Character for Leadership: The Role of Personal Characteristics

Definition of Terms 
Transformational leadership
is defined as leadership that motivates 
followers through an inspiring vision in such a way that followers are 
fundamentally transformed in their values, attitudes, and actions. Such leadership is 
an ethical enterprise (Bass, 1985; Burns, 1978, 2003; Ciulla, 1998a). 
Visionary leadership
is (a) leadership in which the personal characteristics 
of the leader are seen as extremely significant in guiding the leader’s actions as 
well as (b) leadership that transforms individuals and organizations. Visionary 
leadership is similar to transformational leadership in that visionary leaders develop 
themselves and their followers morally “in constructing organizational cultures that 
benefit others. Thus they create meaning in their own lives and an organizational 
context in which others can make their own meaning” (Sashkin & Sashkin, 2002, p. 
145). However, in contrast to other perspectives of transformational leadership, 
visionary leadership is based on the character of the leader in addition to the 
behaviors and context of the leader. 
Character
is a component of personality, apart from temperament, that is 
the capacity of the self involved in the exercise of good judgment and the display of 
moral development (Leonard, 1997). Character governs one’s selection of 
particular behaviors in response to external stimuli. Temperament refers to one’s 
natural response to such stimuli, while character is limited to those attributes 
involved in the selection and implementation of behavioral responses. Unlike 
character, temperament has a physiological basis. 
Self-directedness
is defined as a multifaceted, higher-order character trait 
that includes the aspects of personal responsibility, purposefulness, resourcefulness, 
self-acceptance, and well-developed goal-congruent habits (Cloninger, Przybeck, et 

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Character for Leadership 
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al., 1994). Alternatively, this character trait has been described as self-discipline 
and self-control. In most treatments of personality, self-directedness is equivalent 
to the concept of behavioral self-regulation. 
Cooperativeness
, like self-directedness, is a multifaceted, higher-order 
character trait that includes the aspects of tolerance of others, empathy, helpfulness 
toward others, compassion, and fairness and ethical stability in interpersonal 
relationships (Cloninger, Przybeck, et al., 1994).
 
Self-transcendence
is defined as a multifaceted, higher-order character trait 
that includes the aspects of self-forgetfulness, a strong connection to nature and 
social justice, and spiritual acceptance (Cloninger, Przybeck, et al., 1994).