Josh Cote recently paid a visit to Sherborne School for Boys, whilst there he learned about the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham. Sherborne is planning to embed the Centre’s research on character and integrity into its teaching curriculum. Josh saw an opportunity here; this approach is not only good for young people but a blueprint for anyone stepping into the workforce, especially young graduates facing the complexities of modern leadership.
Leadership is so much more than a set of technical skills or business tactics. According to the Jubilee Centre’s research, true leadership is about character, integrity, courage, humility, and responsibility. These qualities are practical virtues that shape how leaders make decisions and create cultures that last. Josh, CEO of EAW Consulting, knows this better than most. Having spent nearly two decades advising businesses, he has seen that companies with leaders grounded in character outperform those chasing short-term success without a moral compass.
So why isn’t character the headline in leadership development? Because it’s tricky to teach and even harder to live. You can’t outsource integrity or automate judgment. The Jubilee Centre calls characters “caught, taught, and sought.” It’s caught by watching role models, taught through deliberate education, and sought as a personal journey.
Josh’s work with entrepreneurs, investors, and consultants through EAW Consulting sharpens this focus. Leadership isn’t about projecting confidence or playing the part. It’s about being the leader your team trusts when the stakes are highest. When you lead by example, when you’ve done the work your team is doing, it changes the game. People don’t just follow orders; they follow people.
Embedding character into leadership means creating environments where ethical standards are ingrained in the culture. It means leaders exercising practical wisdom, knowing when to stand firm and when to be flexible in thorny situations. It demands reflection, confronting moral dilemmas head-on, and growing as a “virtuous practitioner.” This is leadership as a daily commitment!
Josh also points out that this approach forces a rethink for consultants and investors: it’s no longer enough to evaluate metrics or market traction alone. You have to ask, Who is the leader behind these numbers? What character do they bring when no one’s watching? That scrutiny is exactly what Sherborne’s Headmaster wants to instill in his students, and Josh believes graduates will need it just as much when entering workplaces fraught with complexity and constant change.
To build leadership rooted in character isn’t easy. But it’s the foundation for sustainable growth and resilient organisations. Josh’s experience with EAW Consulting shows that when leadership is authentic and values-driven, everything else falls into place, from customer acquisition to talent retention to innovation.
In the end, the Jubilee Centre’s work and Josh’s experience converge on this truth: leadership is a character project, not a checklist. It requires courage, the courage to do the right thing, even when it’s costly or uncomfortable. It requires humility, the humility to recognise your own flaws while striving to be better. And above all, it requires integrity, the integrity to hold yourself accountable to the values you preach.
So if you’re an entrepreneur, a consultant, or an investor wondering how to build something that lasts, start here. Don’t just ask “What can this leader do?” Ask “Who is this leader?” Because in today’s world, leadership without character isn’t leadership at all.
Josh Cote and EAW Consulting stand behind that idea, shaping leaders and businesses where character comes first, and where success is not an accident but the inevitable outcome of integrity in action.
