The New Ethos: Where Gamesmanship Ends And Character Begins
Houston, TX, USA - February 8, 2015: Monopoly Board Game - car on Park Place with hotel
Success stories are told in the language of domination—of markets, rivals, and time. But stories of grit and perseverance turn out to be half-baked. After decades of worshipping at the altar of productivity and winning at all costs, a new ethos is emerging that elevates character alongside competence for competitive advantage.
The new ethos embraces a more complete view of character and challenges its misconceptions. For example, it challenges the myth that people with character operate with 'one hand tied behind their back,' or that character can't be developed, as Bill Furlong, Rob Austin, and I explain in our MIT Sloan article 'Make Leader Character Your Edge.' The new ethos requires a shift from treating business as a game to be played, based on competence alone, to one that relies on character as the foundation for competitive advantage, as captured in Table 1.
Table 1 - Old Versus New Ethos
The Toxic Side of the Game
The metaphor of business as a game—complete with winners, losers, scoreboards, and trophies—has shaped everything from how leaders manage teams to how decisions are made in the boardroom. However, this mindset can easily spiral into toxicity.
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When success is measured only by profits and quarterly performance, wins and losses, bad behavior is often excused, even celebrated. The casualties of a 'win-at-any-cost' mentality are well documented, from financial fraud to toxic work cultures. Think of the implosions at Enron, Theranos, or, more recently, FTX. These weren't just failures in strategy—they were failures of character, as my colleagues and I documented in our 'Leadership on Trial' research, which examined the failures of leadership revealed in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.
Treating business as a game based on competence alone created a gravitational pull that has been difficult to shift. Individual mindsets, organizational priorities and practices, and broader regulation and oversight systems have become hard-wired around it, and even justify the game. We are all complicit. When we treat what we do as a game, we justify actions as 'just part of the game', 'it's business, it's not personal,' and we become desensitized to the harm. Shifting the gravitational pull of the current system starts with an undeniable logic that will motivate and shape the transformation.
The undeniable logic is that the competence-oriented gamification of business and society, relying on a cost-benefit consequentialist rationale, is failing virtually every measure. Short-termism has fueled crises like the 2008 financial collapse and scandals at Enron and Boeing, where near-term gain outweighed safety or transparency. Meanwhile, workplace burnout and mental health declines reflect how human well-being is often sacrificed for productivity, as revealed in Gallup polls and OECD reports. Environmental degradation, driven by externalizing ecological costs, is documented in IPCC reports, while the UN draws attention to income inequality that threatens economic growth and democracy. Philosophers like Michael Sandel (author of Democracy's Discontent and What Money Can't Buy) argue that market-driven reasoning undermines moral and civic values, advocating for frameworks prioritizing justice, dignity, and capability over sheer utility. Alternative approaches are imperative, with trust in capitalism eroding as revealed by the Edelman Trust Barometer.
A New Ethos Based on Character
To shift the gravitational pull from the consequentialist cost-benefit paradigm requires a new foundation that defines and measures success differently. Rather than relying on the logic of cost-benefit analysis to determine the merits of decisions and actions, a virtue ethics paradigm has us examining who we are first. As Forbes writer Jonathan Westover describes in his article 'Approaches to Organizational and Leadership Ethics In a Complex World,' virtue ethics focuses on the person's character, meaning that the test of sound judgment is not one anchored in costs and benefits alone, but rather a test of character.
Character, anchored in virtue ethics, is one of the most ancient areas of study, dating back to Confucius, Aristotle, and Plato. There has been significant efforts in recent years including the works of Alasdair MacIntyre in 'After Virtue,' Fred Kiel, in 'Return on Character,' Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson's research volume 'Character Strengths and Virtues,' David Brooks in 'The Road to Character,' General James Anderson and Dave Anderson's book 'Becoming a Leader of Character,' 'Cultivating Virtue in the University' by Michael Lamb, Jonathan Brant and Edward Brooks, and my books 'Developing Leadership Character' with Gerard Seijts and Jeffrey Gandz, and 'The Character Compass' with Gerard Seijts and Bill Furlong. General Stanley McChrystal's recent book, 'On Character: Choices That Define a Life,' has received considerable press. While these books have given character profile and helped people see its value, most people believe they have character covered by having 'good values.'
So, what does character look like in a corporate context? It's not a glossy mission statement or a set of aspirational values. The hard work of developing character underpins the realization of aspirational values, which manifests as courage in the face of hard decisions. It's humility when leaders admit mistakes, empathy in how employees are treated, and accountability when things go wrong.
Patagonia has modeled this ethos for years. Its environmental activism isn't marketing—it's identity, as Forbes contributor Doug Sundheim describes: 'Much of its success can be traced back to Chouinard's uncompromising leadership since Day One. Whereas many companies espouse a set of values only to sacrifice them under the pressure of quarterly returns, Patagonia has religiously stuck to theirs for the last half century, come what may. Quality, integrity, sustainability, and justice were never negotiable.' Unfortunately, too many people focus on the values of Patagonia, whereas the basis of the competitive advantage arises from the character of the leaders and their capacity to infuse that strength of character in others.
Character is not subjective. In 'Cracking the Code: Leader Character Development for Competitive Advantage,' Corey Crossan, Bill Furlong, and I put to rest misconceptions about character. We clearly articulate what it is, how it can be assessed and developed, and how it can be embedded in an organization. In my Forbes article 'From Good to Great: 10 Ways to Elevate Your Character Quotient,' we offer 10 questions that provide a strategic assessment of what it takes to embrace character leadership fully. These foundational approaches underpin seeing and embracing character as a new ethos.
A high character quotient gives individuals confidence that they know what needs to be done to embrace character as a new imperative. A low quotient suggests gaps that reveal significant blind spots. If you do not understand how imbalances of character compromise judgment, and you cannot observe and identify character imbalances in yourself or others, it is easy to fall into the trap of using cost-benefit analysis to evaluate success. You tend to overlook the dysfunctional behaviors of leaders with imbalanced character, focusing only on either selective results or some justification of their actions. A tell-tale sign is when we dismiss someone's arrogance, disrespect, and abusive behavior because we fail to see and understand that these behaviors are evidence of character imbalances that will inevitably compromise judgment.
Shifting the Gravitation Pull Starts with Us
Part of shifting the gravitational pull to character resides in our capacity to diagnose the strength of character in ourselves and others, identify the imbalances that compromise judgment, and actively work to mitigate them. In our workshops, once people are exposed to the leader character framework with its 11 dimensions and 62 supporting behaviors, they can start to observe and identify strengths and weaknesses in the character of others. They begin to see that the imbalance in character dimensions, such as the high drive, courage, and transcendence of Steve Jobs, coupled with low temperance and humility, compromises judgment. With that understanding, they are better equipped to move beyond a superficial assessment of leadership based on results, to one that can diagnose the strength of character that underpins judgment.
There are often three profound moments in our workshops. The first is when people begin to see that character reveals itself in micro-moments and decision-making episodes, not just a general account of whether someone was successful. The second is when they grasp that observable behaviors such as being disrespectful, condescending, and arrogant are the manifestations of character imbalances that compromise judgment. Often, these were deemed a matter of style or personality. With the lens of character they are seen as the bell-weather of compromised judgment, not only in the leader who disregards insight from others, but in how the leader fosters a toxic culture that undermines judgment more broadly. The third moment is when they come to grips with the understanding that a person would never weaken a strength like courage or drive, but instead character development focuses on strengthening weakness like temperance and humility, as in the case of Jobs, to ensure strengths don't manifest as excess vices. Strengthening humility does not need to sacrifice courage. Also, unlike personality, which is a set of semi-stable traits, character can be developed, providing a great deal of inspiration and aspiration, particularly because it benefits well-being and sustained excellence, both personally and professionally.
One of the tricky aspects of character is that it is easier to identify imbalances in others than in ourselves. We tend to judge ourselves on our good intentions and others on their behaviors, and suffer from a chronic over-estimation of our self-awareness. Tasha Eurich's research reveals that 85% of people believe they are self-aware, while only 10% are. To close the gap, there are assessments such as the Leader Character Insight Assessment offered through Sigma Assessment Systems and the VIA Character Strengths survey offered through VIA. In terms of developing character, Corey Crossan and I created the Virtuosity mobile app to embed the science of character and the science of habit development in technology that guides individual character development.
The famous 1970 cartoon by Walt Kelly, portraying that 'we have met the enemy, and it is us,' is spot-on for character. Until we understand character, identify imbalances in ourselves and others, and actively work on developing character, we will continue to misdiagnose the factors that compromise judgment, leading to the many ills facing individuals, organizations, and society. Strengthening the individual foundations of character is necessary but insufficient, as there is a need for course correction in the broader systems embodying old ways of thinking.
Cultivating Character in Organizations and Oversight
If character is the new ethos, cultivating it must go beyond surface-level virtue signaling. It must be systematically and sincerely embedded into the organization's DNA. As Forbes contributor Glenn Llopis writes, 'A leader's character is what earns the right to lead others.' It's not charisma or cleverness—it's the moral gravity that holds an enterprise together.
Pam Boney, a contributor to the Forbes Coaches Council, put it bluntly: 'Before a company can realize any objectives, it needs a supportive culture—and that culture must be grounded in character.' In my recent Forbes article 'Seeing How Character Eats Culture For Breakfast,' based on collaborations with Corey Crossan and Bill Furlong, I offer a practical approach to helping organizations understand how culture reflects the character of its members. This practical and revolutionary approach helps individuals and organizations see that the culture they seek is anchored in character, yet the culture they often experience reflects the imbalances of character of its members, particularly leaders. The remedy is to start with leader character development to transform the organizational culture.
From the vantage point of actively developing character, it is easy to see how policies and practices often work against character and reinforce old and outdated mindsets. For example, in an MIT Sloan Management Review article, 'Make Character Count in Hiring and Promoting,' I describe that we tend to hire on competence and fire people because of character. Human Resource practices such as recruiting, hiring, performance management, promotion, and succession management need to shift the gravitational pull to elevate character alongside competence. Simply put, wherever competence resides, character belongs.
Another key leverage point for shifting the ethos is oversight, whether that be by Boards of Directors, Trade Associations, or regulators. The same prescriptions exist. Members need to develop their character; from that vantage point, they can see ways to help shift the ethos. For example, boards of directors are responsible for selecting CEOs but have often neglected implementing an evidence-based approach to assess character. Few would understand how to assess the quality of judgment and decision-making of the organization based on character. Although regulators continue to struggle with misconduct in organizations, few have turned to character to influence change. Notable exceptions are the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the U.K., one of the first regulators to pick up on our 'Leadership on Trial' research and share it with their constituents. Also, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OFSI) in Canada noted in a January 31, 2024, guideline that integrity is achieved by 'ensuring people are of good character.'
Character in an AI World
While AI and automation evolve, companies shaping the future will be led by humans whose character-based judgment will become even more important. In my recent Forbes article on 'Why Artificial Intelligence Needs Character-Based Leadership,' I make the case for how character-based judgment harnesses the power of AI. There is no replacement for character. Business is not a game. It is time for a new ethos with character as the foundation.
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