{"id":10946,"date":"2019-10-14T14:58:45","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T14:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sisschools.org\/sis-myanmar\/?p=10946"},"modified":"2025-10-21T10:52:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T04:22:36","slug":"the-importance-of-building-character-in-future-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sisschools.org\/sis-myanmar\/blog\/the-importance-of-building-character-in-future-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Building Character in Future Leaders: Making Sure They Are Ready To Lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Alvin Hew<\/span>
\nSIS Group of Schools, Board Director<\/span><\/p>\n

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Children are the future and the future needs leaders. Good leadership relies heavily on a balance of elevated awareness and decisiveness. Without a grounded understanding of themselves and a solid moral compass to guide them, many leaders succeed at being aware and decisive but do not succeed. Having mental and moral qualities is what character is all about.<\/span><\/p>\n

The New York Times columnist, David Brooks, in his book <\/span>The Road To Character<\/i><\/b><\/a>,<\/span>1<\/span><\/sup> lays out a series of legendary individuals: from Augustine to Dwight D. Eisenhower. These case studies focus on the amazing level of humility and depth of character among this selection of storied leaders and great thinkers. Each and every chapter is a lesson in how important character was in the lives of important leaders – especially when they are tested. Being challenged by life is a very real part of every person\u2019s experience. As much as we want to shut out the thought, challenge and adversity will be faced by our children, too. So how to prepare them effectively?<\/span><\/p>\n

The challenge is to prepare the youth of today – the leaders of tomorrow – to be courageous, open, compassionate, empathetic to people and also resilient for an uncertain future. This doesn\u2019t mean abandoning the STEAM subjects or academic excellence. It means considering the growing importance of additional skills. The 4th Industrial Revolution, \u201cIndustrial Revolution 4.0\u201d, is a time of great change and although many assume that technology and related software skills will be in great demand (and they are already), that\u2019s only part of the story. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to the <\/span>WEF 2018 Jobs Report<\/b><\/a>2 <\/span><\/sup>The skills rising in priority and demand going into 2021 are exactly those most \u201chuman\u201d ones: <\/span><\/p>\n