8 Posts found for Author: Mary Crossan

In May 2013, Ivey Business Journal published “Leadership Character and Corporate Governance,” which proposed that being an effective board member requires competencies, character and commitment. In that paper, which was also published by the Institute of Corporate Directors, we further noted that qualitative research indicates that character is the one fundamental requirement that poses the biggest challenge in terms of recruiting and selecting both directors … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Alyson Byrne, Gerard H. Seijts, Jeffrey Gandz, Mary Crossan | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Corporate Governance

Jack Welch famously called lack of candour “the biggest dirty little secret in business.” It’s an important observation, one that sits at the heart of too many public accounts of corporate scandals and tragic accidents, not to mention not-so-public failures of decision-making. In this article, we describe the critical connection between leadership and candour. Then to understand its application, we turn to General (Ret.) Rick … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Alyson Byrne, Mary Crossan | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Leadership

We define character as an amalgam of traits, values and virtues. Traits, such as open-mindedness or extroversion, may be either inherited or acquired; they predispose people to behave in certain ways, if not overridden by other forces such as values, or situational variables such as organizational culture and rewards. Values, such as loyalty and honesty, are deep-seated beliefs that people hold about what is morally … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Gerard H. Seijts, Jeffrey Gandz, Mark Reno, Mary Crossan | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Character, Human Resources, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development, Personality / Behavior

When it comes to selecting and assessing CEOs, other C-suite level executives or board members, the most important criteria for boards to consider are competencies, commitment and character. This article focuses on the most difficult of these criteria to assess – leadership character – and suggests the eleven key dimensions of character that directors should consider in their governance roles.

Content: Article | Authors: Gerard H. Seijts, Jeffrey Gandz, Mark Reno, Mary Crossan | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Human Resources, Leadership, Organizational Behavior

The sum of virtues, values and traits equals good character, which, in addition to competence and commitment, is one of the 3 ingredients that make a leader effective and respected. For many, however, virtues, values and traits remain indefinable, even elusive. These authors not only define them, they also de-construct them, in the process demonstrating how character fuels people in their personal journeys to become … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Gerard H. Seijts, Jeffrey Gandz, Mary Crossan | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Leadership

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Visualize a leader with virtues such as courage and integrity, as well as five key types of intelligence, and you’ve got a clear picture of the cross-enterprise leader. So equipped, such a leader has what it takes to adopt the enterprise-wide perspective that is necessary to make the right decisions for creating and delivering value to all stakeholders.

Content: Article | Authors: Gerard H. Seijts, Jeffrey Gandz, Mary Crossan | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Leadership

When loyalty conflicts with honesty, when fairness conflicts with pragmatism, or when social responsibility conflicts with obligation to shareholders, people become conflicted. And when their actions are inconsistent with their values, they either experience guilt, anger and embarrassment. People try to minimize such cognitive dissonance by rationalizing or even denying their behavior, discounting the consequences of it or simply blaming others.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Gerard H. Seijts, Jeffrey Gandz, Mary Crossan | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personality / Behavior, Values