Good Leadership: A Case for Virtue-based Leadership Development

Organizations care about effective leadership, and most leaders want to lead well. However, a chasm exists between our aspirational theories of leadership and the actual practices of organizational leaders. In an attempt to bridge the chasm, this article addresses two questions: What is good leadership? And, how can scholars help practicing leaders be and do good? The answer to both questions, we argue, is virtue. We expand on this seemingly simple answer by drawing on the philosophy of virtue ethics, moral foundations theory, and the deep ontological framework of critical realism to explain how virtue informs the goodness of good leadership. We also explore the program theory of a practical, but as yet empirically un-theorized virtues development training program called The Virtues Project. It is our contention that The Virtues Project well suits the application of virtue ethics, aligns with moral foundation theory and the emerging theory of moralized leadership, and provides a promising avenue for understanding and developing good leaders. By spanning the philosophical potentialities of virtue and the actual practice of leadership development, this article contributes to both the theory and practice of developing good leaders.