Becoming a Leader: Your Purpose and Your Values
“My life is my message”
In so many previous blogs I have talked about building a company:
Have clarity over what you are trying to do.
Become more efficient in doing it.
Start to grow the business through intentional actions.
Sell your value.
But I argue that to implement these four strategies will be much more difficult, or even impossible, if you are not a capable leader. In fact, leadership will be the single most important factor in the success or failure of your business.
Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell suggested there were three kinds of people:
The 5% that make things happen.
The 15% that watch what’s happening.
The rest who don’t have a clue.
The 5% are the leaders of the world. They are doing or inspiring the doing.
It is a myth to suggest that leaders are born. In fact, they are MADE. There is no leadership gene, secret formula, or parental lineage that determines who will be a great leader. Leaders may be found, may emerge, or may just naturally find that others are drawn to them, but the message is that anyone can become a great leader. Often, a leader becomes a leader when a leader is needed.
Leadership starts with purpose and clear values. To lead, and to succeed in business, you need to set the context of your life and your career. Your overarching purpose gets you up in the morning and fills your thoughts as you drift off at night. Your values find your followers.
Your Purpose
For us as people, our purpose is often “why am I here?” In business, it changes slightly to be “why does this business exist?” The purpose of the business will be tied directly to the leadership and culture, so being clear on the “why” is an important first step.
Here are some reflective thoughts to consider:
What kind of world do you want to leave to your future children or their children?
Why does that matter to you?
What do you do to carry out that purpose?
How does that translate into your business?
How do you communicate this to those involved in your business?
If you are seeking to better understand your own “why” and, importantly, the “why” in your business, reach out. We can talk through that together.
Your Values
On a personal level, your core values form the foundation upon which you will build your character and your life. When you translate this to business, values become the moral compass that govern the culture of your organization.
Ultimately, the future of the world will be defined by the behavior of nature, and the behavior of humans. There are really no other factors that will determine our fate. So, where we can’t control the behavior of nature (but we certainly influence it), we can control our own behavior.
You can live your purpose by striving to become the kind of person who would inhabit the world you wish to create.
Clarifying Your Values
Values are the cornerstone to people, cultures, communities, organizations, and societies. Values help us know what is good or bad, right or wrong, noble or cruel. Values form the essential ingredient into the lives we lead and the foundations we build around ourselves and those around us.
Values are going to vary across the world. And they should. We are all different. What is important in defining and living your values is not imposing these in judgement on others. When we are born, we are introduced to values through those that raise us, and eventually we decide to continue living these, or to pivot to our own developed version. Some values we accept, some we question. Eventually we do the hard work of asking ourselves if the values we have been exposed to serve us as independent adults. We decide if we are going to live our lives in conformity or in a reaction to the values of others.
As we grow and “adult,” we individualize our values. To do so requires self-reflection and a clear understanding of where our values came from, and why. Once we do this work, we can decide what to STOP, START, and CONTINUE to do with respect to the values that work and don’t work for us. In short, you will individuate your values and the way you choose to live.
Living Your Values
Living in the service of your values will be freeing. Inner conflict will reduce, and you will find it easier to surround yourself with people whom understand and accept your uniqueness. But…when you do suffer from internal discord, it will likely be an indication that you are out of alignment with your values. Do your behavior and your values align? Leadership will require this to be true.
Do you want to know someone’s values? Look at their behavior. Personally, my health is the one value I foster the most. This is clear in how I spend my time, how I eat, the things and situations I avoid, and even the messages I put online. So, our actions are a critical and daily test of our values. When challenged our values will be challenged.
As Gandhi said “My life is my message.” This should be true of us all.
When you know your purpose and are living your values, leadership can emerge. And when you are a leader you should be continuously observing your behavior and watching that your actions are congruent with your values. Asking yourself how your behavior fits your values should be a regular occurrence. And? The person that operates responsibly from their individuated value system is the one capable of leadership.
Business Values
Businesses have values too. Stated or unstated, these values dictate the behavior of the business. Business values become the culture of the organization and this is, in essence, the business’s moral compass. This will dicate how the company sells, operates, competes, hires, trains, and ultimately how everyone will act and interact.
In small business, the core values are usually an extension of the values of the leader. Creating clarity about your personal values is a necessary step to align these with your greater business purpose.
Strategic Values
Where cultural values are the moral compass of a business, the practical compass are the strategic values. One (culture) governs behavior. The other (strategic) governs strategies. These are also carefully constructed and understood, and may be unstated but measured.
Try This
To explore your business values, consider:
Examine a list of value words. Pick out the top 5 that resonate.
Explain WHY you have chosen these words/values. List why they are significant for you and your business.
Prioritize these values in order. How do they rank at building the foundation of your life?
Rate how you embody these values now.
Re-examine the values and relate these to how you govern and dictate the culture of your business. Go through the process again for why you have chosen these, rate them, and understand how they are embodied.
Consider your take-aways. What have you learned from reflecting on your personal and business values? Do you have work to do? Get to it or call me and I can help.
Adapted from “Sales 5.1 State Your Purpose, and “Sales 5.2 Identify Your Values” by FocalPoint Coaching and Training Excellence, Copyright 2018, by Brian Tracy and Campbell Fraser. Reprinted with permission.
