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The Virtue Constellation
November 8, 2012 | No Comments »
By Paul Callan
Throughout the course of the recent Presidential campaign there’s been much talk of “values,” from the candidates and from each political party. Each side claims to possess and represent the true values of the nation and its founders, and each vows to be the one who will revitalize those values that we’ve somehow either forgotten, allowed to erode, or simply dismissed. All this talk of values got me thinking, and questioning, not only the merit and accuracy of this political debate on values, but more importantly, wondering whether values are really the right foundation of our actions, as people and leaders. Are values the surest cornerstone of our habits and the most trustworthy azimuth of our aspirations?
It is not so much that values are bad; rather– it is that values can be too easily won and lost; too easily swayed by convenience or mood; too easily made relative by loose talk of right and wrong; and finally, too readily adopted and then discarded, like a cheap outer-garment, without pain of accountability or loss of integrity. Values do not demand an internalizing of truth and wisdom into a personal inner compass, and because of this failure, values do not produce an enduring transformation of belief, into habit, into action. Let’s face it, anyone can claim to have values. Criminal gangs, narco terrorists, cults, Hitler’s Nazis…they all cited values and built their organizations around those values. Many died for them. Unfortunately, values can be built on a texture of gossamer and a foundation of clay and, due to this lack of depth and hardiness, values can easily take flight on the ever-changing winds of circumstance, situation, and whim.
I have long believed that a better “north star” to guide our individual and collective behavior are virtues. Why do I believe virtues are superior to values? Here are seven reasons:
- Virtues require judgment;
- Virtues are based on universal wisdom that transcends time, place, and circumstance;
- Virtues require self mastery and habituation;
- Virtues require sacrifice and moral courage;
- Virtues are founded on a metric of “true or false” versus “right or wrong;”
- Virtues point toward, and uplift, our highest selves and most noble purposes;
- Virtues provide a bulwark against what Abe Lincoln called “the silent artillery of time.”
Based on my commitment to virtues as a cornerstone of personal leadership and group behavior, I have developed what I call The Virtue Constellation, 6 core virtues that, like stars, we can use to navigate our course and guide our actions. These six core virtues are:
- Wisdom. This virtue is based on my belief that mastery, like all forms of excellence and peak achievement, requires time, effort, tests and trials, and constant movement towards excellence. Wisdom combines disciplined self-reflection and a bias for action. Wise leaders are therefore generative, trans-partisan, and live from a sense of deep time.
- Honor. Great leaders know and uphold this unassailable truth: Honor is worth more than glory. This virtue is therefore based on these three truths: (1) You won’t recognize honor if you don’t practice it; (2) You can’t expect honor from others if you don’t celebrate it; and (3) You can’t expect the truth unless you are willing to hear it.
- Altruism. Altruism is based on a concern for the welfare of others. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness and is founded on a motivation to provide something of value to someone, or something, else. As such, altruism consists of sacrificing something for someone other than oneself (e.g., sacrificing time, energy, or possessions) with no expectation of any compensation or benefits–either direct or indirect.
- Courage. I believe courage is the cardinal virtue because, without courage, none of the other 5 virtues are possible. Why? Because minus courage, a leader will not be able to consistently, and under times of duress, exercise the other virtues. I believe there are two equally important aspects of courage that great leaders possess. Physical Courage is fortitude in the face of pain, hardship, or threat, while Moral Courage is the ability to act nobly and rightly in the face of popular opposition, power, or discouragement.
- Balance. This virtue is based on my belief that heroic leadership generates from, and is best sustained within, a leader who is centered and balanced. A Balanced leader is a person in a consistent state of equilibrium or equipoise; one possessing an equal distribution of time, focus, and energy to all aspects of life that give value and consistency. Balance produces key leadership qualities such as mental steadiness, emotional stability, dependability, cohesion, calm behavior, and good judgment.
- Merit. This virtue is based on a leader’s obligation to produce a positive effect beyond his own personal reward and towards an enduring, uplifting betterment of his organization or group. As a virtue, Merit is traditionally manifest in such leadership actions as honoring others; offering service; involving others in good or common deeds; being thankful or grateful; modeling virtuous behavior; and instructing and guiding others.
I think of a great leader much like a way finder—one strongly anchored on a firm base of knowledge and wisdom, able to navigate life’s twists and turns with confidence and poise, and able to chart a course into an unknown future with clarity and integrity. A virtuous leader, informed by the trusted light of the virtue constellation, will possess a true fidelity of belief, aspiration, habit, and action that can likewise confidently guide the paths of his followers.
Joe Campbell’s Gift: How I came to view the Leader as Hero…and Leadership as Journey
October 29, 2012 | No Comments »
By Paul Callan
Sometime during my college years I picked up a book entitled “The Hero With A Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell. Looking back, I am surprised I grabbed it as the book has very few pictures (keep in mind I went to college on a football scholarship J). Campbell wrote this classic in 1949 and it became his signature work as an expert on comparative mythology. It is admittedly hard to reduce a 330+ page book down to a simple summary, but the genius of Campbell’s thesis was his insight that all classic heroes, and all classic hero stories, regardless of time, place, or cultural origin, essentially follow a single basic pattern. Campbell termed this basic pattern “Monomyth” (which I think he borrowed from James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake), a complex-sounding term subsequently simplified to just “The Hero’s Journey.”
When I first read Campbell’s work I was not then clear why this idea of a single, timeless heroic journey path was so fascinating to me—why it so grabbed my attention and intrigued me. It just did. I not only couldn’t put down Campbell’s book but I could no longer look at life, and leadership, the same way I had previously. The book truly changed my view of leadership, of life, and what it really meant to be a hero and to pursue a heroic life.
Then I did something that really brought Campbell’s theory to life in a real, personal, and vivid way: I joined the U. S. Marine Corps (I can still hear my mother saying “You did what?!”). You see…the Corps is an organization that Campbell would have instantly recognized (and I suspect, he greatly admired) because of its living mythology, vibrant legends, powerful lore, and colorful heroes. I had always been fascinated with heroes—be they from mythology, history, sports, or other walks of life, and now I was part of a culture alight with heroes, and part of a culture that expected new ones to emerge—every day.
What Campbell’s insight led me to better understand, and more fully appreciate as a leader, were these clues to truly great leadership:
- The Leadership path, like the hero’s, is a life-long journey;
- The journey is hard and full of tests, trials, and failure;
- Tests and trials are not the inconveniences they first appear, but in retrospect and understood correctly, they are actually the means through which we grow, transform, and become more authentic leaders;
- The pursuit of a heroic life is the only way to become truly successful because, though success has many ingredients, its main handmaidens are practice, preparation, and self-discipline; and finally—
- At the end of our journey, if we’d stay true to the hero’s path—we become significant and leave a lasting legacy, a wake if you will, for others to follow. Great leaders leave footprints in the sand; a residue of example that guides and instructs followers. The greatest test of a leader’s impact, therefore, is simply this: What was your significance? How was your significance shared with others for common benefit and for the enduring excellence of the community?
The true hero—the great leader– is the one who is faithful to the journey. The true hero and the great leader remain faithful to completing the journey and to possessing wisdom and knowledge, but then goes the one and most important step further: He returns home to the group to share that gift. Attaining mastery and then holding the elixir for oneself is not heroic but is self-serving and self-indulgent. A great leader, like a true hero, shares the boon with others. The great leader, thus, is the one who knows and the one who returns. To be a hero, to be a truly great leader…one must not refuse the call to the journey and, likewise, must not refuse the call to return and share the bounty with others and for others’ benefit.
So I thank you, Joe Campbell, for sharing the boon. I thank you for reminding me of the timeless truths of leadership and reminding me to be a faithful traveler on the hero’s journey. This calling to leave home–to depart our comfort zone and pursue excellence as leaders, even in the face of great trial and failure– is best summarized in this Native American legend that surely informed the lives of all heroes and all great leaders:
“As you go the way of life, you will see a great chasm.
Jump!
It is not as wide as you think!”
Command Group Training 3 May 2012
May 14, 2012 | No Comments »
3 May was a watershed day for The Callan Course Team, as we conducted our first live training event for the Marines of the 3d Marine Aircraft Wing (3d MAW). 3d MAW is a large, dynamic Marine Corps command headquartered at MCAS Miramar, California, with subordinate Marine Aircraft Groups located throughout Southern California and at Yuma, AZ. For the 3 May event– a full-day seminar with 65 total attendees– we tailored portions of our core Callan Course Program into a unique course of instruction focused on the Command Groups within 3d MAW (Note: A Command Group contains the Commanding Officer, Sergeant Major, Executive Officer, and other senior staff members that, together, command and control the organization. A Command Group would be approximately equivalent to an Executive Team and Staff within the private sector). As part of the seminar construct we covered five key considerations for successful command: (1) Setting Conditions for Success; (2) Maintaining Success across Time; (3) Envisioning and Managing Core Challenges; (4) Measuring Performance; and (5) Designing and Executing Strategy. The seminar contained multi-media presentations, guided discussions, and engaging Q&A sessions. To further augment the 3 May seminar The Callan Course Team will conduct follow-up mentor workshops during the week of 28 May at each of the 4 Command Group Headquarters, with the goal of further distilling the main learning objectives and more precisely targeting areas of improvement and knowledge transfer. All in all, 3 May was a great day for the Marines of 3d MAW and for The Callan Course team!
Our New Website
April 18, 2012 | No Comments »
I’d like to welcome you to our site and thank you for your interest and support. The stand-up of this site is another major milestone in what has been a nearly two-year effort to create and launch the Callan Course. In its truest sense, the Callan Course is a reflection of my personal leadership philosophy, my genuine commitment to leading, my pursuit of a vital and heroic life, and most importantly—my passion to teach and inspire those who share a likeminded pursuit of excellence. The entire framework of the Callan Course is founded on my personal belief in this fact: True learning comes from study, deep reflection, and the slow but persistent revealing of knowledge, coupled with an equally persistent commitment to follow-on mentoring and coaching. In this sense, I aim to create an enduring relationship with those I teach that resembles a braided chord, where each length of strand and every bind of texture creates increased leadership capability and capacity. The leader’s cardinal obligation is to gain mastery and then—give it away. I am also banking on my deeply held belief about human nature—that we all seek a noble cause, an honorable calling, a challenging mission, and an uplifting experience. The path to great leadership is hard, long, and full of tests and trials. If it were easy, anyone could do it. However, that leadership is hard and calls forth from us our very best is appropriate and necessary, for it is inside this crucible of test, trial, failure, and subsequent regeneration that raw material is transformed into gold. I look forward to strapping on our packs and traversing the leader’s journey together. Leading, like virtue, is its own reward.