This webinar was held on December 19, 2025.
Leadership character is a lot more than ethics. Though moral, upstanding behavior certainly contributes to a strong, principled leader, new research by MIT Sloan School of Management and the Ivy Business School in Canada reveals a much broader spectrum of values and associated behaviors that condition leadership character.
Contrary to popular belief, people are neither born with character nor do they acquire it at an early age. We develop it just as we do our personalities. Our values and beliefs (our character) and our temperaments and behaviors (our personalities) largely evolve through a variety of experiences over a lifetime. Both our character and personality, in turn, influence our decisions (our judgments) whether those choices involve our personal lives or the lives of others we encounter, lead or influence.
This webinar explored leader character in relation to a series of universal virtues researchers have identified and how those attributes have practical application in leading organizations, including trial courts. At the end of the day, character, in essence, is about who you are, what you believe, and how you use your unique talents and abilities to guide and improve your organization. It is as true today as it was two millennia ago when Aristotle declared, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Facilitator
- Gordon Griller, NAPCO Board Member
Former Minnesota / Arizona Trial Court Executive and NCSC Consultant
Panelists
- Hon. Pamela S. Gates, Presiding Judge
Arizona Judicial Branch in Maricopa County (Greater Phoenix) - Raymond Billotte, Administrator
Arizona Judicial Branch in Maricopa County (Greater Phoenix) - Hon. Paula M. Carey (ret.), Former Chief Justice; NAPCO Board Member
Massachusetts Trial Courts (statewide, unified trial court) - David Yamasaki, Court Executive Officer
Superior Court of California in Orange County (Santa Ana)