Nonnegotiable’s
Dr. Al Diaz, featured Leadership Freak (LF) contributor, asked where are the Leadership Freak values. Here’s a first attempt at discovering, not creating, core LF Values.
Ten Core Values
Leadership: Individuals make a difference.
Generosity: Leaders giving back to the community.
Exchange: Leaders are enriched by exchanging ideas.
Honesty: Dishonesty undermines influence honesty enhances influence.
Respect: Leaders extend courtesy and respect to others.
Encouragement: Leaders need support.
Growth: Leaders improve.
Courage: Leaders press through resistance
Experience: Leaders learn how to lead through failure and success.
Reading: Leaders expand their potential by bringing the outside in.
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Core values drive the focus, content, conversation, and goals of the Leadership Freak community.
In the broader context, values drive decisions. Values stabilize in an unstable world. Values underpin mission and vision. Values lift individuals and organizations above being driven by personal ease and preference. Without values leaders and organizations are adrift.
Values aren’t negotiable.
I’m not sure if it’s realistic but I’d like to boil Leadership Freak core values down to 3 to 5 core values that drive the LF community.
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What core values underpin your leadership?
What core values are driving the Leadership Freak community?
What top 3 core values drive the Leadership community?
Humility. You don’t know enough to be running around with a superiority complex. Good leaders know when to lead and when to follow as they surround themselves with people that come with different strengths so all angles can be covered. If I am the know it all in my team for every scenario, I need to review the team as we are then not diverse enough. There is always something to learn from others.
Thabo,
Good call!
Cheers,
Dan
Dan – great start! Feels to me this may be mixing Values and Activities in some places. For example, Reading feels to me like an activity, whereas Continuous Learning (which could include reading) might be more of a value.
My vote for Top 3 Values:
Integrity
Respect/compassion (difficult to separate them)
Proactivity
Mark,
Wow, you are so right. Reading is an activity and continuous learning is broader and foundational.
Thanks for your insight.
Dan
LF readers can read Mark’s bio at http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/mark-friedman
Dear Dan,
Thank you for sharing with us this important article about CORE VALUES.
For any community to have values, it requires members with values.
Leadership Freak Community, in my opinion, as I saw until now, has all
10 values described by you:
1. Leadership: Individuals make a difference.
2.Generosity: Leaders giving back to the community.
3.Exchange: Leaders are enriched by exchanging ideas.
4.Honesty: Dishonesty undermines influence honesty enhances influence.
5.Respect: Leaders extend courtesy and respect to others.
6.Encouragement: Leaders need support.
7.Growth: Leaders improve.
8.Courage: Leaders press through resistance
9.Experience: Leaders learn how to lead through failure and success.
10.Reading: Leaders expand their potential by bringing the outside in.
I can not choose a value, for me all are important.
all the best,
“What core core values underpin your leadership?”,
Dear Dan, you can change the question with only “core values”, instead of two coring. I am wondering why you pointed twice? core core.
I know that you write your articles correctly each time :), I am learning from you.
regards to all,
Simona,
Thanks, I corrected it.
Cheers,
Dan
Hi Dan,
Just back from vacation and saw your core values post. If I were to pick 3 from the list of ten, they would be:
Respect – It is air an organization needs
Growth – As a vision/value, it guides decisions and keeps everything moving forward
Courage – Without it, an organization can get lost.
Would these be your top 3 from the list?
Kate
Kate,
Welcome back and thanks for your suggestions.
Personally.. encouragement is a big motivator. However, after reading Mark’s comment I think encouragement is an activity. I like the idea that others might get further in their leadership by participating in the LF community.
Cheers,
DAn
LF readers can read Kate’s bio at http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/kate-nasser
Dan,
This is a great list of leadership core values. It’s a challenge to narrow it down from here as I’d want any of my leaders to have all of these attributes. In any case, here’s my attempt choosing the 3 most critical:
1-Courage: I don’t see how you can lead without courage. Without it, a leader just follows the popular sentiment and not necessarily what it right.
2-Respect: I am intentionally selecting respect and not honesty. Leaders who really respect other people will be honest with them as well. Honesty without respect is just brutality. Leaders need both and will have both if they truly have respect for others.
3-Growth: This covers reading and experience, at least over time.
Thanks,
Chris
Hi Chris,
We picked the same three. Very interesting — I can’t wait to see where the trend is as more read this post tomorrow.
Kate
I totally agree values are not negotiable. Values drive direction and drill down the standards and expectations of the firm from the top of the organization down to the team and to the individual level. Like you said provide the underpinning of the mission and vision.
My top 3 would be
Honesty (I would replace honesty with integrity)
Courage
Exchange
Eric
Hi Dan thanks for considering my question. Cannot say I disagree with any of the above comments. I would like to add my three indispensables: TRUST without it nothing works; SHARING no growth or learning can exist if leaders Don’t share; COMPASSION and HUMILITY your people will never feel the freedom to take risks with their their attempts at creativity and innovation unless they know their failures will be viewed as courageous acts of attempts at forward momentum. Fully engaged daredevils will push the envelope and not be curtailed when administration promotes and celebrates their forges ahead and shows compassion and humility when their audacity only produces failed attempts and lessons learned. “the front lines” have a lot more to offer tab we give them credit for. As I recently read “unleash the power of the common and be amazed at the extraordinary results.” thanks Dan, Al
Dear Dan,
A truly inspiring and encouraging post to introspect to find out core values. The core values that underpin my leadership are – Honesty, Empathy and Service. Honesty is my core value, which I have never compromised nor will ever compromise It provides me a great strength to overcome hindrances that prevent people’s success. I understand and sense others needs, interests and perspective; and it provides me broader perspective to deal with the situations, problems or challenges. Empathy weakens my ego, arrogance and self-centered attitude. Selfless services is a source of inspiration and happiness for me. I feel happy, inspired and satisfied when I help people in needs in general and socially boycotted, suppressed and oppressed in particular. I feel pride when I help orphans and underprivileged category starting from human to animal.
I strongly believe that the core value that drive leadership freak community is ” Identity”. Each member has unique leadership identity and more so, Dear Dan identifies and acknowledges contribution of each one in personalized and human manner. That is the greatest magnet that attracts people to leadership freak community. I also feel that “Identity” is the greatest motivator after physiological needs.
The top three core values that drive leadership freak community are- Recognition, Inspiration and Affection. You recognize people with great words and moral supports. The members of leadership community are humble enough to comment their opinions on others comments. That in fact shows the attachment in community. Recognition inspires people to explore their potentials. And this is the greatest leadership attribute, when leader inspires others to create and innovate. Of course, every thing is possible because of affection by Dear Dan and among community members across nations on the globe.
I really only have one core value
“how can I help?”
What core values underpin your leadership?
What core values are driving the Leadership Freak community?
What top 3 core values drive the Leadership community?
Core values underpinning my leadership are, at the center, respect for what each individual brings to any process/interaction.
Top 3 values I perceive of the LF community: willingness to learn from other perspectives; respect for each other; desire to make things the best they can be (not settling for mediocre).
I will go with the top 4 core value of the LF cadre because, in many cultures, religions, design (physical and organizational) and even life on earth has quad element foundation. (might even look at the stages of group development as 4 not 5, because this group is now perpetually ‘performing’ and not adjourning! 😉 )
Value of Integrity and all that goes with it…respect, principles, perseverance, connection, fidelity, duty, this really is the umbrella…
Value of Trust…there is an amazing degree of openness, willingness to share phenomenal and often personal experiences of lessons learned. Coupled with the trust is that we all are entrusted with these experiences and perhaps the expectation to learn from them.
Value of Mutuality–it is often lonely in lead or consulting positions when advancing vision/mission/values and to have an alliance, an engaged coalition of champions is essential for energy and tilting at windmills.
An Evolving Value of Exchange–the LF community knows that we do not know-it-all and want to keep comparing, contrasting, integrating… in essence, learning.
Dan,
Credibility: Credibility is achieved by walking the talk; leading by example draws people and sets the foundation for influence to occur.