Character for Leadership: The Role of Personal Characteristics

Character 
Both psychologically and nonpsychologically, good character is important 
for individuals to function appropriately in society. From a nonpsychological 
perspective, good character—appropriate patterns of behavior formed and shaped 
throughout life—is deemed extremely important for leaders. For example, Sheehy 
(1990) evaluated the character of the political candidates for the 1988 presidential 
election and concluded that their character profoundly impacts the manner and 
propensity with which they lead. Yet, we have seen such disparities between the 
public and private lives of leaders that even writers of fiction have posed the 
question of whether character really matters to successful leadership function 
(Wetlaufer, 1999). 

---

Character for Leadership 
6 
 
Psychologically, character is an aspect of personality distinct from 
temperament (American Psychiatric Association, 1994; Leonard, 1997; Sperry, 
1997). Character is “consistency in behavior across time” (Leonard, p. 240) and is 
“more than just a sense of self” (p. 240), also including volitional and self-
regulatory matters. In addition, personal beliefs and values are often included in the 
character components of personality. 
Cloninger, Svrakic, and Pryzbeck (1993) developed a model of 
temperament and character that addresses this multifaceted perspective of 
personality. This model, while incorporating an aspect of temperament (those traits 
supposedly acquired primarily through heredity), provides significant promise for 
evaluating the core character components that influence the manner in which one 
utilizes temperament. While temperament influences one’s automatic response to a 
stimulus, character involves the assessment and selection of behavior in response to 
one’s preprogrammed reaction. According to Cloninger, Svrakic, and Pryzbeck’s 
model, character is comprised of three higher-order components: self-directedness, 
cooperativeness, and self-transcendence. These character traits comprise means of 
relating to oneself, other individuals, and the surrounding world, respectively. The 
primary instrument used to assess these traits is the Temperament and Character 
Inventory (TCI; Cloninger, Przybeck, et al., 1994). 
Character is foundational to one’s selection of behavior in a given situation. 
Therefore, the consideration of such leader characteristics is vital since such 
characteristics play a significant role in the selection of leadership behaviors. Many 
such leader characteristics are considered part of the leader’s personality or 
temperament. However, beyond issues of temperament, character comprises those 
personality traits that can be changed and that represent the motivation behind 
leadership action or inaction. 
When approaching this study from the understanding that character 
determines the actions undertaken, a question is raised: what are the character traits 
that lead to transformational leadership behaviors? This study will consider those 
traits at work in the leader who chooses to practice transformational leadership. 
Three such character components that have been linked to enacting 

---

Character for Leadership 
7 
 
transformational leadership behaviors are the self-directedness, cooperativeness, 
and self-transcendence of the leader.