Leadership & Character | New York City, NY

A group of Wake Foresters gathered over dinner in New York City on May 9, 2018 to discuss Leadership & Character.

Overview and highlights of our Call to Conversation:

• Key themes about witnessing Leadership & Character were: Openness, Dependability, Empathy, Kindness, Selflessness and Generosity.
• When considering how to teach leadership and character, anecdotal stories seem to be effective.
• “You can tell the strength of someone’s character by how they treat someone that they don’t need to depend on.” “Easy to be ethical when you have nothing to risk.”
• People make decisions based on the value gained. Can we help frame decision making through teaching better questions that are grounded in integrity, character, empathy and leadership?
• Effectiveness vs. Empathy – How does today’s society and environment acknowledge / reward these two things?

What students need to know:

• Learn from failures
• Vulnerability is important to understand
• Adversity is a good thing
• Be self reliant
• Learn the importance of balance
• Perfection is not always needed
• We thought “Work Forest” has a more negative connotation than beneficial