to its usage. For instance, if someone
does something unexpected, people
may describe the behavior as being
out of character. In the legal world,
defense lawyers may ask their clients
to obtain character references from
reputable friends to help their cases in
court. And in the movie business, peo-
ple who are adept at playing specific
types of supporting roles are known as
character actors. One particularly
incisive definition of character comes
from H. Jackson Brown Jr., author of
Life’s Little Instruction Book, who
writes that “character is what we do
when we think no one is looking.”
In a leadership context, character
is an individual’s pattern of behavior ...