ºÎ»ê½Ãû µµ¼­¿ä¾à
   ±Û·Î¹ú Æ®·»µå³»¼­Àç´ã±â 

åǥÁö







  • Understanding the Character of Success 


    In the 1940s, while consulting for industrial giant General Motors, Peter Drucker met the companys chairman Alfred Sloan, who, according to the Drucker Institute, became the management gurus model for "the effective executive" in his highly influential books. One insight from Sloan particularly impressed Drucker: Sloan insisted, "The chief executive must be . . . absolutely tolerant and pay no attention to how a man does his work, let alone whether he likes a man or not. The only criteria must be performance and character."


    Seven decades later, the twin criteria of performance and character remain just as essential in determining whether each individual adds value to an organization, from the CEO to the front-line employees. Yet despite this reality, what people are continuously measured and rewarded for is performance, not character.


    From first grade through college, students are graded on their academic performance. Throughout their careers, employees are evaluated and given or denied raises and promotions based on their work performance. The message is clear: High performance leads to success.


    But what about character? Perhaps because character is so hard to measure, it rarely shows up in evaluations explicitly. Yet character is just as important - or perhaps even more important - to success as is performance.


    According to University of Chicago economics and law professor James Heckman, a Nobel winner in Economic Sciences and author of The Myth of Achievement Tests,1 "Character skills matter at least as much as cognitive skills. A multiplicity of skills is needed for success in life. The power of personality, or character, has been demonstrated in numerous studies in addition to the longer-established power of cognitive traits like IQ and scores on achievement tests. If anything, character strengths matter more."


    As Heckman points out in one of a series of "Essays on Character & Opportunity" by a diverse assortment of experts from The Center on Children & Families at the Brookings Institution, a persons character is not genetically bestowed at birth. Character skills can be shaped and changed throughout the individuals life, unlike cognitive skills that are solidified by adolescence.2


    It seems clear that an educational system that focuses only on developing cognitive skills and rewarding performance rather than on character, isnt just keeping students from achieving greater success; it is also creating an environment in which those who do manage to rise to the top on performance alone can do even greater harm to their organizations and the world.


    As Teddy Roosevelt remarked, "To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society." From unscrupulous mortgage schemes to corporate scandals to Wall Street shenanigans, there are countless examples in recent history of smart, highly educated people of poor character who succeeded at the expense of society and the economy.


    So if character is so important, how can teaching curriculums be changed to give character just as much emphasis as performance?


    Fortunately, while the issue seems daunting, we actually have a strong model to follow. In 2005, Dr. Thomas Lickona, Director of the Center for the 4th and 5th Rs at SUNY Cortland, and Matthew Davidson, Director of the Institute for Excellence & Ethics, released A Report to the Nation: Smart & Good High Schools - Integrating Excellence and Ethics for Success in School, Work, and Beyond.3


    As they explained, "Throughout history and in cultures all over the world, education rightly conceived has had two great goals: to help students become smart and to help them become good. . . . Character is the pathway to both excellence and ethics.


    "Young people need performance character - diligence, a strong work ethic, a positive attitude, and perseverance - in order to realize their potential for excellence in any performance or achievement context in school, work, and beyond. They need moral character - integrity, respect, cooperation, and justice - in order to be ethical and fulfilled in their relationships.


    "If young people dont have performance character, they wont develop their talents and lead a productive life. The nation wont have a competent, competitive workforce.   If our young dont have moral character, they wont lead an ethical life. Society will be filled with people who lie, cheat, and steal.


    "In a Smart & Good High School, all things in the life of the school - routines, rituals, discipline, curriculum, co-curricular activities, and unplanned ¡®teachable moments - are intentionally utilized as opportunities to foster excellence and ethics."


    Lickona and Davidson further defined performance character and moral character in terms of eight strengths of character that lead to a successful and fulfilling life:


    1. Lifelong learner and critical thinker


    2. Diligent and capable performer


    3. Socially and emotionally skilled person


    4. Ethical thinker


    5. Respectful and responsible moral agent


    6. Self-disciplined person who pursues a healthy lifestyle


    7. Contributing community member and democratic citizen


    8. Spiritual person engaged in crafting a life of noble purpose


    Lickona and Davidson drew on academic theory, laboratory research, and real-world experience including visits to two dozen high schools that had received external recognition, to create their vision of the Smart & Good High School.


    Such schools are what they call ethical learning communities, where the teaching staff, students, parents, and the wider community work together to model and develop performance character and moral character, and to maximize their positive impact on the eight strengths of character.


    To help young people develop both performance character and moral character, they recommend the following strategies:


    Make the classroom environment both supportive and demanding. Students should feel safe to express unpopular opinions, be held accountable for their work, and be required to research both sides of a topic so they can see issues from every perspective.


    Teachers and coaches must discuss with students how cheating detracts from their education, integrity, and self-respect, as well as the reputation of the school. Students must be involved in creating a school culture -  including an honor code - that focuses on integrity.


    Advisory groups should be created in which members support and challenge each other to set and pursue goals related to performance character, moral character, and the eight strengths of character.


    In their freshman year, students should create a personal mission statement defining the person they hope to be. Throughout their education and beyond, they should be encouraged to revise their mission statement to reflect what theyve learned from their experiences.


    At various points during every course, students should be asked to reflect on particular character strengths required for success in that course, such as attention to detail, positive attitude, cooperation, perseverance, and courage. Then they should rate themselves on these qualities and set goals for improvement.


    Students should also study persons who exhibit performance excellence and moral excellence, then seek to emulate the character pathways used by such individuals.


    In history and literature classes, teachers should lead students in discussing moral and performance character as shown by historical and literary figures. Consider, "What made them great (or flawed)?" "Was there a disparity between their performance character and moral character?"


    People of exemplary work ethic from a variety of work settings (carpenters, factory technicians, lawyers, business people) should be invited to the school to discuss their work. Ask, "What do you find satisfying?" "How do you approach difficult tasks?" and "What ethical issues do you face in the workplace?"


    Students should be provided with opportunities to shadow and interview persons at work. Have students write up their findings and discuss them in small groups, analyzing the performance character and moral character qualities required for success in the areas of work observed. Have them reflect on the alignment of their own character strengths with a given area of work (e.g., "What character strengths do I now possess that would help me succeed in this job?" "What character strengths do I need to develop?"


    Students must be given opportunities to engage in community service and service learning. Have students discuss - and then work on - developing not only the moral character qualities (empathy, compassion, justice, and altruism) involved in service to others, but also the performance character qualities (organization, diligence, ingenuity, and perseverance) required to do service well. 

     
    Students should have regular opportunities for simulated work or real work experiences. Enable students to try their hand at different career opportunities and learn from experts in various fields about the qualities of performance character and moral character needed to succeed in each job.


    Based on this trend, we offer the following forecasts:


    First, experiments in education will ultimately provide success stories that will lead the way in reforming the nations education system.


    Schools that emphasize the importance of both moral character and performance character will develop students who are better equipped to succeed in their careers, take advantage of the opportunities our economy offers them, and contribute to society.


    Second, the model of ethical learning communities will provide a template for improving corporate training.


    Many of Lickona and Davidsons recommendations to help high school students develop moral character and performance character can be adapted to on-boarding programs at employers. Creating a personal mission statement, group discussions, shadow opportunities, and so on can all help new employees in developing the eight strengths of character.


    Third, a society in which most of the population learns to emphasize moral character in addition to performance character will provide positive benefits to the economy.


    According to David Callahan, author of The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead, half of job-seekers at every level, from CEOs on down, lie on their resumes, which leads to people being hired for jobs they arent qualified to perform.4 Meanwhile, if Americans filed accurate tax returns instead of lying about their income, the U.S. Treasury would gain at least $250 billion a year.


    References

    1.The Myth of Achievement Tests: The GED and the Role of Character in American Life edited by James J. Heckman, John Eric Humphries, and Tim Kautz is published by University of Chicago Press. ¨Ï 2014 The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.


    2.To access the collection of essays that make up the Character & Opportunity Project, visit the Brookings Center on Children & Families website at:

    http://www.brookings.edu/about/centers/ccf/character-opportunity-project


    3.To access the research available from the Smart & Good Schools Project, visit the SUNY Cortland website at:

    http://www2.cortland.edu/centers/character/resources/SandG/index.dot


    4.The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead by David Callahan is published by Harcourt Books. ¨Ï 2004 by David Callahan. All rights reserved.