Leading with Values. Caring, empathetic, honest, transparent, trustworthy, loving, strong, stable. Over the past week these are the adjectives used to describe my leadership style. And regardless of the situation, I’ll continue to lead by these values.
I’m a strong believer that if you are kind, connect with your team on a personal level, listen, care deeply, advocate for them, create an environment where people are free to experiment, fail, learn from their failures, grow, develop, and are held accountable, they will bring their best effort and more each day. Your team will work harder, push further, handle adversity and change easier, and become better people who are better at their job.
Of course, there are multiple ways to lead, and my way is not necessarily better than another way. And my way may not work for everyone. But it’s the way I lead and will always lead as I believe it leads to the best results.
And at the end of the day, it’s not ALL about the results. It’s about the lives we touch, the impact we make, the legacy we leave behind. I tell my team regularly that when we are at the end of our lives, we will never say we wished we worked more. We will say we wished we loved more, we wished we cared more, we wished we didn’t sweat the small stuff, we wished we spent more time building relationships, we wished we were more forgiving, we wished we were more kind to ourselves and those around us, and we wished we spent more time with our family, friends, and loved ones.
My wish for you is that you will determine your leadership values, lead by them every day, instill them in others, and stick to them when the times are tough, no matter the personal or professional consequence.
As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “To handle yourself use your head; to handle others, use your heart."
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