The vastness of Britain’s nineteenth-century empire and the gap between imperial policy and colonial practice demanded an institutional culture that encouraged British administrators to identify the interests of imperial service as their own. In Corporate Character, Eddy Kent examines novels, short stories, poems, essays, memoirs, private correspondence, and parliamentary speeches related to the East India Company and its effective successor, the Indian Civil Service, to explain the origins of this imperial ethos of “virtuous service.” Exploring the appointment, training, and management of Britain’s overseas agents alongside the writing of public intellectuals such as Edmund Burke, Thomas Malthus, Thomas Babington Macaulay, and J.S. Mill, Kent explains the origins of the discourse of “virtuous empire” as an example of corporate culture and explores its culmination in Anglo-Indian literature like Rudyard Kipling’s Kim. Challenging narratives of British imperialism that focus exclusively on race or nation, Kent’s book is the first to study how corporate ways of thinking and feeling influenced British imperial life.

Does the character of our leaders matter? You may think this question was answered long ago. Countless business authors and analysts have assured us that great leadership demands great character. Time and again, we’ve seen that truth play out, as once-thriving organizations falter and fail under the guidance of leaders behaving badly. Why, then, do so many executives remain skeptical about the true value of leadership character? A winning strategy and a sound business model are what really matter, they argue; character is just the icing on the cake. What’s been missing from this debate is hard evidence: data that shows not only that leadership character matters for organizational success, but how it matters; and concrete evidence that it leads to better business results. Now, in this groundbreaking book, respected leadership researcher, adviser, and author Fred Kiel offers that evidence—solid data that demonstrates the connection between character, leadership excellence, and organizational results. After seven years of rigorous research based on a landmark study of more than 100 CEOs and over 8,000 of their employees’ observations, Kiel’s findings show that leaders of strong character achieved up to five times the ROA for their organizations as did leaders of weak character. Return on Character goes on to reveal: • How leadership character is formed, how it creates value, and how that value spreads throughout the organization • How low-character leaders undermine the success of even the best business plans • How leaders at any level can develop the habits of strong character and “unlearn” the habits of poor character The book also provides a character-building methodology—step-by-step advice and techniques for assessing your own character habits and improving your performance and that of your organization. Return on Character provides the blueprint for building your own leadership character and creating a character-driven organization that achieves superior business results.

Alan Wilkins explains how an organization with strong character can more successfully adapt to change, develop new skills, and ensure a successful future without sacrificing established values or strengths. He offers step-by-step instructions on how to determine the readiness of an organization to change--and how to identify directions and strategies most likely to succeed. And he reveals the signs that indicate the erosion of corporate character and suggests specific management practices to overcome such problems.

Reputation matters now more than ever. Public opinion in the wake of the financial meltdown has revealed the publics abiding mistrust of corporations and the executives who run them. Scrutiny from the internet and 24-hour cable TV offers companies no place to hide; so they must proactively seek the confidence of their shareholders and the public. In todays economy, reputation is a prime factor in a corporations bottom line. Via its groundbreaking Seven Strategies of Reputation Leadership, Crisis of Character offers a fail-proof way for executives to immunize themselves and their companies against the breakdowns that can happen to even the most prominent organizations. Using real-life examples (from Merck and Citigroup to Hewlett-Packard and Coca-Cola), Crisis of Character presents concrete ways executives can shape the internal corporate culture to support their business interests. This books many stories vividly illustrate how corporate strategy must shift to deal effectively with globalization and the new environmental and human rights standards that come with it. Crises of Character offers invaluable advice to anyone who operates in the public sphere and who understands that reputation is the key to survival.

Coca-Cola, Disney, Nike, and Hewlett-Packard all have it: a positive corporate culture that powerfully affects their bottom line. Yet corporate culture remains the most underutilized weapon in business because most companies are intimidated by its intangibility, convinced of its secondary importance to the "harder" components of their strategic plans, or simply don't know how to assess culture or fix it. Drawing on 15 years of research and consulting with high-profile companies, The Character of a Corporation explores how a company's "character" can make the difference between short-term burnout and a sustainable long-term edge and how anyone, from senior-level executive to middle manager, can identify and thrive within their company's culture.

Lays out a proven path and inspiring ideas for revitalizing attitudes and behavior, unleashing leadership integrity, and reinvigorating organizations.

This book focuses on the element of leadership that has largely been neglected in the literature: character. Often thought to be a subjective construct, the book demonstrates the concrete behaviors associated with different character dimensions in order to illustrate how these behaviors can be developed, and character strengthened. Based on research involving over 300 senior leaders from different industries, sectors and countries, Crossan, Seijts, and Gandz developed a model for leadership character that focuses on eleven dimensions. The book begins by setting the context for the focus on character in business, asking what character is and whether it can be learned, developed, molded or changed. Next, the book focuses on each dimension of leadership character in turn, exploring its elements and the ways in which it can be applied in a business setting. The book concludes with a summary of the key insights, an exploration of the interactions between the character dimensions, and a call to the reader to reflect on how to develop one’s own and others’ leadership character. Bridging theory and management practice, Developing Leadership Character will interest students and practitioners alike. Readers will benefit not only from a new, robust theoretical framework for leadership character, but will also learn how character can be developed further.

Complete with headnotes, summaries of decisions, statements of cases, points and authorities of counsel, annotations, tables, and parallel references.

The author presents fundamental principles of international law and the leading features of its practice. The development of international law and the application of its general principles to concrete situations are discussed. This early twentieth-century interwar publication also explores laws of war and neutrality.