Leadership & Character I Winston-Salem, NC

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Wake Forest faculty, staff, undergraduate, and graduate students gathered over dinner at various Deans homes on Faculty Drive.

Overview and highlights of the Call to Conversation:

• Character is often exhibited in acts of inclusion, acts, and decisions made for the good of all, not just the person doing it. Character takes intention and is not necessarily easy. Character also requires care of self so that one can care for others
• “Your reputation is merely what others think of you; your character is what you do when you think nobody is looking.” -Rubel Shelly
• One must be willing to be open, or vulnerable, when necessary, in order to let character shine through
• Understanding character in the small moments and the big moments. Groups explored different moments in their lives where they saw someone display character and the impact it had on them and the surrounding communities
• The best leaders possess those qualities in what a group termed “servant leadership”
• Character is demonstrated at Wake Forest through seemingly everyday interactions and events, from work in the community garden to providing navigational skills with international students, to work in the Winston-Salem community at large (i.e. student teaching), to mentorship and daily displays of kindness shown by faculty and students, to the overall traits of character displayed by Wake Forest as an institution
• The importance of recognizing the individuality and humanity of each and every person we meet. Groups underlined the values of empathy and integrity in all things we do