Humanise: Why Human-Centred Leadership is the Key to the 21st Century

CHAPTER 18 Developing human-centred leaders

‘All your scholarship would be in vain if at the same time you do not build your character and attain mastery over your thoughts and your actions.'

MAHATMA GANDHI

Navigating this chapter

This chapter continues to look at who your organisation is on the journey, and considers your responsibility as a leader to build character and moral capability in your employees. It draws two main conclusions:

• People require moral as well as technical development, and you are a role model when people are not sure how to act.
• Organisations face a ‘character challenge' since people join with little character formation. Business has an obligation to form leaders, both for the good of the person and to minimise moral risk.

People, technical and moral development

Since human-centred leaders integrate the technical and moral dimensions of leadership, they take people development to another level, a moral level. Human-centred leaders develop technical capability in their people, and they also develop character and moral capability. They recognise that people will face morally ambiguous situations and decisions that affect them and the organisation.

The risks associated with not developing moral competence are extreme. People who choose poorly could end up on the wrong side of the law. They could make choices that damage themselves, their relationships and their future. They could make decisions that undermine the reputation, financial results, strategic ...