Tag Archives: Honesty

How Can Stopping in the Desert Make You a More Trusted Leader?

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GEN Shelton defines a leader who leads with honesty as a person who is “…always going to recognize the difference between right and wrong. You can count on that leader to make a decision based on doing what is right. Honesty and doing the right thing leads to trust in a leader.”

It also leads to trust from your manager or board that you will do what is right without having to check on you frequently.  That concept of trust and honesty help accelerate action and focus on your stakeholders and mission, not whether others are doing the right or wrong thing.

GEN Shelton gives an example about leading with honesty. He discusses that honesty crops up in multiple seemingly small decisions that you make on a daily basis.  He talks about going through the Arizona desert and coming to a stop sign.  Do you stop, even though you see that there is nobody coming from any of the other three directions? If you’re honest, you come to that full and complete stop because it is the right thing to do.  You don’t have to think about it, you just do it. Honesty and trust go hand in hand.

Leading with honesty means doing the right thing all the time even when nobody is looking.  These values, like honesty, are like a part of leadership “fitness”. Psychologists talk about muscle memory and how repeating the same things over and over in practice make it an unconscious positive act when the actual event takes place.  I believe the same holds true with values based leadership fitness.  You make decisions (repetitions) in seeming small ways so that when a situation comes up, you automatically know what to do and simply do what you’ve practiced (ethical leadership muscle memory). As leaders, we are always being watched.  You lead with honesty on a daily basis. Others pick up on what you do and how you act, and they begin to act toward you with increasing or decreasing trust, depending on your actions.

GEN Shelton also recognizes that if you are an honest person, you also recognize that honest people can make a mistake. He talks about underwriting mistakes. If you make a mistake for the right reason and it’s an honest mistake you’re willing to underwrite or forgive that mistake. You underwrite it and move on. But if you’re don’t have a reputation for honesty, others look toward you with a much more skeptical eye.  If others think that you make a decision for the wrong reason, you are unwilling to underwrite or forgive that person.

Where have you found leading with honesty in seemingly small situations translate to that same honest behavior in more significant decisions?

What is a Values Based Leader?

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We are fascinated by learning from leaders. The basic formula seems to be:

  • look at a successful leader of one particular industry or profession,
  • interview that person,
  • look for lessons from that particular leader in that particular situation, then
  • try to generalize those themes to a broader audience.

Many fewer of us, however, look at universal or generalizable characteristics that can transcend a particular industry, profession, career, or where one is in the journey of life (K-12, college, early career professional, or executive).

GEN H. Hugh Shelton’s Values Based Leadership Model comes from his experience and success in the military, the corporate world, and his recognition by others for his leadership and contributions locally, statewide, nationally, and globally.  He’s outlined his key characteristics of great leadership as being a “Values-Based Leader”.  He talks about five cornerstones of values based leadership: Honesty, integrity, compassion, diversity, and selfless service. 

He believes that  “…any leader should strive to be known as a values based leader.  Values make up our character.  They’re things that we believe in.  They are things that we strive to make sure that we always include in our thought process when we think about making decisions.  A values based leader will leave a legacy each of us will leave behind if we strive to include these five cornerstones in our daily work.  We always try to do what was right and always support those who worked for them.  That’s the legacy of a values based leader.”

It makes sense then, for us to take a look at what he has talked about, his methodology and cornerstones for success, and how they might be applied to our personal and professional life. During the next series of five posts, we’ll briefly explore each of these five cornerstones and how we can apply them to our daily work.