The Development of Leader Character Through Crucible Moments

Abstract

Business schools strive to develop leadership excellence in their students. In this essay, we suggest that educators should find ways to help students develop and deepen leader character, a fundamental component of exemplary leadership. Frequently, business school students have preconceived ideas of leadership, often neglecting leader character. We argue that educators can and should teach students that leader character is pivotal to leadership excellence and that they should actively develop students’ leader character. The foundational learning theories of Piaget and Kolb provide a useful framework to help achieve the development of leader character. We propose that leader character development arises from using accommodation learning strategies of crucible experiences, paired with assimilation learning methods of critical reflection, and further developed through equilibrium learning strategies where students can incorporate new information and work toward their personal character growth. While numerous teaching approaches can be used, we describe an experiential course, codesigned with members of the Canadian Forces, using these learning strategies to foster leader character development.