The contrast between Amazon’s financial success and its apparent disregard for its employees has been a hot topic in the press and blogosphere in recent months. I suspect that two recent New York Times articles may well rekindle the debate.

Two Silicon Valley start-ups, Good Technology and Jet.com, were the focus of the New York Times’ reporting. At Good, it is alleged that the board and management accepted an offer to be purchased by BlackBerry that enriched themselves at the expense of rank-and-file employee shareholders. Jet.com, on the other hand, has made employee satisfaction and engagement a core part of its business strategy.

I’ve reflected on the question of virtue in recent years while reading biographies of the first six presidents of the United States along with all of the 20^th and 21^st century presidents and a few of the 19^th century presidents as well. What has struck me in reading the biographies is that the most successful presidents share what might be considered ageless virtues:

• Courage
• Fairness
• Perseverance and hard work
• Optimism
• Resilience (the ability to face hardships and setbacks with grace)
• Confidence (but not hubris)
• Strong principles (but willing to compromise when necessary for achieving a larger purpose)

To be clear, I am not weighing in on the political debates of today by making this observation. Successful presidents—Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals—all share these virtues. And I am also not saying any of the presidents are perfect. Far from it.

So do character and virtue matter in organizational leadership? I believe the answer is yes. For sure, the best CEOs and C-level leaders my colleagues and I at The Bailey Group are privileged to partner with all share these traits. We even have a name for these leaders. We call them Orange Penguins.

So what about firms like Amazon, Good and Jet.com? Will Amazon and Good eventually suffer the consequences of poor employee stewardship? Will Jet.com’s strategy be rewarded? No one can say for sure.

Certainly in the short term, it is hard to argue with Amazon’s success. But I wonder what will happen when other firms begin chipping away at Amazon’s market dominance and the company faces tough times (as eventually all companies do). It is during these times that the virtues that characterize our best presidents and best business leaders matter most. Will Amazon be left wanting?

Obviously, very few of us will become president or find ourselves leading huge firms like Amazon (or Good or Jet.com). Despite this, I still believe the virtues described above are worth cultivating for their own sake as well as a means for becoming a better leader.

So what do you think? Does virtue still matter?