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that everything you do is wrong only causes you to stop listening. What lead-
ers need are “loving critics.” I’ve often thought about putting that on my
business card!

Coaching for Character

At a recent character education conference at Santa Clara University’s
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Thomas Likona, author ofEducating for
Character,began his talk with this anonymous poem:

Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words;

Be careful of your words, for your words become your deeds;

Be careful of your deeds, for your deeds become your habits;

Be careful of your habits; for your habits become your character;

Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny.

This poem summarizes in five lines the rationale behind my approach to
coaching for credibility. The way I see it, strategy is not a biological impera-
tive. It begins in our minds, gets expressed in words, and then gets translated
into action. Over time, those actions become who we are. What we do re-
peatedly will determine the legacy we leave.
Coaching people to use the tools of commerce is necessary but insuffi-
cient to creating a healthy and prosperous society. The right tools in the
wrong hands invite evil ends. The more we study leadership, the more we’re
persuaded that leadership development is not about the tools. It’s about the
person. Leadership development is character development.