Virtuous Leadership

I think that the concept of heroic leadership can trace its roots to the earlier teachings of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas on virtue ethics. Chris Lowney propounds that leadership is all about character built by clear and focused values, in the same manner that value ethics is more about the virtuous rigor of making decisions rather than the end result itself. It's a corollary to the old adage that the end does not justify the means.
This is my first year to attend Ateneo, but I think the Jesuits also revere Aquinas' 4 cardinal virtues (temperance, courage, prudence, justice). Besides, the depth of Aquinas' Summa Theologica has achieved acclaim that has transcended religious orders and even ecclesiastical boundaries.

Another authority on leadership, Alexander Havard, has written about Virtuous Leadership. He puts forward his belief that virtuous leadership is a life well lived. Indeed, leadership is all about character. It is also worthy to note that Havard cites Cory Aquino as an example of a virtuous leader, along with others held in high esteem the world over, e.g. Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, Alexander Solzhenitsyn. That is truly a very lofty categorization anyone can ever imagine to be part of.

Incidentally, Bernardo Villegas has a column in the Inquirer today that talks about the same subject. His article titled "Cory's Style of Leadership" is in the opinion section of the newspaper. It is also posted online at http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20091107-234749/Corys-style-of-leadership.

In Villegas' column, he lifts Havards' quotation of Cory on collegial decision making. Cory once notably said that collegial decision making is "the ability to work well with others, to listen to different points of view, to credit such views with a sincerity equal to one's own, and to have the flexibility to accommodate the valid concerns of others". Absolutely Level 5 leadership as defined by Jim Collins.