Hi Reader,

Over the last few months, I’ve been thinking about the nature of the Seven Deadly Sins and their corresponding virtues.

Not simply as an interesting bit of history or theology — but through the lens I’ve spent much of my career looking through:

Leadership.

We’ve already explored some of the damage that PRIDE, Arrogance and Vanity can do when they begin influencing the way we lead.

But the more I've explored these very human characteristics, the more interesting question has become not what makes them sinful — but what they can teach us about the way we lead.

Every Sin Has An Opposing Virtue

We’ve already seen that PRIDE has an important counterweight in HUMILITY.

The same relationship exists across the Seven Deadly Sins. Each represents a very human tendency — and each has a corresponding virtue that pulls us in another direction.

That got me thinking.

What might our choices among those competing attributes tell us about the way we lead?

Over the last few months, I’ve been developing an approach that may reveal important characteristics of your leadership style — your strengths, your challenges and some of the pitfalls that may lie ahead.

No long questionnaire.

No scale from 1 to 10.

No “sometimes” or “it depends.”

And no sitting comfortably in the middle.

You'll make some choices about how you lead — not how you think you SHOULD lead but how you DO lead.

That’s when your leadership profile begins to take shape.

What Might Those Characteristics Reveal?

It won't be a random selection of talents and attributes.

Leadership isn’t that simple.

HUMILITY is an admirable leadership quality — but taken too far, could it make a leader reluctant to assert a strongly held position?

PRIDE can become destructive — but is there also a healthy form of pride that inspires confidence, ambition and high standards?

It's when we begin looking at these characteristics together — and how they interact — that a more interesting leadership portrait begins to emerge.

The result isn’t intended to be a personality test or psychological analysis.

Instead, it's designed to offer some observations about what those characteristics — taken together — might mean for the way you lead, and how you might address any shortcomings as you work to Become a More Effective Leader.

I'll have more to share about that leadership profile shortly.

Think of it as another opportunity to look in the mirror.

In The Meantime …

Next, we’ll meet three more members of the infamous Seven Deadly Sins family:

They may appear to be very different.

But they share a common thread that can be particularly dangerous in business and leadership:

EXCESS.

We’ll pick it up there on Wednesday.

Don’t stop leading.

Lary