How Great Leaders Synch Their Personal and Organizational Values for Success
By Lee Ellis
(Editor’s Note: Over the last six months we have been working our way through The Honor Code – 7 Core Behaviors for Honorable Leadership. In case you didn’t get your copy, you can find it at www.LeadingWithHonor.com.)
Like all of the Honor Code statements, the last code is a hard one to fulfill because we are fraught with human frailties. Temptation can come from many directions. When the road ahead looks hard or we are facing fears and doubts, living by our values can seem too hard. This reality makes easy to rationalize that some compromise is acceptable. None of us are perfect, but honorable people realize there is a battle raging for the very soul of who they are, and they engage and fight to win the prize of living and leading with honor.
Here is Article 7 of the Honor Code –
Live your values. Be faithful to your spiritual core, your conscience, and your deepest intuitions.
Leaders Modeling Values
They say that values, mindsets, behaviors, and habits are caught more than taught. I believe that. Truly one of the greatest blessings I got from the years of hardships as a POW in Vietnam was living in the presence of courageous leaders who daily fought to live by their personal values and those of our organization. They modeled honorable behavior and their faithful impact made a difference in my life, then and now.
Granted, in the camps there weren’t many of the normal personal temptations to abandon our values: no drugs, no alcohol, no pornography, no opportunities for adultery, not even any money—the love of which is “the root of all evil.” So we were protected from having to face many of the snares of regular living.
Yet, ironically, living by our values was in essence our main goal and the focus of everything we did; it was the only way we were capable of achieving some purpose.
Personal Values = Organizational Values
As you have probably seen in your own experience, personal values inevitably drive organizational and team values. Our organizational values were simple:
be faithful to our country
our fellow POWs, and
do our duty by resisting the exploitations of the enemy.
These basics were summarized in our short six article code of conduct which we had all memorized early in our training. We had clarity, we were committed, and we followed our leaders who acted on these values every day.
It was this singular focus on living and leading with honor that bound us together and galvanized our resistance against the enemy’s schemes to convince us to take the “easy way out.”
The lines were clear; the enemy and consequences were obvious, and perhaps that made it easier for us to suffer and sacrifice to live by our values.
Three Valuable Lessons for All Leaders
The environment was unique, but I think there are some clear lessons we can extrapolate from that experience.
Clarify your values. What do you really believe? Who are you? What do you stand for? Reflect on the foundation of your beliefs. Your faith, your family teaching, your professional ethics, your patriotism, your sense of community. What are your non-negotiables? The Honor Code would be a good place to start.
Commit and stand courageously. Will you stand firm in the face of a busy schedule, unfair competition, the need to look good, the desire to meet legitimate desires for comfort and pleasure in ways that compromise your values? Recognize that your doubts and fears will take you out. Commit to suffer and sacrifice to remain faithful to your values.
Act in congruence with who you are. Be true to yourself. It’s not easy; we are humans and not firm and fixed. We operate by ebbs and flows of our commitment. Fight the battle to keep your honor intact and when you fail, admit it and bounce back.
Be Inspired and Stay Connected
Need some practical ways to maintain and fulfill your personal and organizational values? Here are a couple of important ones –
Inspiration is Important and Must Be Ongoing. Emotions are the energy that drives us to accomplish our deepest desires. Find your inspiration from various sources –
Spiritual Foundations – renew them and be true to your faith.
Family Relationships and Traditions of Your Heritage
Personal Development through Conversations, Books, Blogs, Podcasts, Events, and more. And, are you authentically sharing with others to help them develop?
Stay Connected to People Who are Likeminded.
Who is speaking into your life?
Do you have authentic relationships?
Be discerning. Don’t let those with negative values pull you down.
This journey through the seven articles of the Honor Code has been a good refresher for me, and I hope it’s been valuable for you, too. Please share your experiences in this area and do the favor of passing along a copy of the Honor Code to others.
LE
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Related Articles:
– Honor Code Article 1 – Four Lies that All Leaders Are Tempted to Use, and How to Tell the Truth
– Honor Code Article 2 – Treating Others with Dignity and Respect Even When It’s Difficult: Four Leadership Traps to Avoid
– Honor Code Article 3 – 7 Leadership Steps That You Need to Know on Keeping Your Promises
– Honor Code Article 4 – Feel the Temptation to Stretch the Truth? 3 Ethical Guardrails to Keep You in the Right Lane
– Honor Code Article 5 – 3 Long-Term Ways to Successfully Fulfill Your Duty as an Honorable Leader
– Honor Code Article 6 – How to Conquer Your Latest Leadership Obstacle: 3 Proven Ways to Grow in Courage
