Excerpt from The Stoic Leader – by John Sellars and Justin Stead

Editor’s Note: The following excerpt from The Stoic Leader: Ancient Lessons to Succeed in Business is reprinted with permission from Michael O’Mara Books. Learn more about the book at www.mombooks.com/book/the-stoic-leader.

What is Character?

Imagine a brick sitting on a flat surface. You push it with your finger. It is quite heavy, so you have to use some force. The brick moves for as long as you apply pressure but, as soon as you take your finger away, it stops. Now imagine a ball on the same surface. You push that with the same degree of force and it starts moving. Unlike the brick it moves quite easily and – this is the key difference – it keeps moving even after you have stopped pushing it; it rolls on its own.

What’s the difference between the brick and the ball? Why do they respond differently to the same external force? The answer is of course obvious: it is because they have different shapes. The shape of the object determines how it responds to the external forces with which it comes into contact.

The Stoics used analogies like this one to think about the role of character. The world assaults us with a dizzying array of external forces and how we respond to them is determined by who we are. Imagine three quite different people faced with a dangerous situation. One might be too nervous to do anything and just freeze. The second might unthinkingly throw themselves into it, risking themselves and perhaps others, while the third might bravely but cautiously face the situation head on. In the traditional language of virtues, we would describe these three people as cowardly, reckless, and courageous. The important point is that how they behave is determined not by the situation, which is the same for all of them, but by their character.

When we think about character in this sense, what we have in mind is a person’s beliefs and values, their personality, and their habitual ways of thinking and acting. These things are all closely inter-related. Epictetus insisted that all we really control are our value judgements. Those judgements determine what we think (‘this is good’), which in turn determines what we do (‘I’m going to try to get this good thing’). If we do the same action repeatedly, we shall start to develop a habit, and our character is at its core simply a collection of habitual ways of behaving. Change your judgements and you can change your habits; change your habits and you can change your life.

Good Character

Character determines how we respond to the situations in which we find ourselves. Someone prone to anger – that is, someone with a habit of judging that it is a terrible thing when events don’t go their way – has a certain type of character, one that the Stoics would judge to be bad. Why? Two reasons: first, such a person is no longer able to make calm rational decisions, and second, they have made a mistake about where true good and bad reside. We have already seen the Stoics claim that true good and bad reside within us, in our judgements and actions, but what reasons did they give for this view? Drawing on ideas first developed by Socrates, the Stoics argued along the following lines. External things such as wealth or physical strength that most people judge to be inherently good are not, because they can be used in both good and bad ways. While one person who wins a lottery might share their winnings among friends and family members in need, another might descend into a self-destructive spiral of excessive partying and alcoholism. A physically strong person could use their presence either to intimidate those weaker than themselves or to protect them from other threats. In both cases, what the person does with their money or strength comes not from the external thing but from their character, which determines the use they make of it. If someone has a self-destructive, addictive personality, winning a large amount of money could turn out to be the worst thing that could happen to them.

The Virtues

So, character is key. It determines how we behave, how we respond to external situations, and how we make use of external things. Someone with a bad character will never be able to live a good, happy life, no matter how externally successful they might seem to be. But what precisely do we mean when we say ‘good character’? The Stoics described it with reference to a series of virtues. The term ‘virtue’ might seem outmoded today and it is not a word we hear spoken very often. The Greek word standing behind this, arete, has connotations of something being excellent or admirable. To be virtuous is to be a good example of something. Even today we might describe a new product or gadget as having many virtues. The Stoics often talk about someone being virtuous, by which they mean being a good, admirable person, but they also talk about individual virtues that they thought usually came together in a package. The central virtues were justice, courage, moderation, and wisdom or prudence. These were the character traits they thought were the defining features of a good person.

Like ‘virtue’, the terms ‘courage’ and ‘justice’ can sound very grand and perhaps a little intimidating. Who would claim to embody these things today? But there is no reason to feel intimidated, and the core ideas are ones to which we can all relate. To say that someone is ‘just’, is simply to say that they treat other people fairly. While courage might sound like something reserved for bravery on the battlefield, people can display courage in a wide range of everyday situations, as when someone feels fear or nervousness about doing the right thing but does it anyway. Moderation or self-control is more straightforward but, as we all know, sometimes difficult to master. Prudence is simply the ability to make good decisions, carefully assessing situations rather than acting impulsively and without proper attention to the consequences. Epictetus says that it is always clear which sort of people we admire: no one praises a cheat, a coward, someone with no self-control, or someone who keeps making bad decisions. Even if we have never thought of it in these terms before, implicitly most of us probably already admire the four core Stoic virtues.

The Benefits of Virtue

In this sense we can say that someone who has these virtues is admirable. But what are the benefits of being virtuous? Does being a good, admirable person conflict with doing what’s best for us? Is there a tension between doing the right thing and acting in our self-interest? These were questions that the Stoics tackled directly.

Earlier we saw that external things that most people tend to think as good – things like, money, status, health, strength – are not inherently good because they can be used for both good and bad ends. The real value that comes from having money, for instance, is knowing how to use it effectively in ways that are beneficial. It’s all too easy to fritter money away or use it in ways that are actually harmful, as in the case of addict. In other words, the real value is not in the money but instead in the character of the person who uses it.

So, external things are not inherently good because they don’t always benefit us. When it comes to the virtues, the Stoics argue that we are dealing with something that is inherently good precisely because it always benefits us. The person with money who is just, moderate, and prudent knows how to use it effectively and so can benefit from their wealth. But, the Stoics argue, the same applies to someone without much money. They will also benefit from being just, moderate, and prudent as they navigate the challenges of getting by on limited means. In other words, no matter what the circumstances might be, the virtues are always worth having. That’s what makes them good.

The next question the Stoics will ask is: where is your self-interest? Is it in pursuing external things like wealth and status or is it in developing a good character? It should be fairly clear by now what they think the answer will be. If a good character always benefits us, but external things can potentially harm us if we use them badly, then obviously we ought to prioritize character development over the pursuit of external success. Character will sustain us through difficult times and it will enable us to effectively manage and enjoy success in the good times. Wherever we are in life, we need good character.

Pursuing External Success

This might make it sound as if the Stoics are largely indifferent to external success in life. Epictetus often says things that add to that impression, such as his account of what we do and don’t control. He can seem to be saying that we ought to focus just on what we can control – our thoughts and judgements – and pay no attention to everything else. That’s a misleading impression, though, and the Stoics thought that it was entirely natural for people to pursue all the external things that enable us to survive and to enjoy a successful life. We are all born with a natural survival instinct and do what we must to get food, water, shelter, and all the other things we need in order to live. We look after our health and provide for our families out of similar natural instincts. All this is normal and proper, they insist. Indeed, the person who completely neglects their own wellbeing – indifferent to their health, perhaps depressed, with no concern for their future – is we might say not functioning properly; something has gone wrong.

So, the Stoics insist that it is entirely natural for us to pursue success, wealth, good health, and all the other external things that add value to a good life. In their language, these things are always ‘preferred’ over their opposites. No one would actively choose to be sick or to struggle to secure the basic needs of life. But – and this is the key point – these things are never as important as a good, virtuous character. As we have seen, without that we may not even benefit from all these external things if we manage to get them. Character always comes first.

This leads the Stoics to warn that we should never compromise our character in the pursuit of external success or money. To do that would be to destroy the one thing we need if we are to appreciate and benefit from whatever success we have.

Virtue Is Its Own Reward

When Seneca was advising the young Nero, he tried to teach him the true value of acting virtuously. Doing the right thing should never be done with the thought that some benefit might come from it further down the line. It should be done purely for its own sake, because it is the right thing to do.

The true profit of virtuous actions lies in the doing, and there is no fitting reward for the virtues apart from the virtues themselves. (Seneca, On Clemency 1.1.1.)

Similarly, if we do someone a favour or give them a gift, Seneca advises that we shouldn’t expect anything in return. What matters is the action of helping someone out and the joy that it brings both to us and to them. If they are able to help us out at some point in the future, that is of course always welcome, but it should never be seen as a repayment. We should not think of people that we help to be in any way in our debt, and we should make that clear. The size of the gift or the extent of the support is not so important either; what matters is the good intention to help someone else out, without thought of getting anything in return.

He who has given a benefit in order that he may get something back has really not given it. (Seneca, On Benefits 4.14.1)

But this is not a case of pure altruism either. The Stoics thinks we do benefit in this situation; indeed, they think we really benefit. It is by doing these virtuous actions – for the right reason with no thought of material reward or payback – that we develop and consolidate our virtuous character, the one thing that is genuinely good and truly benefits us. And, of course, ‘good begets good’, as the saying goes. The person who treats other people fairly and respectfully will, over time, develop a reputation for doing just that and, as a consequence, be seen as the sort of person with whom others will want to work and do business. The employer who gains a reputation for treating their staff decently and equitably is unlikely to have a serious problem retaining and recruiting people. The minimal costs involved in ‘doing the right thing’ will be more than offset by other benefits down the line. However, as Seneca insists, you don’t do it as part of some complex calculation; you do it because you know it’s the right thing to do and you want to be the sort of person who does the right thing. In the process, you also lead by example.

Get the book: The Stoic Leader: Ancient Lessons to Succeed in Business by John Sellars and Justin Stead

About the Authors

John Sellars is an academic based at Royal Holloway, University of London, and author of multiple books on Stoicism and ancient philosophy. He has been published by, among others, Penguin, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Routledge. He is currently chair and a company director of Modern Stoicism.

Justin Stead is currently the chairman of multiple international consumer brands: Desmond & Dempsey, Le Col, Baby Mori and Navy Grey. Previously, he was the CEO of Radley London Aurum Holdings, now the Watches of Switzerland Group, which portfolio of brands includes Goldsmiths, Mappin & Webb and Watches of Switzerland.