Sticking It Out in Tough Times (Collection)

A. Strengthening Your Moral Skills

Think of moral skill building as a learning process like any other. Richard Boyatzis, noted leadership development expert, offers a particularly useful way of understanding how we build leadership capabilities.¹ Boyatzis argues that we don’t learn to be better people or better leaders by attending training programs. We build our human and leadership capabilities through actual life experiences. Though experience is the best teacher, we don’t have to leave what we learn to chance. Boyatzis proposes that we can put ourselves in charge of our learning using a structured five-step process:

1. Understand your ideal self—The person you want to be.

2. Recognize your real self—Your actual strengths and weaknesses in ...