“Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right” - Warren G. Bennis

The world today is success-driven so much that most people including our leaders in governments, societies, families, and churches find it challenging to subject their conscience to principles and values.

But you can be the difference! British dramatist, Philip Massinger opined that, “He that would govern others, first should be Master of himself.” It is therefore required of us to be masters of ourselves irrespective of our placement, calling, gifts, and talents prior to leading others.

Someone once said, “As you climb the ladder of success, check occasionally to make sure it is leaning against the right wall.” Most institutions, nations, and people in this contemporary world don’t care which wall their “ladder” is leaning on, all they are concerned about is the figures showing profit in their books and getting to their destination in life faster at any cost. 

Standards of morality and good value systems are eluding this generation. Everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes. Revered folks who are supposed to be touchstones in moral issues are rather faltering and stumbling on principle centered living.

The ladder of leadership should always lean on the wall of principles and values. Notable leaders in history always did the right thing even when it cost them dearly. Principles are universal and natural laws that cut across social status and class, race, gender, religion, age, geography, and time.

For example, Integrity as a principle will work for you regardless of gender, race, religion, age, geography, time, and social status but will work against you when violated.

To really have a lasting impact on civilization requires principle centered living. Principle centered living doesn't require perfection but consistency to high values and principles. We may occasional miss the mark but since we've set standards we would know our shortfalls.

When your leadership and life endeavors stem from good values, and your values are derived from strong and absolute principles, your life becomes a benchmark for society, and your name becomes indelible in the history books. People and generations to come would read about you, study your values, and strive to institutionalize them in organizations, educational establishments, and countries.

Great men and women in the past made their strides in society not by happenstance but by principle centered living. Remember, they all had their personal and private moral battles but they resolved to win in life because they understood what was required of them in their days.

Muhammad Anwaral-Sadat, the 3rd President of the Arab Republic of Egypt displayed the efficacy of the principle centered living during his term as the President to which he ultimately lost his life:

Born into a family of 13 children to an Egyptian father and Sudanese mother, Anwar al-Sadat came from humble beginnings in a town 40 miles to the north of Cairo known as Mit Abu al-Kum, al-Minufiyah in Egypt. Having enrolled into the Royal Military Academy in Cairo, Egypt, he graduated in 1938 and was appointed in the Signal Corps. He quickly rose through the ranks of the military and eventually become the 3rd President of the Republic of Egypt after the death of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the preceding President.

After assuming office as the President, Anwar al-Sadat was greatly enamored by the Egyptian people and the Arab world owing to political speeches he went around Egypt giving that he would never shake the hand of an Israeli as long as they occupy one inch of Arab soil, chanting “Never! Never! Never!” 

His enthusiasts reverberating back, “Never! Never! Never!” But the conscience of Anwar al-Sadat which evolved from his values stemming from absolute principles was crying louder within him seeking to initiate a peace treaty with the Israelis.

In his bid to galvanize support from western countries for his peace policy (with the Israelis), he cultivated relations with Evangelical Christians in the U.S. including Evangelical Pastor Billy Graham. He also built some cooperation with the Vatican and got a message of support from Pope Paul VI.

Stephen Covey recounting his interview with Madame Jehan Sadat , Anwar al-Sadat’s wife in his book, “The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness,” asked Jehan Sadat what was it like living with Anwar al-Sadat particularly at the time he made the bold peace initiative of going to the Knesset (legislative Council) in Jerusalem,  which climaxed the Camp David Accord. In her response, she narrated the dialogue that took place at their presidential palace between her and Anwar al-Sadat. She said, “I asked him, I understand you are thinking about going to Israel. Is this correct?”

Anwar: “Yes.”

Jehan: “How could you possibly do this after all you have been saying?”

Anwar: “I was wrong, and this is the right thing to do.”

Jehan: “You will lose the leadership and support of the Arab world.”

Anwar: “I suppose that could happen; but I don’t think it will.”

Jehan: “You will lose the presidency of your country.”

Anwar: “That, too, could happen.”

Jehan: “You’ll lose your life.”

Anwar: “My life is ordained. It will not be one minute longer or one minute shorter than it was ordained to be.”

Jehan Sadat told her interviewer that she embraced her husband and said he was the greatest person she had ever known. Then Stephen Covey followed up by asking Jehan Sadat what was it like when Anwar al-Sadat returned from Israel? She responded, “It normally takes thirty minutes to travel from the airport to the palace. That day it took over three hours. The highway and streets were thronged with hundreds of thousands of people, cheering Sadat in enthusiastic support of what he was doing, the same people who just one week earlier had been cheering for the exact opposite approach. He was doing what was right, and they knew it.”

See, Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat lost his life through an assassin' bullet but he died living a principle centered life. At times it’s better to die physically living a principle centered life than to be alive and die spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically being "people pleaser" or a sycophant.

Living a principle centered life requires the following characteristics:

• Disciple (Learner) – Living a principle centered life requires you to be a student of higher standards and a protégé of “heroes of good values.” There are people in history and in this present era who lived or are living their lives according to higher values. Those are people you want to learn from and find out how they made it possible. If you want to go somewhere in life, conventional wisdom teaches,  you must seek counsel and insight from people who have made it there  and how they made it possible.

• Discipline – You can’t be a disciple without being disciplined about a course or standard. Living a principle centered life requires discipline at its best. In other words, you have to submit yourself to a higher standard of living as well as subjecting your spiritual, physical, and mental life to a proven source of principle (like the Word of God).  “Discipline” and “disciple” are from the same word meaning learning, teaching, Sense of “treatment that corrects or punishes”, etc. Roy L. Smith believed “Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability.” Discipline is the vehicle that transports you from desire to dream fulfillment. Someone once said, “Judge yourself so that you wouldn’t be judged by others.”

• Determination – It takes mental fortitude to live a principle centered life, it doesn’t happen by chance. You have to call on all your mental strength and alertness if you want to live by high values, especially in this present era in which everyone does what seem right in their own eyes and situational ethics (a system of ethics that evaluates acts in light of their situational context rather than by the application of moral absolutes) is what rules in most circumstances in society. Determination is relevant in finishing well because there would come a time when you feel like giving up and be like everyone else, also there may be times in the journey of life when you would mess up either privately or publicly and I promise you they would come, but it would only take resilience and fortitude to bounce back. Living by principle makes you know the standard or mark you are living by. Hence when you miss the mark you know by which margin you’ve drifted off. When you have an absolute principles that you live by, no situation can dictate your morals. It is only people who don’t live by principles have the “everything goes” mindset and “open mind” policy in all settings.

• Boldness - You need to be audacious to keep high standards in this contemporary world. In other words, you have to be able to say 'No' without being fearful or guilty at any given time. There may be lots of private moments  in which you could compromise your values and fall below your mark but with  boldness, you can firmly walk away and say ' I am bigger and better than that, let everyone engage in it, I will chose to live honorably.'

Principle centered living is no mean feat especially in this current “success without morality” world but if great men and women from the past and present generations are subjecting the conscience to attain this level of life, so can we. Finally, always bear in mind that “whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, and takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself,” Susanna Wesley. Discover Your Greatness!