Aspen trees are wonderful organisms, exemplifying community and empathy. Aspens serve each other as well as specifies different than themselves. Aspens equal community.

We have become values-centered in our actions and policies, and it is tearing us apart. Values are personal or based on an outcome important to an individual. Virtues are behaviors focused on taking action for a societal benefit, not a personal one. We need to shift to virtues in how we live and lead.

What is the end goal when we act? We need a philosophy of betterment. Motives must be evaluated based on how our decisions and actions better those who are unlike us. Our conversations need to focus on what we are trying to achieve based on a moral and ethical standard.

What does a leader of conscience mean? It begins with character to avoid distorted values with a centered focus on virtues of humanity. A leader of conscience engages in community conversations and identifies what virtues to act upon in the choices being made.

Leadership and love are two concepts that are not often intermixed. However, love fits with transformational leadership, and it engages empathy with a call to do the right thing. Intersecting business and society requires a dose of love to empower better leadership, moral behavior, and integrative empathy.

Too often, we remain comfortable with those like us or issues that rile those within our circle. Real problem solving and progress comes from leading within intersections. Intersectional leaders are needed now to reduce polarization and collaborate forward.

Moral dogma seems prevalent today. We need breakthroughs, and we can begin by using moral insight. Moral insight is a leadership practice to build genuine stakeholder capitalism and enliven mutual trust.

What is the role of willpower in leadership? When CEOs take active stands against voter restrictions, it may not be a comfortable action but necessary when political leadership vacancies arise. Leadership willpower is required.

Too many business and political leaders are triggered into self-interested, negative actions. We have lost our ability to think and act beyond the immediate.

The power outage crises in Texas showed the weakness of independence, but the community showed its strength when supporting each other in its aftermath.

In the last discussion of my doctorate leadership ethics class, a challenging question was posed: How can we develop organizations and institutions that support good leadership?

The dirty chores at home on the farm were always “character-building.” My dad always used to say that shoveling out the hog barn “builds character.” What I knew at the time is that the only thing it built was a healthy smell that lingered way too long.