90 Days to Level Up Your Leadership

Week 5Living Your Values

Benchmark goal: Solidify your values.

We are deeply shaped by our values and how well we live them. Practicing your values in a consistent way brings meaning to your work and life, and enables you to be congruent and authentic. Others' trust of you is deeply affected by how predictable you are in living your values, especially when the chips are down. These moments are what others remember and what one celebrates years later when the hard right is chosen over the easy wrong.

Thus, whenever you lead in any context, your actions are being watched as you demonstrate your values in what you do. People around you are looking not only at the effectiveness of your actions but also at the way you act and the choices you make. Securing trust when it has been lost by those who came before you, as well as restoring it when it is strained by our own actions, is among the most difficult and important challenges that we all face.

Although our values are unique, we believe integrity is a value that's required for one to be an authentic leader. Really living any value means we must be willing to see where we are not living it and then close the gap to reach the next level of mastery!

Practicing Solid Values

Leaders are defined by their values and their character. The values of the authentic leader are shaped by personal beliefs, developed through study, introspection, and consultation with others—and a lifetime of experience. These values define their holder's ...