Fordham University Masthead Logo DigitalResearch@Fordham Business Faculty Publications Gabelli School of Business Winter 1-2013 What is character and why it really does matter Thomas A. Wright Fordham University, [email protected] Tyler L. Lauer [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://fordham.bepress.com/gsb_facultypubs Part of the Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons Recommended Citation Wright, Thomas A. and Lauer, Tyler L., "What is character and why it really does matter" (2013). Business Faculty Publications. 2. https://fordham.bepress.com/gsb_facultypubs/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Gabelli School of Business at DigitalResearch@Fordham. It has been accepted for inclusion in Business Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalResearch@Fordham. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright Author's personal copy Organizational Dynamics (2013) 42, 25—34 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com jo urnal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/orgdyn What is character and why it really does matter Thomas A. Wright, Tyler L. Lauer The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no is ‘‘dying’’ and at a rapid pace. Coupled with the decline in one is looking. character has been the rise in various forms of moral indi- Legendary UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden vidualism. This is unfortunate because character plays a significant role in better understanding a wide array of human activities and endeavors. In addition, as further evidenced by ‘‘CHARACTER’’ AND POLITICS our quote, recognition of character’s important role is long- standing and did not commence with the more recent moral Massachusetts candidate, and eventual winner, for the Uni- (and financial) collapse of Arthur Andersen, Fannie Mae, ted States Senate, Elizabeth Warren, apparently thought Siemans, Solyndra, AIG, and WorldCom, among many others. ‘‘no one was looking’’ a number of years ago when she falsely Perhaps no leading public leadership figure in modern claimed Native American identity and was hired as the ‘‘first times has better recognized the important role of character woman of color’’ at Harvard Law School. Since the story in everyday life than the 26th President of the United States, broke in the spring of 2012, Warren’s responses have ranged Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt was resolute in his conviction from ridiculous to the sublime (her affinity for Cherokee that ‘‘The foundation stone of national life is, and ever must cooking). Perhaps most distressing was her repeated claim be, the high individual character of the average citizen.’’ In that she never promoted her supposed minority status to get one of his first official acts as President, Roosevelt introduced a job and after being hired that she never knew that Harvard a comprehensive anti-corruption campaign against a number touted her as a minority. After repeated scrutiny, Warren of the nation’s most influential industries and corporate finally admitted that, in fact, she had told Harvard and Penn monopolies with the overarching goal of helping to renew about her supposedly Native American ancestry, a claim American character. Generating great interest with the pub- based solely on ‘‘family lore.’’ Even with this serious ques- lic, Roosevelt’s anti-corruption campaign was highly success- tion to her character, Warren easily won the election, in ful in its intended effect of uncovering corrupt gatekeepers large part by raising more campaign contributions than her from both the private and public sectors. Roosevelt’s crusade less than highly regarded opponent, incumbent Scott Brown. also had unintended consequences. Unfortunately for the voting public, instead of directly In his haste to expose dishonesty and strengthen citizen addressing this issue of character, both candidates know- character, one side effect was that a number of honest ingly took the low road and actively engaged in much nega- individuals had their character falsely defamed. To his tive campaigning, leaving many voters disgusted with the credit, while emphasizing his strong desire to combat dis- process. honesty and corruption, Roosevelt also was clear in his In the context of our quote from longtime (1948—1975) disdain toward those who fabricated stories or lied to solely UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, Warren was obviously foster their self-interest. In a word he adopted from John not looking very closely when her character was tested. A job Bunyan’s, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Roosevelt called these at the prestigious Harvard Law School was more important scoundrels, muckrakers, and noted that ‘‘an epidemic on than telling the truth about her ancestry. For many today the indiscriminant assault upon character does not good, but widely recognized crisis in leadership, integrity, courage, very great harm. ..’’ For Roosevelt, a muckraker was sense of duty, even one’s zest for life and work, can be obviously an individual very much devoid of character. Den- associated with the perceived decline in individual character nis L. Smith has firsthand knowledge of the great harm and organizational virtue. At the extreme, a number of social caused by false, indiscriminant muckraking assaults on his commentators have eulogized that character, if not ‘‘dead’’ character. 0090-2616/$ — see front matter # 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2012.12.004 Author's personal copy 26 T.A. Wright, T.L. Lauer character construct. Many of these same definitional issues A CASE OF CHARACTER ASSASSINATION still exist today — with the confusion surrounding what constitutes character, as opposed to merely values or per- In a story that ended up in the national press, Dennis L. Smith, sonality, becomingly quite problematic. Fortunately, a a former Iowa State University employee in the College of grounded definitional basis for a more precise conceptualiza- Engineering’s marketing department had his character tion of character can be found in a number of sources. viciously assaulted when he exposed his supervisor’s misman- Included among these sources are Aristotelian thought, the agement, abuse of authority and financial misconduct to the Judeo-Christian beliefs advocated by St. Paul of faith, hope then Iowa State University President. In retaliation for expos- and charity, such Eastern philosophies as Confucianism (as ing his supervisor’s criminal mismanagement (she eventually espoused in the tenets of jen, yi, li, zhi, & xin), as well as plead guilty to first-degree theft), Smith was accused of by the more modern, secular models such as utilitarian, justice being ‘‘a very real threat to personal safety’’ and a ‘‘poten- and social contract. While traditional views of character (as tial terrorist or mass murderer’’ and fired. Incredibly, Smith well as virtue) have been influenced by a range of religious and had no idea that he was being accused of these heinous acts philosophical sources, it has long been recognized that they until after the fact. Taking his case to the Iowa courts after share one important similarity. They typically contain both several years of abuse, Smith was awarded $500,000 by the moral and social dimensions. Aristotle was clear in noting that jury for emotional distress, with the judge awarding him an character has a social component in addition to the more additional $784,000, plus attorney fees, for loss of income obvious moral component. According to Aristotle, strength and damage to his reputation. of character is an acquired trait, learned through the tedious Highly typical for whistleblowers, Smith’s perseverance, process of trial and error. Related to this is his doctrine of the valor, and integrity in the face of adversity came with severe ‘‘golden mean.’’ In life, we are often confronted with situa- costs. Friends and co-workers testified that as a result of the tions involving a choice between two or more actions. Aris- years of experienced harassment, Smith lost weight, totle, in the Nicomachean Ethics, well expresses this choice increased his alcohol consumption and became irritable at dilemma in noting, ‘‘To enjoy the things we ought and to hate work. And if this wasn’t enough, getting another job was the things we ought has the greatest bearing on excellence of made exceedingly difficult because he was not able to find character.’’ Subject to the limitations and restrictions of one’s alternative employment without references from the very available talents and resources, those exhibiting a virtuous supervisors who colluded to retaliate against him. Even after character select a course of action from between the two the jury vindication verdict in April 2012, the retaliation extremes of disposition (hexis), those of deficiency or excess. continued as Iowa State University announced its intention to For example, Aristotle regarded generosity as the mean appeal the court decision! Smith demonstrated strength of between wastefulness and stinginess; valor constituted the character in the face of the adversity he faced. mean between cowardliness and rashness. Similar to Warren’s contentious congressional race in The importance of character was also evident in a number of Massachusetts, the 2012 United States presidential race the leading Eastern religions and philosophies. The teachings of has emphasized not only the importance of, but also the Confucius are often considered the most influential in the confusion regarding the meaning of character.