From competencies to strengths: exploring the role of character strengths in developing twenty-first century-ready leaders: a strengths-based approach

Abstract

A substantial amount of research, resources, and effort has been invested in the search for a 'holy grail' of twenty-first century leadership competencies. Ironically, despite the increasing significance of leadership and the substantial investments in uncovering the attributes of successful leaders, concerns persist regarding the quality of leadership worldwide. While the literature extensively outlines 'what' twenty-first century-ready leaders should embody, there remains a gap in outlining 'how' to nurture such leaders. We contrast existing practices that have focused on teaching functional content and relying on retrospective and deficit-based competency models by advocating for a strengths-based perspective. While there has been an increasing interest in positive psychology, which promotes a shift away from prevalent deficit correction approaches towards a framework that emphasises social-emotional and meta-cognitive strengths, character strengths have received little attention in corporate leader development programmes. We argue that nurturing character strengths offers a more sustainable, self-reinforcing process for twenty-first century leader development to overcome the limitations of short-lived leadership training results that fade over time. The Values in Action Classification of Character Strengths and Virtues provides a robust framework for identifying and nurturing these strengths. However, character strengths have traditionally been viewed as personal attributes, rather than leadership competencies. We challenge traditional views on leader development by arguing that character strengths reflect the competencies required of twenty-first century-ready leaders, as these more 'humane' characteristics remain relevant over time and valued across cultures because they represent qualities that are universally appreciated in defining 'what makes a good person'.