What is character?
Character is the guiding core of who we are – a mosaic of personal dispositions or habits that are developed over time and shape how we perceive, think, feel, and act. Our character includes both our motivation to be a certain kind of person and how we consistently act on our values and concerns.
Why does character matter?
Positive character traits like integrity, creativity, courage, and compassion are known as virtues or "excellences' - ways of being that fulfil our own potential and contribute to the well-being of others around us.
Character is not binary (you have it or you don't), but rather built over time through repeated practice. Good character improves outcomes for individuals and organisations.
How is character developed?
Character grows through a personal journey of repeated practice, emulating role models and reflecting on past experiences. It is shaped socially by the people around us and patterns of institutional life. Character often grows most amid difficulty.
Our focus areas
Business
Good leadership is essential for businesses to perform at their best – to maintain a positive culture, make the most of opportunities for growth, return value to their stakeholders, and navigate the uncertainties and challenges they face.
Supported by the John Templeton Foundation, and in partnership with the Forward Institute, we conducted a 3-year, £2.6m study on character, culture, and leadership in UK business. We found that character is central to good leadership. 52% of the features identified by participants related to character virtues, 35% to interpersonal skills, and 13% to professional competence.
Higher Education
To bridge the gap between theory and practice, we have developed several leadership development programmes, based on our cutting-edge research, to help students become wise thinkers and good leaders. These programmes are built on the seven strategies for character development, a framework we produced to understand how character is developed and how it drives good leadership.
We have also developed training programmes to support students across the world, as well as professionals. Our free, 30-day online course – Leading with Character – is open to anyone, anywhere.
Politics
Political leadership has the power to shape communities and society. At their best, political leaders provide hope, maintain peace and stability, and empower citizens to overcome shared challenges. But leaders can also sow division and leave communities worse off by prioritising private goods. Today, political leaders are under pressure to deliver, often in the face of hostility and violence, and with ever-decreasing levels of trust. What competencies and character qualities are needed for political leaders to advance the common good in different contexts around the world?
We are part of the Leadership Excellence in Politics (LEiP) Initiative, a global group of leadership experts, educators and political leaders brought together by the Better Politics Foundation, Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and Kofi Annan Foundation and Nexus Vesting. The aim is to identify patterns and practices of good leadership in politics and to translate that understanding into leadership education programmes for current and aspiring political leaders.
Sport
Sport is central to social life in communities worldwide and has long shaped character and leadership development - giving rise to some of the most prominent examples of good leadership. We are developing a new research area on character-based leadership in sport, in order to show how character boosts performance on and off the field and create evidence-based programmes for professional and community sport.
To date, we have partnered with rowing world champions and Olympians to translate effective practices from high-performance sport into character and leadership development. We have delivered leadership programmes for football clubs - at both the professional and grassroots level - and are engaging national bodies to advance research on character-based leadership in football.
If you are interested in partnering with us on this, please contact us at info@oxfordcharacter.org.
Personality is how you respond on a typical day. Character is how you show up on your worst day. It's easy to demonstrate fairness, integrity, and generosity when things are going well. The real question is whether you stand by those values when the deck is stacked against you.
Prof Adam Grant
Professor, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania