Résumé Virtues, Eulogy Virtues, and the Impact of Small Moments
Thoughts About Building Character in the Modern Era
When you die, who will attend the funeral? And what — if anything, will they have to say during your eulogy?
In his best-selling book The Road to Character, David Brooks discusses two kinds of things that we self-help consumers are trying to improve upon:
It occurred to me that there were two sets of virtues, the résumé virtues and the eulogy virtues. The résumé virtues are the skills you bring to the marketplace. The eulogy virtues are the ones that are talked about at your funeral — whether you were kind, brave, honest or faithful. Were you capable of deep love?
We all know that the eulogy virtues are more important than the résumé ones. But our culture and our educational systems spend more time teaching the skills and strategies you need for career success than the qualities you need to radiate that sort of inner light. Many of us are clearer on how to build an external career than on how to build inner character.
Brooks’s point is not to be overlooked. In this world of fast-paced innovation, disruption, and self-improvement crazes, we often end up merely paying lip service to character, rather than focusing on it. Self-improvement tends to be…
