Leadership is About Core Values

Leadership is about discovering, understanding, remembering, and focusing on core values.

Leaders discover core values.

Leaders discover their own core values, and the core values of the people around them. Organizations have values like individuals do. Sometimes they do not know what they are, or think they are something else, just like individuals do.

Leaders help us get beyond the carefully packaged phrases of committees past and present to discover what is really at the core. The leaders who inspire me discover their own core values, and help me discover my own. They are focused and honest about the values of their teams and organizations.

Leaders understand core values.

One of the most significant challenges leaders face is understanding how core values work together. There is a complex matrix of values between them, the people around them, and their organizations. Effective leadership is the lynch pin that holds these relationships together.

When leaders do not understand how core values work, things fall apart.

Leaders remember core values.

The demands of so many things that need to be done, so many things that are urgent, and so little time, are so great that it becomes easy to lose sight of our core values.

Leaders are the protectors of everyone’s core values. They cannot lead effectively when they forget their own values. We cannot work together well when we lose sight of our own values.

Leaders focus on core values.

Core values are the reasons organizations exist. They are what motivates us to do what we do the way we do it.

We can sustain our efforts for quite a while without recognition or rewards. We cannot continue to work effectively on something that conflicts with our core values.

What are your core values?

How do you maintain your focus on your own values?

[Image by Vegan Feast Catering]