Character v Personality?

A quote from Adam Grant from his current book Hidden Potential has really resonated with us and we’ve been sharing it in our DiA sessions. We thought we’d share it here too.

Character is often confused with personality, but they are not the same. Personality is your predisposition – your basic instincts for how to think, feel, and act.  Character is your capacity to prioritise your values over your instincts.

Knowing your principles doesn’t necessarily mean you know how to practice them, particularly under stress or pressure.  It’s easy to be proactive and determined when things are going well. The true test of character is whether you manage to stand by those values when the deck is stacked against you. If personality is how you respond on a typical day, character is how you show up on a hard day.