Values Based Leadership: It’s NOT About You

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Chris Hitch

GEN Shelton emphasizes that all values based leaders have an obligation to give back. It doesn’t matter whether you are a student or a working professional, you have an obligation to work to make your corner of the world a better place. He urges us to “be bigger than ourselves, to give back to our community, and to our state, and even to our nation.” He reminds us that there are multiple opportunities to do this in small and large ways. Corporations and nonprofits mutually benefit from these partnerships. Corporations reputations are enhanced by their corporate giving back to the community. Nonprofits, by their very existence, are known for their mission-driven programs to the community.

One of our signature programs at the Shelton Leadership Center is the Shelton Challenge. The Shelton Challenge has selfless service as a key program component . Our Shelton Scholars volunteer twice a year (in addition to their other volunteer efforts), to go to a particular town for a Weekend of Service, where they partner with local civic organizations to build handicap ramps, clean up a blighted area, or help in other ways. We partner with NC State’s CSLEPS to support them in their student service learning and leadership efforts. I’ve been in awe of high school students who volunteer to help those with disabilities in and out of school.

I’m not highlighting these to boast about different Shelton programs are doing (although I am incredibly humbled and impressed with our tireless staff , students, our Board, and the many students who are a part of the Shelton Leadership Center and how each lives out this cornerstone daily ). I’m emphasizing that there are lots of ways to give and give back in a community. As GEN Shelton prompts us, “…that is a part of what each and every one of us from the corporate level right down to the individual should be doing.”

Values based leadership-It’s not about you.

What situations have you found where giving back to the community gives you an even greater gift?

What is a Values Based Leader?

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Chris Hitch

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.

Secrets of Success: Erskine Bowles

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Chris Hitch

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.