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By Tom LoBianco

This week, the Harvard Kennedy School (����vlog����) Center for Public Leadership (CPL) announced an expanded commitment to training the next generation of leaders with a new $1 million gift from the George Family Foundation.

This gift will extend and expand the George Leadership Fellowship over the next five years. In addition to scholarships for select students in their third year of the ����vlog����/Harvard Business School (HBS) joint degree program, CPL will launch a significant expansion of co-curricular programming and support, making authentic leadership development a fundamental component of the entire three years of the ����vlog����/HBS joint degree program. This co-curriculum programming focuses on character formation and purpose-driven, ethical leadership across the private, public, and non-profit sectors, providing these talented rising leaders with opportunities to deepen their leadership experience through reflective, experiential learning. Through the George Leadership Fellowship, students discern their purpose, develop the ability to mentor others, and explore their own policy and leadership interests.

Bill and Penny George, co-chairs of the George Family Foundation, have been committed to moral leadership for years now in their philanthropic work. Currently an executive fellow at HBS, Bill George is the former CEO and chairman of Medtronic and a graduate of HBS, where he also served as a professor of management practice at HBS. George is a widely recognized expert on leadership studies and author of eight books, including his most recent, True North: Emerging Leader Edition.

During a recent visit to the ����vlog���� campus, George talked with the Center for Public Leadership about how leaders find their moral compass and follow it in difficult times. Speaking with George Leadership Fellows and students in the David Gergen Summer Fellowship, George said leaders must recognize difficult times as moments to step forward and not shrink from challenge. He called on other leaders to support bedrock Constitutional and ethical principles, sharing how he is proud to work with CPL in training the next generation of ethical leaders.

(The following is a transcript of George’s interview with CPL, edited for clarity):

CPL: So, given what we are living through at this moment, where do you find moral leadership? How do you identify it?

BILL GEORGE: Moral leadership starts with people with character who have a solid set of values. I would never tell anyone what their values should be, but they should be true to their values, and lead with a sense of purpose. This era particularly calls for leaders with purpose and values that are willing to hold true to them. Your values come from within you, from your family, your friends, your colleagues, and your educational institutions which enable you to shape your moral character. In this era when there are extreme external pressures that could cause you to deviate, your moral character is more important than ever.

CPL: You have been outspoken about the need for business leaders and leaders in other sectors to take a stand for their values right now. Why?

BILL GEORGE: This is a time for people to stand up and be counted and not be deflected by external pressures. I've seen a lot of people in the business community who have gone the wrong way, where they deviated from their own values, and backed away. To me, that's not moral courage.

CPL: This is true for the Center for Public Leadership. With the George Leadership Fellows, and also more broadly, how do you impart these lessons? How do you teach the next generation how to identify moments like this and understand where they are? Certainly, in a moment like this, there's quite a lot of confusion and uncertainty, seemingly by design.

BILL GEORGE: Well, for the past 18 years, Penny and I, through our George Family Foundation, have been really pleased to support the Center for Public Leadership, and in particular the George Leadership Fellows. Some amazing people have come out of this program.

We've been so impressed with all of the leaders at the Center for Public Leadership. I give great credit to David Gergen for what he's created there. Now Anthony Foxx is picking that up and carrying that baton forward. The leadership of the Kennedy School under Dean Jeremy Weinstein has been extraordinary in supporting these initiatives.

Where else would we develop leaders with character for the public sector? We anticipate that the George Leadership Fellows will ultimately serve in nonprofit, for profit, and public service. That's very exciting for us to see, because that's where their abilities, motivations, and character are shaped by their years at Harvard. In my case I went to work for the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense upon graduation, as I hoped to contribute as a civilian during the Vietnam War. My wife Penny went to work for the Director of the National Security Agency.

CPL: You write in your book, True North: Emerging Leader Edition, and in your training, that each person identifies their True North. What are the key elements of that? How do you find your personal anchor and your guiding light?

BILL GEORGE: Great question. The concept of True North emanates from who you are, as True North is your moral compass. It starts with your life story. Who are you? Where did you come from? Then it's more important to ask: what’s your internal self? That comes through a deep self-examination. It includes the difficult times you've faced in life, because that's where leaders are shaped, which we call a crucible in having challenging times. You're not shaped nearly as much in good times as you are in difficult ones, because that's where your character is revealed. To prepare people for challenging times ahead, I think they have to go through a period of discernment about their character, their values, and ultimately their purpose, which we call their North Star.

CPL: How are some ways that others can step forward in this moment and show moral leadership. How can we get more folks online with this?

BILL GEORGE: Moral leadership starts from where you are today, the organizations you're in, being willing to influence people and being willing to stand up and be counted, not to just disappear into the woodwork. I've seen a lot of leaders in institutions saying, “Oh, they're coming after me, so I'm not going to say anything. I'm just going to tuck down here in the tall grass, and maybe they won't see me.”

This is where leaders need to step up and be counted. We've seen Harvard leaders do that. Harvard President Alan Garber, who is himself a member of the Jewish faith, has been willing to take on the antisemitism in the school. These issues go far more broadly than the potential challenges facing Harvard today. This is why the Kennedy School needs to turn out more leaders of character for the public sector.

Other leaders need to step up, too. I'm looking to more people in the business community that are willing to do that. That's essential to the functioning of a smooth society that we have leaders from the public sector, private sector, and also, in the philanthropy and nonprofit sectors, where a lot of people should give their money to support the initiatives institutions like the Kennedy School are undertaking.

CPL: You're good friends with Dave Gergen. What were some lessons in leadership you've learned from him over the years?

BILL GEORGE: I first met David at a Leadership and Character program at the Aspen Institute in 2002 that he and Warren Bennis were leading. I got to know both of them quite well that week. David has always been a great believer in developing leaders of character. That's what he has done in all his years at CPL.

The graduates of CPL are truly leaders of character. Look at somebody like Rep. Seth Moulton, who is in Congress and was a former George Leadership Fellow. He's been willing to stand up in many cases and be counted, even though some of the things he said may not be popular. That's to his credit. Jonathan Kelly is an entrepreneur with his own organization down in North Carolina. Rye Barcott has taken such a strong lead with all the military veterans, getting them elected to Congress and raised tens of millions of dollars to try to get more military veterans elected Congress. And one of those military veterans now, Maura Sullivan, who's a 2009 graduate of the Kennedy School and also a George Leadership Fellow, is going to be running for Congress in New Hampshire. I’d like to see more people do that.

CPL: Thank you for your continued support of CPL and, more broadly, your service as a public leader.

BILL GEORGE: I think the leadership of the Center for Public Leadership and the leadership of the Kennedy School is making an enormous difference during this difficult time. Moral leaders, if they're clear about their True North and their beliefs and their purpose, can be counted on to do the right thing, each in their own way, each in the environment they're in. That will make a difference in carrying us through these difficult times.

Click here to learn more about the George Leadership Fellowship.