Reflecting on my leadership values

I’m doing a course at Munster Technological University at the moment. It’s called Leading Transformational Change. I’ve also signed up for a daily leadership reading challenge from Ryan Holiday where he shares insights on leadership through the lens of stoic philosophy.

The learning I’ve been doing via both programmes has made me think about my own leadership values. Do I have any? Can they be articulated?

As it happens, there are some values or rules that are woven into how I approach life amd I suppose, how I’d like to lead. Here they are.

Connect

I seek to connect with people cognitively and emotionally. After all, leading is an is an emotional as well as intellectual process. It’s very hard for somebody to follow a leader that they don’t trust. That’s not to say that I always need to be liked but I do need to be trusted and trustworthy.

Inspire

As a leader, I think it’s important to inspire followers rather than merely provide direction. The ultimate goal of any leader should be to raise the ability of any follower. This requires inspiration for them to believe that they can do and be better.

Empower

Inspiring leaders create empowered followers. Empowering others with self-efficacy, self-confidence, and belief in their capabilities is central to my leadership. I strive to help others overcome self-doubt and realize their own strength and potential. If I can empower even one person, I can benefit that person and society in general.

Capable

I value competence and continual self-improvement. Being capable means constantly honing my skills and knowledge to lead effectively. Capability is grounded in competence. While it might seem strange to suggest the idea of capability as a value, it has everything to do with how I respond to opportunities and challenges. The more capable I am, the better equipped I can be to respond lead in challenging situations.

Committed

My commitment extends to my colleagues and to embracing and leading change. This includes a lifelong commitment to learning and adapting.

Confident

Confidence, for me, is about trust — in myself and in my team. It’s not about ego, but about having faith in our collective capabilities and our journey toward success. In fact, the word ‘confidence’ comes from the Latin word ‘con fidere’ which simply means ‘with trust’. Those without reasonable confidence in their own capability will find it difficult to lead themselves and anybody else.

Curious

In the pursuit of human progress, the single most important value is curiosity, defined as the desire to know and learn new things. From Plato to Einstein, scholars from any number of disciplines identify curiosity as a vital attribute for success in any domain. My leadership is driven by curiosity — a desire to know, learn, and explore. This curiosity is the cornerstone of envisioning alternative futures and embracing human progress.

Creative

My curiosity leads to creativity. I believe that capable, committed leaders are confident, which empowers them to be curious. Curiosity leads to information seeking which in turn can spark new ideas and new ways of approaching emerging challenges. Creativity doesn’t need to be a magical act of inspiration. As a leader I can choose to be creative by changing my perspective. I can use divergent thinking to zoom out and look at the big picture and see what is possible. After all, isn’t the act of leadership about seeing possibilities where others don’t? And I can use convergent thinking to decide how to deal with the problems that are right in front of me.

Challenge

To cultivate curiosity and creativity in their truest sense requires thinking in terms of abstract ideas that involve uncertainty. This requires leaders to respectfully challenge both their own ideas and beliefs and those of their followers. The act of challenging is associated with courage. That is, the courage to find a way to stretch one’s abilities and turn obstacles into opportunities. For me, true leadership involves challenging ideas and beliefs — both my own and those of my team. It requires the courage to be open, honest, and to turn obstacles into opportunities.

Character

I very much believe in the importance of good character. That is, living consistently with your values. I believe that the only way to lead successfully is to lead by example. No leader exists in isolation. Even the best leaders have mentors and people that they look up to. As for me, there are many people in my life who have influenced and continue to influence me. I like to think about the qualities that the people around me have. I can admire these qualities but I can also aspire to live up to them. This takes me all the way back to the value of inspiration. The most inspiring thing in the world is looking at the virtues embodied in people I admire. The people I admire are in my family. They are my friends. And they are also great people in history whose values I can learn about and emulate by reading about them.

Allow me to close with a quote from Leo Tolstoy’s A Calendar of Wisdom:

⁠There is nothing more important than an example. It leads us to do good deeds which would be impossible without this example. Therefore, if we use dissipated or passionate or cruel people as examples, it destroys our soul. The contrary is also true…Evil influence can be destroyed only by good influence.

Conditioning (Physical & Mental)

Physical fitness is very important to me. And as I age, mental health and fitness has become an area that I focus on more and more. From a leadership perspective, if I’m not looking after my own physical and mental health, then how can I be a role model for anyone else?

In the book, the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen Covey’s seventh habit is “Sharpen the Saw”. He advises that we should take the time to sharpen our tools. Our tools are our bodies, our spirits, our minds, and our hearts. For me, this means taking care of my body with regular exercise. One of the lecturers on the programme recommended undertaking a 20 day outdoor challenge. The challenge was simply to spend time outdoors every day. At this time of year, it’s cold and dark early in the day. For this reason, I’ve been making sure to get outdoors early in the day for vigorous exercise and to soak up some vitamin D. I take care of my spirit with lunchtime walks with no earphones. I let my brain wander. And I take time to admire the beauty of nature. This is energising. I take care of my mind by getting a full night’s sleep. I oscillate my energy for optimal performance. And I try to eat well. As for my heart, I tell my wife I love her. And I mean it. I try to find beauty in the smallest things — the child who smiles at me, the neighbour who waves at me, the rainbow after the rain.

In conclusion

I may well come back to this post and update or change my values. In the meantime, I think it’s important to be aware of and be able to articulate your values. They provide guidelines and boundaries that will keep you (and your followers) on track.

What are you leadership values? What do you live and lead by?