Character: Your actions reflect your values, ethics and morals-how you want to be known in the world. Consider the disappointment we experience when someone we trust turns out to be dishonest, or acts cowardly when faced with an ethical dilemma.
Calling: As opposed to destiny, which is, again, formed by external forces, your calling comes from a strong internal urge, particularly in the choice of your occupation. Remember in elementary school when we were asked to draw a picture of what we wanted to become? That picture was our first sense of calling.
I have taken Lance's leadership model a step further by defining the attributes of an inspiring advisor:
Note that these are attributes we associate today with a fiduciary standard. I say "today" because it's likely we will one day have a uniform fiduciary standard-a de minimis, marginalized standard. Not a gold standard, but bronze. I suspect future standards will bear very little semblance to the attributes we associate with inspiring advisors.
If you accept the premise that leadership is the ability to inspire others, then you should be able to make a daily, conscious effort to inspire your clients and help them make moral, ethical and prudent decisions. Such an enlightened approach frees us from the fiduciary battle; we will no longer depend on regulators, lawyers, politicians and lobbyists to define for us what we already know is the right thing to do. Lead to serve!
Donald B. Trone, GFS, is the founder and CEO/chief ethos officer of 3ethos, and serves as a facilitator (instructor) for Academy Leadership, which provides executive leadership training and coaching. Trone was the founder and president of the Foundation for Fiduciary Studies, and is the former director of the Institute for Leadership at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.