“Leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do.”
Frances Hesselbein used this definition throughout her work and made it central to Hesselbein on Leadership. She had transformed the Girl Scouts of the USA before leading the organization that carried forward Peter Drucker’s nonprofit-management legacy. Her point was not that skills and execution are unimportant. It was that technique cannot compensate for a leader’s character, values, and way of relating to people. What a leader consistently embodies shapes trust and performance more deeply than a collection of managerial tricks.
“How to be” becomes visible in ordinary choices. Does the leader listen before speaking, share information, use “we” more readily than “I,” and treat people with respect when no audience is present? Integrity connects stated purpose with allocation, promotion, and behavior under pressure. Employees learn the real culture by watching which commitments survive inconvenience. In that sense, being is not private intention. It is a pattern that others can observe and use to predict whether authority will be exercised fairly.
The phrase can become vague if separated from competence. Good character does not excuse poor decisions, weak preparation, or failure to deliver. Leaders must still learn how to set direction, build systems, manage conflict, and measure results. The distinction is that these tools operate inside an ethical posture. Humility without action can leave problems untouched; decisiveness without integrity can make an organization efficient at the wrong purpose. Hesselbein asks leaders to join capability with character.
The lesson is especially important when leadership is packaged as a performance on social media or in corporate messaging. Employees and customers can compare declarations with lived experience quickly. A credible leader does not need to appear flawless, but must be consistent enough to admit error, protect dignity, and keep promises visible. Organizations can develop technical skills through training, yet culture changes when influential people model the standards they request. Hesselbein’s definition makes leadership less about possessing a role and more about becoming trustworthy in it. Organizations can assess “how to be” through stories as well as surveys. Which leader admitted uncertainty, shared credit, defended an employee, or changed a decision after listening? Which behavior earned promotion despite contradicting the stated values? Repeated stories reveal the character the institution actually rewards. Development programs can then use real decisions, not abstract traits, to show what integrity looks like under pressure. Hesselbein’s definition becomes concrete when selection, evaluation, and succession give authority to people whose conduct already embodies the culture the organization claims to want.
Hesselbein made “how to be” the organizing idea of her 2002 book Hesselbein on Leadership.
Her definition grew from leading the Girl Scouts and later developing leaders across nonprofit, business, and government sectors.
Character becomes operational through repeatable choices about listening, respect, truth, and shared credit.
Values do not replace competence; responsible leadership joins ethical presence with the skills required to deliver.
Public leadership performances are easy to produce, while employees can quickly compare claims with actual behavior.
Trust grows when leaders model the standards they ask others to follow, especially under pressure.
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