Three Critical Characteristics of Leadership: Character, Stewardship, Experience

• Date: 01 December 2014
• Published date: 01 December 2014
• Author: Al Gini,Ronald M. Green
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/basr.12040

Three Critical Characteristics

of Leadership: Character,

Stewardship, Experience

AL GINI AND RONALD M. GREEN

ABSTRACT

There is no one definition of leadership. The leadership

equation is never set or fixed. Time, place, specific prob-

lems, the particular parties involved all play a role in the

leadership equation. Nor is there one specific list of attri-

butes, virtues, or skills that all leaders must and do

possess. Nonetheless, we argue that at its core, all forms

of ethical leadership are based on three elemental ingre-

dients: character,stewardship, and experience.

“Leadership is really a matter of character. The process of

becoming a leader is no different than the process of becom-

ing a fully integrated human being.”

– Warren Bennis

As a species, we are fascinated by the concept of leadership

and the conduct of individual leaders. We often accord them

rock star status, we make them social icons, and we eagerly

follow every aspect of their personal and professional lives. And yet,

while we are enthralled by leaders, we are uneasy in regard to our

relationship to them. We alternatively love them, hate them, desire

them, despise them, seek them out, and shun them. Nevertheless,

Al Gini is Department Chair, Professor at the Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL. E-mail:

agini@luc.edu. Ronald M. Green is Director, Professor at the Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH.

E-mail: ronald.m.green@dartmouth.edu.

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Business and Society Review 119:4 435–446

© 2014 Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.,

350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, and 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK.