What is a Values Based Leader?

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.

Looking at your Organization and Culture as a Lens for Strategy

Many strategic thinkers look at strategy from two perspectives: the external environment, including industries and competition (PEST or STEEP analysis is a well known tool for examining the external environment) and the internal environment, focusing on what resources and capabilities the organization has to deploy (SWOT analysis is a standard tool for the internal environment). Peng and his colleagues suggest a third leg as a tripod for strategic management and execution. They suggest that a main element to think about is in situations where formal constraints are unclear or fuzzy, institution-based norms (culture)  and informal  networks will play a much larger role in guiding individual’s behavior.

How does this impact you as a strategic leader?  Especially in times of turbulence, the informal signals you send about what is important and valued (or punished) will have a large impact on the success of your strategy. One example I heard in programs focused on whether people get promoted or punished for risk-taking. No matter how much senior leaders talk about wanting to be bold and take risks, one of the clearest indicators of how much senior leaders value risk-taking comes from whether people who take risks and do not achieve the hoped-for success, or fail.

(Source: “The Institution-Based View as a Third Leg for a Strategy Tripod”, Peng, Sun, Pinkham, and Chen, Academy of Management Perspectives, August 2009.)

Secrets of Success: Erskine Bowles

This next month signals the end of the Federal budget cycle. There’s been a great deal of passionate conversation about the budget and what can be done.  I re-read a snippet of GEN Shelton’s book, Secrets of Success (p. 65), and saw this snippet of a conversation with Erskine Bowles. I got the privilege to work indirectly with Mr. Bowles while he served as president of the University of North Carolina system.   I learned a lot from working with him on some projects to help our public schools and this snippet reinforces his values-based approach.  He is demanding, fair, and unwavering in his commitment to the needs of the state and nation. It was an honor.

“My understanding of leadership goes back to my father, Skipper Bowles.  When I was just a boy I remember going to a dinner over in Winston Salem, and when my dad was going to get some kind of prestigious award.  He looked at the audience and then at my two sisters and me and said, “Thank you, but I don’t want you to judge me based on what I’ve done.   I want you to judge me on what my children to for others.”  Later we asked him what he by that and he said, “Look, I believe that the success that I’ve had and the good decisions I’ve made in my life are a reflection on the values I got from my parents and the good education that they provided me.  I think the choices that you will make will be similar, a reflection on your mom and me.”  My dad used to always talk about how in the old south when you went out to chop firewood for your own family that you’d always throw a few logs on the community woodpile.  He’d say, “I want you all to feel that it’s always important to add to the community woodpile.”

So all of us – my sisters included – have, in our own distinct ways, tried to do just that, think about that night and what my father said in every leadership effort we’ve undertaken. I’ve had numerous opportunities to lead, and for that I’m very grateful. Working as President Clinton’s chief of staff, head of the small business association, and then later as the UN deputy special envoy to thirteen tsunami-affected countries in Southeast Asia all provided unique experiences. 

 Over the years people have asked me about the balanced budget when I was chief of staff during the Clinton Administration, wondering if that wasn’t the proudest moment of my time in leadership in Washington. My response is, “Yes, in some ways, but my proudest moment was putting together a team that had sharp minds and not sharp elbows.  We really focused on trying to move the country forward rather than to take some kind of partisanship off the table, establishing trust on both sides of the aisle.”  But the part of the balanced budget story that I like the best is this:  while we were balancing the budget we got twenty-seven billion dollars of new funding for health care insurance for five million poor kids. This was values-based leadership.  While being fiscally responsible we were still investing in something that could really make a difference in the lives of the kids.

Culture and Innovation Positively Linked

Organizations frequently look for innovation to help them help solve thorny organizational problems.  Whether the phrase is uttered, “Do more with less” or “Think outside the box”, innovation is key.  A recent study, “The Global Innovation 1000”, outlined key elements for success:

  1. Innovation strategy tightly aligned with it’s overall organizational strategy
  2. The strategy is communicated consistently throughout the organization
  3. A prioritized set of capabilities that match the strategy
  4. Ensure the innovation strategy translates to a clear, tangible, action plan
  5. A supportive culture

The culture element is so difficult because it is built up “a brick at a time, a point at a time, over decades.  You need consistency; you need persistence; and you need gentle, behind the scenes encouragement in addition to top down support.  And you can lose it very quickly.”

The big takeaway?  The more closely aligned these elements are, the greater set of capabilities you can bring to bear on these thorny organizational challenges.

(Source: Jaruzelski, Loehr, and Holman, Booz & Company, Winter 2011)

Secrets of Success: Ed Gore

This is a short snippet (P. 51) of a reflection by Dr. Ed Gore, one of the Shelton Leadership Center  Board of Advisors.  You can find more reflections in the book, Secrets of Success.

My father had so many of the skills that make an excellent leader.  He was congenial, liked by people, but what I saw and carried over into my career was his work ethic and the willingness to seize the moment.  As a father and partner, he talked to me about sad family legacies and how there were so many of these wealthy upper-class people who had opportunities but never built on their parents’ and grandparents’ dreams.  But he’d look at it all in the light of the values-based leadership rules that he lived by and that Ive tried to live by, which is exemplified by the Four-Way Test of the Rotary:

  1. Is it the truth?
  2. Is it fair to all concerned?
  3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
  4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?”