What are the most important values for a leader?

March 18, 2023

All individuals have to decide what values they will embrace, what they will live for, what they would die for. Those values come from their core beliefs and their faith. I won't address that here because I believe you must wrestle them down personally. Instead I'll talk about leaders values that I believe are most important.

Purpose: Let Your Why Direct Your What

I believe that success comes from knowing your purpose in life, growing to your maximum potential, and sowing seeds to benefit others. If you miss any one of those three things, I don't think you can be genuinely successful. I also know that you cannot achieve the second and third parts fully without first discovering the first. You can't grow to your potential you don't know your purpose.

And if you don't know why you are on this earth and you are not able to improve in that purpose to the best of your ability, you'll be very limited in the ways you can help others.

I'll just say that once you understand your purpose, you need to prioritize your life according to that purpose. If you don't, you'll continually get off track and you may never feel a real sense fulfillment and completion.

Integrity: Live the Life Before You Lead Others.

Too many leaders are like bad parents. They do whatever they want and tell the people they are supposed to be leading. "Do as I say, not as I do." That doesn't work in parenting or in leadership.

Why? Because people do what people see!

Great teams are made up of people with diverse skills. But when it comes to values, habits, disciplines, and attitudes, there needs to be unity. That starts with the example set by the leaders. If the leaders are undisciplined, the people will follow the suit. If they come to work late, fail to hit their budgets, do sloppy work, waste time, and treat people poorly, guess what their people will do?

When you become a leader, you must focus more on your responsibilities than on your rights

When you become a leader, you must focus more on your responsibilities than on your rights. You must raise your standards. You must do more than you expect of others. If you live the life first and lead well, others will respect you. And the chances are good that they will be willing to follow you.

Relationships: Walk Slowly Through the Crowd

Leadership impact is drawn not from position or title but from authentic relationships.

How do you develop authentic relationships?

You live with authenticity. You treat people with kindness and respect. And you go to where they are to connect with them.

A lot of leaders wait for their people to come to them. They assume that people will come to them if they need or want something. But good leaders don't think that way. Effective leaders initiate. They communicate vision. They seek opportunities. They start initiatives that will benefit the organization. And they initiate with people too.

They know that they will never possess what they are unwilling to pursue. They want good relationships with the people who work with them, so they seek those people out. They ask them questions. They learn who they are. They offer assistance. They find ways for them to succeed. If you want to become a better leader, become highly relational.

Renewal: Replenish Yourself Daily

Life is demanding. People are demanding. The more you lead and the more you succeed, the more others will expect from you. If you don't make an effort to replenish your energy, feed your soul and renew your mind, you will run out of gas. Replenishing yourself requires your attention. You have to be intentional about it.

Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, called this "sharpening the saw" and described it as

preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have - you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual.

Servanthood: Leading Well Means Serving Others

People want to lead for many reasons. Some want power. Others seek riches. Many are driven by an ideology or a desire to change the world. I believe the only worthy motivation for leadership is a desire for servanthood.

I love what Eugene B Habecker writes in The Other Side of Leadership:

The true leader serves. Serves people. Serves their best interests, and in so doing will not always be popular, may not always impress. But because true leaders are motivated by loving concern, rather than a desire for personal glory. they are willing to pay the price.

If you want to lead others but you are unwilling to serve people, I think you need to check your motives. If you are willing to embrace servanthood, not only will you become a better leader you will help your team, help the people your team serves, and make the world a better place.

Certainly there are other important values for leaders, but these are the ones I put at the top of my list. I encourage you to examine your own core beliefs and decide which values are most important to you.