Character Ethics

"I began to feel more & more that much of the success literature in the past 50 years was superficial. It was filled with social image consciousness, techniques & quick fixes..."

photo: Trumph Tower, Chicago

In the introductory chapter to 7 Habits of Effective People, S. Covey wrote about the difference between the Personality Ethics and Character Ethics. Reading and researching literally hundred of books, articles, and essays in fields such as self-improvement, popular psychology, and self-help, he noticed a startling pattern emerging in the content of the literature on keys to successful living.

photo: construction site visit in chicago (Apr 09)

In the first 150 years or so, almost all the literature focused on what could be called Character Ethic as the foundation of success - things like integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and the Golden Rule.... The Character Ethic taught that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character.

But shortly after WWI, the basic view of success shifted to what we might call the Personality Ethic. Success became more a function of personality, of public image, of attitudes and behaviors, skills and techniques, that lubricate the processes of human interaction... I am not suggesting that elements of the Personality Ethic - personality growth, communication skill training, and education in the field of influence strategies and positive thinking - are not beneficial, in fact sometimes essential for success. I believe they are. But these are secondary, not primary traits.

If I try to use human influence strategies and tactics of how to get other people to do what I want, to work better, to be more motivated, to like me and each other - while my character is fundamentally flawed, marked by duplicity and insincerity - then, in the long run, I cannot be successful. My duplicity will breed distrust, and everything I do - even using so-called good human relations techniques - will be perceived as manipulative.... if there is little or no trust, there is no foundation for permanent success.

• You can use the Personality Ethic to get by and to make favorable impressions through charm and skill and pretending to be interested in other people's hobbies. You can pick up quick, easy techniques that may work in short-term situations. But secondary traits alone have no permanent worth in long-term relationships.
  

It is the character that communicates most eloquently. As Emerson once put it, "what you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say.".... We all know it. There are people we trust absolute because we know their character. Whether they're eloquent or not, whether they have human relations techinique or not, we trust them, and we work successfully with them.

Source: Stephen Covey (2009)