“What part of your character are you working on today?”

From the 6/19/2020 issue

“What part of your character are you working on today?”



Alexandra Harrington, MD, MT (ASCP) – Director of the Kern Institute Faculty Pillar

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Here was the ice breaker used in a virtual education workshop I attended last week:

"What part of your character are you working on today?”

Without missing a beat, one participant, an elementary school educator, reflected on her character strength of “Perspective” and how moving all of her students’ home-schooling instruction online had challenged her patience. Several others gave the same answer: Perspective. According to the Values in Action (VIA) Institute of Character (viacharacter.org), “Perspective,” or the ability to see the big picture, is one of the twenty-four character strengths valued across cultures. Even though I am usually not fond of ice breakers, I loved this activity.



We were participating in a break-out group from a larger Kern Family Foundation Partners in Character and Educational Leadership (KPCEL) gathering. Over the course of a year, we were brought together – initially in Boston only a few blocks from Fenway Park and then remotely – by the Kern Family Foundation to learn change management and share best practices for character education. Most of the participating programs were from the K-12 world but undergraduate and graduate programs were represented, as well. This talented group, along with its facilitators, lives and breathes character education in their classrooms and programs. I was surrounded (albeit in Hollywood-Squares-style) by character-literate educators who were so impassioned by their work on behalf of their students and society, that they themselves could easily identify character growth opportunities on the spot without hesitation. This was Dr. Carol Dweck’s growth mindset in action.



Take home points for medical education


We can learn much from the K-12 community that applies to medical schools. In child and adolescent education, character education is defined by Dr. Marvin Berkowitz as “the intentional attempt in schools to foster the development of students’ psychological characteristics that motivate and enable them to act in ethical, democratic, and socially effective and productive ways.” Public and private elementary and secondary schools have adopted character education curricula for decades, and effective strategies for character education are available. These are terrific resources.



Having been part of convenings, I have learned some high-level lessons from our colleagues:

• “Start with the adults,” and “the adult culture matters.” In elementary and secondary schools, this refers to the teachers, counselors, and administrators. In the medical school environment, this means that we must engage with our faculty to promote character education, so that everyone recognizes their critical role in the development of our learners.

• Character education must be enculturated into the learning environment and prioritized by executive leadership.

• It is a false dichotomy to believe that character excellence and academic excellence are mutually exclusive. Both can exist successfully.

• Character education is iterative. Some things will work but expect others to fail. Keep your eye on the desired outcome.

• The goals of character education are to develop persons of good character who are their best selves and to positively influence our communities and society towards a better direction.

Next steps


So, what does this mean for our adult medical school learners? Unlocking this question has been our Kern Institute charge since we began this work. We have learned a lot from content experts in the character field and from our own experimentation at MCW. We have explored how character development intersects with professionalism, medical ethics, and professional identity formation. Additionally, I suggest we consider exploring well-being, communication skills, emotional intelligence, systems-based practice, leadership, and self-management as components of character development in medicine. Current events and the resulting rich dialogue around inequities have helped me recognize that patient and community advocacy is a critical opportunity for all of us as we develop our civic virtues.



“I’m working on my bravery these days,” I answered when I was called on for the ice breaker. “I want to be a leader that speaks up when it’s hard to and challenges things that may not be so easy to challenge.” I talked about the racial and gender inequities pervasive in our culture. The VIA Institute on Character defines bravery as facing your challenges, threats, or difficulties by valuing a conviction and acting upon it.


So, I ask you, “What part of your character are you working on today?”


You can take the free VIA Character Survey to determine your own top character strengths by clicking here.



Alexandra Harrington, MD, MT (ASCP) is a Professor of Pathology and Director of Hematopathology in the MCW Department of Pathology. She serves as Director of the Faculty Pillar of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education.