Virtue and Leadership

Virtue as Excellence of Character

Virtue is excellence of character, the possession of habits appropriate for a human being within a particular sociocultural context. Used as a synonym of “integrity,” virtue suggests wholeness and stability in a person. Virtue is a form of capital, moral capital, because it is a productive capacity that accumulates and develops through investments of time and effort. Virtue is unique because it perfects the human being as a whole and not just in a limited aspect. It may not make a person strong, smart, or successful, but it makes him good as a human being.

Excellence of character depends on cultivating the right habits. Aristotle explains that virtuous habits result from the repetition of virtuous actions, and virtuous actions spring from the nurture of suitable inclinations in accordance with one's nature. There is a feedback mechanism among character, habits, and actions. Actions arise from a person's inclinations, yet actions may also weaken or reinforce inclinations. Similarly, not only do habits forge character; character likewise predisposes or disengages a person from certain habits. Let us now consider the three main analogues of virtue: actions, habits, and character.

Actions that arise from a person's inclinations are the building blocks of moral life. Virtue lies in good voluntary actions, and its goodness springs from three sources: the object or the action itself, the agent's end or intention, and the circumstances in which the act is carried out. The object refers to what the agent does as a humanly meaningful whole and not the mere series of movements he or she goes through: homicide and not simply aiming a gun and pulling the trigger, for example. The object principally determines whether an action is good or evil. Certain actions are evil by their very object and are prohibited without exception: lying, theft, murder, and so forth.

The second criterion examines the agent's intention, whether it is oriented toward his final end. At times, an action choiceworthy in its object becomes ethically flawed due to the agent's intention. To be virtuous, an action has to be performed with a noble end. For instance, it is not enough to give alms; one should also wish to help the poor rather than do it merely for show.

Finally, we have the circumstances surrounding actions. Seemingly “favorable” circumstances cannot change the moral quality of an action from evil to good. For example, no act of torture could be justified even if the fate of a hundred people depended on it. Circumstances affect the degree to which actions are good or evil, making them better or worse.

Every voluntary act leaves a trace in the agent. This by-product is called “habit”: a stable disposition or manner of being and doing. Habits vest human nature with a new, improved, and reinforced tendency, a “second nature.” After good actions, good habits are the next analogue of virtue.

As habits, virtues and vices arise from the repetition of actions. But not any sort of action, for good actions alone produce virtues. First, to acquire proper habits, actions should express correct reason in practice, as expert doctors or navigators know in each particular case. Second, right habituation equally shuns excess and defect, and third, proper habits come from experiencing appropriate pleasure or pain. For example, a generous person is not only one who normally gives alms but also one who is happy in doing so.

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