When you think of someone who has good character qualities, what comes to your mind? Most people would list the following:
- Trustworthiness
- Truth-Telling
- Loyal
- Financially Responsible
- Morally Without Fault
- Always Has Your Back
But in Admiral James Stavridis’s book Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character on pages 41-42 he sheds light on one character quality most people (including me) would rarely, if ever, list.
He wrote the following:
“Organization is more than a skill – it is a quality of character. It implies a disciplined, linear, sensible approach to analysis and problem solving. It rejects spurious inputs, emotional analysis, and the kind of mental clutter that afflicts so many of us. And best of all, organization is a character trait that can be developed and practiced.”
To recap his thoughts, the following are reasons why being organized is a strong sign of someone with high-character:
- Being organized is a sign of someone with great discipline.
- Being organized is a sign of someone who has put in the effort to develop a system and process.
- Being organized is a sign of someone who is sensible and not reckless.
- Being organized is a sign of someone in charge of their emotions.
- Being organized is a sign of someone with mental discipline.
As a result, Admiral Stavridis teaches us the following are actually character issues:
- Being late to meetings or personal events.
- Continually turning in projects or assignments late.
- Lacking discipline with your eating habits or personal conduct.
- Often displaying emotional instability.
- Being reckless with your thoughts or behavior.
- A lack of cleanliness.
You don’t have to cheat on your spouse to demonstrate character issues. Simply keep showing late to dinner and making him/her wait on you.
You don’t have to steal money from your employer to demonstrate character issues. Simply be late to every meeting and make people wait on you. Or turn in assignments late which affects the entire team. After all, your time is more valuable than their’s, right?
A messy desk or room is a sign of a reckless or messed up person.
And what the person who is easily triggered, who goes off the handle, who gives a level-10 response to a level-2 problem. These are signs of emotional instability.
I could go on and on. Leaders, your organizational skills are telling us a lot about the quality of your character. What are we finding out? But the good news is, Admiral Stavridis also teaches us that organization is a character trait you can develop.
What is one easy step you can do after reading this post to improve your organizational character trait?
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