for The Character of Leadership in Banking.  Hopefully you see my point.  The initial 36 behaviors are just the beginning of what I hope will someday be The Character of Leadership in (insert your own context).

Despite a pace I find frustrating, this, using words borrowed from Winston Churchill,

"this is not the end.  It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps the end of the beginning."

I invite you to join with me in making The Character of Leadership widely known, powerfully used and contextually relevant.

You can engage with the 36 behaviors for yourself by taking the free online assessment located at www.characterofleadership.com.  If you are interested in discussing the tailoring of a set of behaviors for your organization, industry or nation, then call me at 208.344.0471 or drop me a note at phil@leadershipadvisors.com.  If you would like information about our new Certified Provider Program that allows you to teach The Character of Leadership Workshop in your organization or to your clients, drop me a note. 

Phil Eastman is the founder and president of Leadership Advisors Group, a Boise-based consulting firm. Phil combines more than 25-years of leadership experience with his passion for consulting, coaching, and teaching to develop leaders, build teams, and improve performance. It is his desire to enhance leadership effectiveness for all of his clientele.

Phil earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in Management and Organization from Idaho State University. He is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington, where he is also an instructor. Phil also holds a Master of Arts degree in Theological Studies from Bethel Seminary.