Character Education Starts With the Leader

Character, Richard Reeves has said, is like oxygen—it becomes most visible when it is absent.¹ At the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, many feel we are gasping for the air of character—in civic life, in the media, in business, especially in the fast-moving world of artificial intelligence, and in our own sphere of work: colleges and universities.

Where, then, do we see compelling models of leadership marked by integrity and depth, the kinds of exemplars we hope our students will emulate? The urgent question for higher education is how we are forming people of character—women and men who do the right thing because it reflects their deepest commitments and values.