A preview of the 3rd edition of You’re It: Crisis, Change, and How to Lead When it Matters Most that was released on September 8, 2026
Character isn’t taught. It’s revealed.
“Your character will be revealed as you live your life. There will be mistakes. There will be tests. You will not pass them all. However, you can learn from each of them, and if you do, you will grow each time.” ~ From the updated 3rd edition of You’re It: Crisis, Change, and How to Lead When it Matters Most.
In leadership seminars, my colleagues and I often run a “great leader/lousy leader” exercise in which people are challenged to think of a leader they have known in each category and share what placed them there. It always generates a lively discussion.
One of the common threads is that the great leaders exhibit that essential intangible: character. Participants report that the leaders who made the greatest positive impact on them did the right thing, were accountable, had people’s backs, and were mission-focused. Words such as integrity and trustworthy are often mentioned.
Nor is character innate. You aren’t born with solid character. It is learned. Parents, grandparents, neighbors, and other members of the community are role models. Character emerges from collective, not self-interest. It is part of our social wiring as humans. Character reflects how you will be with others. It defines our relationships and forges social bonds.
My co-authors and I hope that the new chapter in the updated 3rd edition of You’re It: Crisis, Change, and How to Lead When it Matters Most will have as much impact. For leaders, particularly in crisis, the trust which character foments is a critical and invaluable asset. It will stimulate cooperation or, when missing, trigger competition. It can accelerate progress toward a positive outcome. Its absence can distract and distort leading to delays, and perhaps mission failure.
The real world is not as black-and-white as it might seem. As we write in the new chapter:
In the dynamic world of crisis and change, there are choices, and but though often no ‘perfect’ ones. You face trade-offs and complicated calculations of risk and reward. What are your standards? There will be rules you bend, just as there will be lines you will not cross.
When you receive or give the directive to “do the right thing,” everyone needs to be aligned on the definition of “right.” Will it be to sacrifice for the common good or egocentric acts of self-preservation? In a complex event, there will be evidence of both. Your job as a leader is to model the former yourself and also recognize and reward that commitment in others.
Again, from the new chapter:
The measure of your character is your adherence to truth, even when it doesn’t favor you. Your actions, decisions, behaviors, and priorities reflect that bond and identity. In ways big and small, this test confronts you every day.
Thus, while character is revealed in starkest relief in crisis, it is built and observed every day. The only way to be ready for the moment when character “matters most” is to live a life aware that every moment matters.
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