The Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus left us this morsel to ruminate on: “Character is destiny.” It’s a well worn and venerable saying, but, frankly, I just can’t agree with him, at least not in our common understanding of his meaning.

Character is the first of the core elements of leadership—the 4 Cs—along with communication, compromise, and collaboration. Your character consists of your values, habits, beliefs, resilience, experiences, and everything else that drives or limits your behavior.

My issue with Heraclitus’ saying does not stem from the word “character,” though, but from the word “destiny.”

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