The Power of Character in Leadership: How Values, Morals, Ethics, and Principles Affect Leaders is by Myles Munroe, published by Whitaker House in January 2014.
Worth knowing before you read it: Munroe died on 9 November 2014, about ten months after this book came out, when the plane he was travelling in struck a crane on approach to Grand Bahama International Airport. His wife Ruth and seven others died with him. He was on his way to a leadership conference. This is one of the last books he published, and its subject was the thing he spent his life arguing about.
The argument
Munroe’s case is that leadership training almost always teaches competence and almost never teaches character, and that this is why capable leaders keep collapsing. His claim is that skill gets you the position and character determines whether you survive it.
He works through what he means by values, morals, ethics and principles as distinct things rather than synonyms, which is the most useful section of the book. His point is that a leader with strong skills and unexamined values is not neutral, he is a liability waiting for the right pressure.
Munroe’s style
He writes the way he preached: confident, repetitive, given to definitions and declarations. If you have heard him speak you will hear the cadence on the page. That works if you want conviction and grates if you want nuance, because he asserts more than he argues, and he rarely engages a counter-position.
He was Bahamian and led Bahamas Faith Ministries International, and he wrote for a global audience rather than an American church one, which gives the book a slightly different feel from most leadership titles on this shelf.
What to be aware of
An earlier version of this review pitched this as a book about serving your neighbourhood and volunteering at church. It is not. It is a book about the internal character of a person who holds authority. Useful for anyone leading anything, but it is not a community outreach guide, and the previous framing was misleading.
Munroe is also associated with teaching on potential and purpose that some readers find lands close to motivational territory. This particular book is more restrained than that reputation suggests, but you should know the wider body of work it sits in.
Readability
Short chapters, clear structure, plenty of bold statements you could pull out and put on a wall. Easy to read in a few sittings, and easy to use in a group because the material breaks into obvious discussion points.
Who it suits
Good for a man stepping into authority for the first time, whether at work, in a church, or over a team, and good for someone who has plenty of competence and has never had his character examined by anyone. Less useful if you want case studies, research, or a careful theology of leadership.
Bottom line
A direct, quotable argument that character rather than capability determines how long a leader lasts. Thin on evidence, strong on conviction, and given weight by the fact that Munroe did not get to see how his own last chapter would land.
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