Alexander Havard is the founder of the Virtuous Leadership System. He was born and raised in Paris, and is a graduate of one of France’s leading law schools (Paris Descartes University). He worked as a lawyer in Europe (Paris, Strasbourg, Helsinki) for many years before discovering his mission to ignite hearts for greatness and raise up a new generation of Virtuous Leaders. His books “Virtuous Leadership”, “Created for Greatness” , “From Temperament to Character”, “Free Hearts” and “Coached by Joan of Arc” have been translated into 20 languages. Alexander Havard cofounded some 20 Virtuous Leadership Institutes around the world.

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Leadership is about achieving greatness by bringing out the greatness in others.

Management is about getting things done. Leadership is about helping people grow.

True greatness is not about conquering an empire. It is about human, spiritual growth.

Greatness is the result of the practice of the virtue of magnanimity; service is the result of the practice of the virtue of humility.

Leadership is a way of being, which can be lived by everyone no matter his or her place in society or in any given organization. Leadership is not about rank or position or being on top of the heap. Leadership is not reserved for the elite. It is a vocation not of the few, but of the many.

This is a vision of leadership which is consistent with the highest demands of human nature and the noblest aspirations of the human heart.

Virtuous leadership is the first systematic and holistic approach to leadership from the point of view of aretology, which is the science of the virtues developed by the Ancient Greeks.

Virtue is more than a value. It is a dynamic force which allows us not only to achieve human excellence, but also to become effective as human beings. Virtue means excellence in being (aretē, in Greek) and effectiveness in action (virtus, in Latin).

Virtue makes you an effective human being, because it gives you a specific spiritual power: the power to make right decisions, to stay the course, to run risks, to energize your passions and direct them to the fulfillment of the mission at hand, to give people their due and communicate effectively, to achieve great things and serve people by bringing out the greatness in them.

The virtues of prudence (practical wisdom), courage, self-control and justice constitute the foundations of leadership, and the virtues of magnanimity (greatness) and humility (service) constitute its essence.

Virtue is a habit acquired through practice. Leadership is a question of character (virtue, freedom, growth) and not of temperament (biology, conditioning, stagnation).  Leaders are trained, not born.

Leadership is a life ideal, which recognizes, assimilates and propagates the truth about man.