Key Principles of Leadership

• A leader’s greatness is measured by the degree of greatness he brings out in those around him.

• Leadership is about greatness and service.

• Greatness is the result of the practice of the virtue of magnanimity; service is the result of the practice of the virtue of humility.

• Magnanimity is the habit of striving for greatness through contemplation and action;

• Humility is the habit of living in the truth: the truth about yourself, and the truth about others, which means both self-knowledge and service.

• Leadership begins with an exalted vision of self. Only then does it acquire a vision of what it seeks to achieve.

• You can and should base your actions on the fundamental virtues of prudence, courage, self-control and justice, but you can only base your existence on magnanimity and humility, on the ideals of greatness and service—in other words, on the ideal of leadership.

• Leaders do not lead by means of potestas or the power inherent in their office or functions. They lead by means of auctoritas or authority, which proceeds from character. Leadership is about acquired authority, not assumed powers.

• Leadership is not about rank or position or being on top of the heap. Leadership is a way of being, which can be lived by everyone no matter his or her place in society or in any given organization.

• If you are not a leader at all times, you are not a leader at all.

• Virtue is not a trait of temperament to be found in greater supply in one sex or the other. 

• Before becoming a leader, you need to become an integrated human being.

• Because leadership capabilities stem from character, and character is something we build through training, we say “Leaders are not born—They are trained.”

(originally by Alex Havard, at www.virtuousleadership.org)