On Character
Live dangerously. Tell the truth. Noonan talks about Reagan (Noonan, 212):
...Reagan thought honest words the only possible predicate for progress. ...He..remained consistent. The immature are always finding new truths, and the cynical are always discovering new philosophies to claim to believe in, but Reagan was neither immature nor cynical. And so was his consistency, which would have been impressive in anybody, but which was startling in a politician.
Let's parse out the important word, consistent. After his early union days in Hollywood, Reagan realized that his future evil empire was real. He stayed on message through those years and continued to stay on message through this GE speech-making days, his governorship, and his presidency. He stayed on message throughout. Now, as he became president, the Russians were looking for signs of how Reagan would act. Noonan thinks it was the air traffic controllers union strike that really started to turn the tide (Noonan, 222). The union threatened to close down American air space. Reagan said come to work or you are fired. They didn't come to work (at least most of them). They lost their jobs in short order.
I suspect that the Russians were expecting a blink, that Reagan would back down. Reagan saw the truth. The controllers wanted a huge salary increase. It wasn't right. He did the right thing. And the Russians watched.
This says quite a lot about being a leader. If you think little things - or big things, for that matter - are not important, you might want to reconsider. People are watching. The Russians watched Reagan and realized he was likely to do just what he said. Your team is watching you and making decisions as well. Make sure you are showing your true character at all times. And make sure your true character is the character of the right.
Reference
Noonan, Peggy. When Character Was King. A Story of Ronald Reagan. Viking. 2001.