Why virtues need to replace values in leadership and citizenship
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.
How can one begin to define values and virtues, especially when things get complicated in the definitions? It's challenging, and maybe academics make it too complicated. An unfair statement, perhaps. After all, philosophers like Aristotle and Confucius wrestled with ethical concepts, setting centuries of debates and discussions in motion.
What I know springs from growing up on a farm near a small town. We were steeped in Christian values, Midwest values, small-town values, and family values. Values became a common language that we just accepted. We felt safe in our similar space. Little diversity existed, other than farm kids versus city kids. City may be a misnomer since our town had 500 people.
Fast forward 40 years, and within this time, my experiences include time in politics, government, and business. Today, my focus is on completing my doctorate, helping social entrepreneurs, and teaching a university class on leadership. The reason to mention my background is that our experiences shape us, including our thoughts and behaviors.
Why is this conversation on values vital now?
We live in an increasingly divisive world. Some seem to want to roll back time to when differences were hidden or discriminated against. Others are ready to advance society in a way that embraces the inevitable changes underway. While change is always happening, too many don't want to recognize this fact. We have a choice to support change in a way that betters as many as possible or deny change by holding sectors of society back to a comfortable state for a few.
Some will claim that they wish to do certain things in the name of values. You don't hear those individuals talk about virtues. What is happening is some are using values to divide and avoid change. Values have driven some to be dogmatic.
On the other hand, virtues seem elusive. Some may consider virtues to be too high-minded or religious. Virtues become something we read about in fables. A result may be that we set them aside for another time, another day.
Definitions matter, especially if we want to re-center on virtues and values.
Values defined
Values are personal. Some relate values to character-based leadership, and the discussion centers on personal beliefs and principles. While some position values as guiding principles for personal and societal ends we desire, others are more straightforward. It is what individuals want that is beneficial to them and their welfare. Each definition concludes with what an individual desires.
What we value becomes our values. Values are personal, formed through our upbringing and forged into what an individual believes today. While we may be able to gain a consensus on specific essential values (e.g., trust), we may disagree on how to implement them. On balance, the outcome of our values is based on how it benefits the individual.
It is okay to have values, but they are not ideals or truths. They are personal guides to achieve the ends we desire. Each of us will value things differently, so you can begin to see how divisiveness can take root. Values can become dangerous when we use them to hold others down or back.
Virtues defined
Aristotle and Confucius discuss how virtue is intentional, motivated by nature rather than self-advantage. Being inspired by nature translates to something greater than ourselves. Aristotle emphasized how we are social beings, and we are our best selves when we are living and leading within a community. We are intertwined with society, just as trees, plants, humans, and animals are interwoven in nature. We must not harm the diversity within our society. If we do, then we risk damaging individuals or societal segments. We need to behave in a manner that embraces our diversity while advancing our society.
Society, by its very nature, is diverse and filled with change. If we want to lead a good life, we need to develop a good society within various perspectives, ideas, genders, races, generations, and ethnic and cultural backgrounds. We can only realize our humanity when acting in the best interests of a diverse, interconnected society. Humanity requires compassion, empathy, and a sense of the common good.
Doing no harm is not the same as acting for the common good. Virtues call on us to do more, be more, and work in a way that advances ourselves and others. Virtues are centered in actions, always practiced. Most importantly, virtues are habits that can be learned and taught. They are universal – applicable to all, not just an individual.
While we need to do good works in our neighborhoods and businesses, we need a broader perspective regarding virtues. We should embrace society as a whole rather than just our cozy corner of it. Within society, a necessary diversity exists, along with inevitable changes, and we need to embrace it all through our virtuous mindset and actions.
Some discuss virtue as a mean between what is desirable and what is a vice of deficiency or excess. What I take from this is a struggle between doing what is good for a diverse many rather than taking a comfortable path for a few. Within this struggle, we focus on essential virtues to bend the mean to what is desirable for the many.
While virtues are many, they can be narrowed to essential ones. The common cardinal virtues from Aristotle and Confucius include courage, humanity, prudence, temperance, and truthfulness. The Virtues Project outlines 100 virtues, but these five are a good starting point for our behaviors, habits, and teachable moments.
Virtue is an intentional behavior to do what is best for a diverse society. To behave with virtue requires understanding different experiences and backgrounds while finding the best blended path forward for society's betterment. If behaviors and outcomes benefit only a few or a group of individuals with similar characteristics, then virtue is not the motivating force. Virtues raise our sight and actions toward a greater good based on a blended societal benefit, not a personal advantage. A diverse mix of society must benefit from the outcomes for virtue to be evident in one's actions.
Striving for a better self and society
In an ideal world, values are replaced by virtues, or at least, what we value is framed by a cardinal virtue. Virtues are lived for the sake of humanity. Lived means virtues are evident in our behaviors. Our mindset is centered on betterment, as are our actions.
We all face challenges. They differ in scope and depth. Shouldn't we have stronger empathy for those different from us if this is true? A commonality across race and gender is how we all face challenges. While each challenge is unique, virtues can be what unites us.
As many TED talks on leadership highlight, we all experience dreams and fears. Virtues are what guide our moral senses and actions toward betterment rather than selfishness.
It is time to stop promoting values-based leadership and individual values. A minimal shift is to talk about what we value rather than our values. Most of all, we need a transformational change. We need to move from self-centered values to other-centered virtues. Let's define our choices, behaviors, and actions aligned to virtues.
Sources
Thank you to this community for your shared perspectives on values and virtues. I took them into account as I wrote this article. Also included were the resources outlined below.
Crossan, M., Mazutis, D., & Seijts, G. (2013). In Search of Virtue: The Role of Virtues, Values and Character Strengths in Ethical Decision Making. Journal of Business Ethics, 113(4), 567–581. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1680-8
Hackett, R. D., & Wang, G. (2012). Virtues and leadership. Management Decision, 50(5), 868–899. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251741211227564
Newstead, T. (2021). Being Explicit About Virtues: Analysing TED Talks and Integrating Scholarship to Advance Virtues-Based Leadership Development. Journal of Business Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04966-2
Newstead, T., Dawkins, S., Macklin, R., & Martin, A. (2019). We don't need more leaders – We need more good leaders. Advancing a virtues-based approach to leader(ship) development. The Leadership Quarterly, 32(5), 101312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2019.101312
Sullivan, M., & Blaschko, P. (2022). The good life method: Reasoning through the big questions of happiness, faith, and meaning. Penguin Press.