Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

Natacha Prudent and Mary Crossan propose embedding leader character into organizations, asserting that the sustainability of DEI efforts depends on leaders reaffirming their commitment to character, suggesting it as a foundational element for both organizations and DEI initiatives: “corporate DNA.” The authors underscore the financial benefits of gender and ethnic diversity in leadership roles and use the Ivey Leader Character Framework (ILCF) as a tool aimed to guide leaders in introspection and development, emphasizing the role of character in driving comprehensive, sustainable change in DEI.

William Spangler delves into how CEOs’ humility and narcissism influence their behavior, focusing on dysfunctional behavior like fraud, crime, corruption, and bribery. With a sample of 190 CEOs and data collected from interviews and public sources, Spangler introduces a set of diverse CEO archetypes. The article differentiates between professional CEOs and entrepreneurial CEOs. Spangler describes how humility and narcissism can coexist in CEOs and shows how humility moderates narcissistic tendencies, reducing the propensity to engage in dysfunctional and negative leader behaviors.

James R. Rychard explores the essence of high-performance teams, emphasizing the role of collaboration and how it is rooted in social intelligence as part of the character dimension of humanity. After examining the threat of “dark triad” personalities to team dynamics, the article presents an exemplary case of socially intelligent leader Kazuo Inamori, former CEO of Japan Airlines, and extracts important lessons for the public sector. Rychard underscores the importance of investing in leadership development and fostering a culture of character to support collaboration in the public sector.

Trevor Hunter argues for the importance of leader character and instrumental skills in nonprofit organization (NPO) boards. The article explores distinctive duty-of-care expectations for NPO boards, emphasizing their role in protecting the organization’s mission and the quality of judgment required to navigate nuanced decisions. Hunter asks, “What are the implications for NPO performance if the board is not demonstrating leader character?” Examples illustrate how each of the Ivey Leader Character Framework (ILCF) dimensions can manifest in NPO board behaviors to safeguard the mission.

Karen Fryday-Field and Marlene Janzen Le Ber acknowledge systemic challenges impacting governance and highlight the influence of board culture on interactions and decisions, emphasizing the role of implicit rules, values, and past stories. They propose redefining effective governance through collective board character. The article adapts the Ivey Leader Character Framework (ILCF) from the individual to the board level and presents a case study involving a breakdown in communication and trust that underscores the transformative power of board leader character.

Tiffany Maldonado, Tanny Carmona, Jordan Jessup, and Montserrat Sanz Mondragon explore the role of CEO humility in shaping inclusive environments within organizations. Acknowledging the progress made by organizations in embracing inclusivity, the article discusses the concept of an inclusive environment, emphasizing the importance of valuing uniqueness, promoting belonginess, and integrating differences in decision-making. The authors suggest that humility is a key character dimension of inclusive leaders, impacting the development of an inclusive environment both internally and externally.

Cassandra Ellis, Lucas Monzani, and Sonja Bruschetto argue that exercising leader character alongside mindfulness techniques has the potential to enhance leaders’ ability to reduce stress and burnout and to motivate individuals, groups, and organizations toward the pursuit of collective objectives and goals. Emphasizing the importance of workplace well-being initiatives, the authors advocate for a tailored mindfulness-based strengths practice (MBSP) that is rooted in character development, offers insights on enhancing decision-making, protects well-being, and helps companies gain a competitive edge.

The Equation for Equality tackles the issues of occupational segregation, labor-shortage acuteness, and the risks faced by both individuals and employers when engaging with career transitions. The equation gives employers a way to expand their talent pool in a low-risk way by identifying workers outside a given sector that use a similar skill set to that required by an open position.