It happens everywhere, and we are all vulnerable. In business, in the military, in non-profits and in churches good leaders succumb to a temptation. Every leader is vulnerable including me and you.

I am talking about moral decisions. Decisions that ruin our credibility, our reputations and our moral authority. The public is shocked. Our friends are surprised. And our family may be devastated. 

Why does someone with a good track record for acting with character decide to take the wrong path in some situations?  I believe it has to do with exercise. Leaders become vulnerable because they forget that character is a muscle that needs to be exercised.

Exercising To Avoid Injury

The muscles in your body grow weaker without exercise. As I have aged, I find that without exercise, my back becomes vulnerable. I may feel fine for a few weeks or months without doing the exercises I know I should do to strengthen my back.

But a day of reckoning will come. A day when I try to lift something heavy and BAM. My back is out. I made myself vulnerable because I had not been focused on staying fit.

I made multiple small decisions over the preceding weeks to not do the right thing – exercise. As a result, my muscles became weaker and without warning, I injure myself.

Exercising Character

Our character is the same way. Without exercise, we become vulnerable. We may have a history of wise decisions that demonstrate our Integrity, our Selflessness and our sense of Duty.

But we may become lax and begin to ignore the small decisions in our lives.  When we tell a fib, put ourselves first, or avoid a part of our job we hate. It is similar to not exercising at the gym.

Our muscles will atrophy and lose strength. Then when a big test comes, we are not ready. We make a decision and find ourselves in a situation of our own making, that shocks everyone including ourselves.

If we tell ourselves that a “little white lie” is no big deal, we are setting ourselves up for a bigger failure in our character later. If we allow ourselves to slip away from exercising our Integrity, Selflessness or Duty in the small things, we will not be ready when the big test comes.

If you have never bench pressed 100 pounds, what makes you think you will be able to bench press 250 pounds? If you used to bench press 250 pounds and quit working out, would you expect to be able to lift that same weight again if tested? Probably not.

Six Character Muscles

There are six Habits of Character that my father, General Jim Anderson and I focus on in our upcoming book, Becoming a Leader of Character. Those habits include Courage, Humility, Integrity, Selflessness, Duty and Positivity.

Each of these Habits of Character is like a muscle. If you are in the habit of exercising them daily and weekly, you will be less likely to succumb to the negative temptations everyone faces.

But if you ignore those muscles, those areas of your character, you will be similar to someone who is bench pressing for the first time, or the first time in weeks or months. You may not be strong enough to perform the task at hand or you may even injure yourself.

The Bottom Line

Exercise is never easy. Consistent exercise will develop our muscles – our character – to the point where we are strong, fit and less vulnerable. However, if we get away from what kept us fit in the past, we are setting ourselves up for the failures in character, the bad decisions, that every leader will be tempted to make.

At the end of every chapter in Becoming a Leader of Character, we provide a list of exercises that can strengthen each of the six Habits of Character. These are daily and weekly exercises that are designed to prepare you for the temptations to come and help all of us avoid the downfall that weakened character muscles can create in even the best leaders.

Orders for Becoming a Leader of Character – Six Habits that Make or Break a Leader at Work and at Home have just opened up on Amazon. Click on the link below to order now:

bit.ly/LOCBook

Other retailers like Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, and Powell’s Books will sell Becoming a Leader of Character as well.

Question:

Which Habit of Character do you think makes leaders most vulnerable if they ignore exercising it – Courage, Humility, Integrity, Selflessness, Duty, or Positivity?