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We desperately need courage, integrity, and leadership to face increasingly complicated problems, such as climate change, pandemics, war, and inequality. But too often serious voices offering solutions are drowned out on social media or in the public square by disinformation spread by those motivated more by ideology, prejudice, or ignorance. Consider this book as a guide to promoting positive discussion and finding solutions that work for everyone.

By studying these stories, and then delving deeper into the lives of these exemplars, I hope you'll find both hope and a blueprint of what character is and can achieve, and how to recognize and cultivate character in future leaders, including yourselves.

In some ways, our more complicated problems demand even stronger character and moral leadership and innovation and integrity than what is displayed by the people profiled in this book. Where is it going to come from? Hopefully, from you and those whose lives you guide and touch.

You'll find in this book detailed portraits of high-character individuals, each showcasing a different aspect that they embodied in their personal and professional lives. Some, like Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa, are known across the globe. Others, like Winston Churchill, have become historical touchstones. Still others, like Jimmy Stewart or Steve Jobs, are icons of their industries. Many others, like Edith Cavell or Frederick Banting, may be less familiar but no less worthy of examination.

Where possible, I've quoted or paraphrased the subjects' own written or spoken words, from their speeches, their books, their TV or radio appearances, their newspaper interviews, or contemporary sources. I've also concentrated on their actions and achievements and then commented on those words and actions, relating them to my theme of character. Their words are theirs, mine are mine. Your interpretations may differ, but I appreciate your taking the time to consider mine.

We'll start with Leadership, an evident manifestation of character. It is the character of leaders that attracts followers, whether in a military company or on the national or international political stage. We'll focus on General Colin Powell (1937-2021), a pioneering Army officer and later secretary of state; Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (1926-2020), who as president of France helped transform both that nation and Europe; Anwar Sadat (1918—1981), who as president of Egypt lost his life after championing peace between Israel and its neighbors; Mother Teresa (1910-1997), the Albanian nun who steadfastly changed the world's ideas about the poor; and Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), a man of many roles, including university president, war leader and hero, and a quietly effective president of the United States. It was the focus and character of each of these individuals that led to real societal change. In each case, change wouldn't have happened without their skill, desire, and will.

Using the examples of three very different people, we'll then look at Innovation, with very different characters. Innovation takes special character traits, both in conceiving and developing new ideas and in getting those new ideas accepted in often hidebound companies and societies. Steve Jobs (1955-2011) brought a steely, near-maniacal, determination to the founding, near collapse, and refounding of Apple, all the while fighting the disease that would claim his life. His legacy is a company whose products literally changed how the world communicates. Canadian Frederick Banting (1891-1941) co-discovered insulin and sold the patent for $1 in the hope that it would be made freely available to diabetics, a display of character often sadly lacking today. Walt Disney (1901-1966) transformed the worlds of movies and amusement parks with a singular vision and tenacity that have often been imitated but rarely duplicated.

Resilience is an often-underestimated aspect of character that reflects the ability and stamina to overcome the direst adversity. Few people embody this aspect of character more than Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), who was imprisoned for twenty-seven years on South Africa's Robben Island and elsewhere and emerged to win election as the country's president on a platform of truth and reconciliation. So did Václav Havel (1936-2011), the president of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, whose embrace of democracy over authoritarianism broke the ultimate barrier to freedom for his people. The American suffragette Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) remained loyal to her cause despite terrible hardships and died before women got the vote here. Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) was a British suffragette who also embodied resilience fighting for the vote for women in the U.K. and, as we'll see, in the United States. We'll then look at the remarkable life of Stephen Hawking (1942-2018), whose mind uncovered some of the most basic truths of cosmology after his body shut down from disease.