Terry Newell is currently director of his own firm, Leadership for a Responsible Society. His work focuses on values-based leadership, ethics, and decision making. A former Air Force officer, Terry also previously served as Director of the Horace Mann Learning Center, the training arm of the U.S. Department of Education, and as Dean of Faculty at the Federal Executive Institute. Terry is co-editor and author of The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships That Make Government Work (CQ Press, 2011). He also wrote Statesmanship, Character and Leadership in America (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) and To Serve with Honor: Doing the Right Thing in Government (Loftlands Press 2015).
All in Character
Abigail Adams, a key contributor to the American founding, also expanded roles for women through her intelligence, political savvy, persistence and character.
The civil rights of Black Americans were gained in the courts as well as through protest marches. Thurgood Marshall was both advocate and pioneer in this use of the law.
Rosa Parks is rightly honored for risking her life to end bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama. But her contributions for racial justice go well beyond that seminal event.
Joshua Chamberlain put his commitment to country above his career as a college professor, serving with humility and courage during the Civil War and throughout his life.
When Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s “unbreakable” record by playing in his 2,131st consecutive baseball game, the achievement said a lot about character.
Jane Addams believed the ills or poverty and war could be corrected by the commitment of individuals to dialogue and action. She practiced this belief in Chicago’s Hull House and well beyond it.
Ian FIshback took a stand against torture of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress listened, but he paid the price for his honorable behavior.
Democracy thrives when citizens demonstrate civic virtue. Our leaders need to share more stories of it in our daily lives.
J. Robert Oppenheimer was celebrated for helping create the atomic bomb and vilified for arguing against the need for the hydrogen bomb. He loved his country in both cases.
President Harry Truman faced the political fight of his life in the election of 1948 yet risked defeat to significantly advance civil rights enforcement for African Americans.
Sojourner Truth refused to be defined by traditional expectations of former slaves and women. The fierce passion of this itinerant preacher added fuel to the fight for freedom and civil rights.
When workers and African Americans needed help to organize and fight segregation, Myles Horton taught them how to help themselves, despite threats to his life and his dream.
IRS Commissioner Donald C. Alexander insisted that everyone, regardless of position or income, be subject to the nation’s tax laws and treated fairly, even when they hated him for it.
Honor codes on campus have a laudable goal but struggle to work. Stopping academic cheating means paying more attention to what honor means.
In Election 2022, neither Democrats nor Republicans could claim a clear victory. But the qualities of character that have built America did win.
Our fathers have stories of their lives they may never share. If we ask them to do so, we may appreciate them even more - and get to thank them for the example they set.
Why do so many people, at the top of their chosen fields, fall prey to ethical failures? Sometimes good people just go bad and knowing why is the key to preventing it.
A healthy society balances individual freedom with personal responsibility.
A year of profound tragedy and disruption, 2020 was also a time American moral heroes, doing their jobs and honoring their values, showed us the best of who we are and can be.
Leaders need to demonstrate empathy. With it, trust grows and society can improve. Without empathy, leadership is hollow. and often fruitless.
