First of all, I want to wish all of my Muslim friends and colleagues: Eid Mubarak! I hope you had a festive holiday with family and loved ones over the last two days.
I am often asked by students if it is really necessary to have strong values in order to be a successful leader. I always respond that it may not be necessary, but I believe the world would be much better off if we had more values-based leaders.
In my latest Forbes article (full copy below), I argue that values-based leadership remains essential for strong decision-making, employee engagement, and long-term success, despite the visibility of high-profile leaders who appear to succeed without it.
Do We Really Need Values To Lead?
In a world in which some high-profile leaders appear to be operating without values, it’s a question I’m hearing more frequently: to be successful today, is values-based leadership even necessary anymore? Or, like speaking Latin and learning cursive writing, has its time passed?
Trust me—this is not the first time I’ve been in these conversations, usually with my MBA students and other professionals.
Their comments start out something like this: “Harry, I appreciate your views, and I know that you believe very strongly in the importance of your four principles of values-based leadership: self-reflection, a balanced perspective, true self-confidence, and genuine humility.”
Then comes the kicker: “But I’ve got to be honest. When I look at who is getting ahead in the world today—let’s just say that values-based leadership doesn’t seem to be a priority.”
I understand where people are coming from, and believe me, I’m not offended by their questions. As we look around, we see countless examples of successful people wielding personal power and even autocratic authority—and it’s happening around the globe.
In the U.S. political arena, Elon Musk has emerged as iron-fisted and ego-driven as he wages a campaign to undertake what he calls “one chance for major reform that may never come again.” As a CEO, he has been described as a visionary who is singularly focused on progress. However, his critics attest that progress without values can cause irreparable damage to a culture—such as producing a product without much thought to the social or environmental impact.
No matter how someone views Musk, you can’t deny that he’s extremely successful. The problem, though, is that if people see him as the standard bearer, they could view values-based leadership as idealistic at best and anachronistic at worst.
I am of the firm opinion—and I’m certainly not alone in this view—that having values is neither old-fashioned nor counterproductive. Taking the time to self-reflect and seek a balanced perspective is not somehow anathema to entrepreneurship and innovation. If anything, the more a leader relies on their values and follows a moral compass, the more they can lead themselves—and, in turn, lead others.
Here is why I believe values-based leadership is not only still relevant but is also more important given today’s polarized environment.
- Values Support Engagement: Being known as a values-based leader is crucial at a time when employee engagement has fallen to decade-lows. Among the reasons for the decline: fewer people feel that someone at work cares about them as a person. Values-based leadership goes right to the heart of this issue—by helping leaders become more relatable to others. The foundation of that relatability is our values and what matters most to us. When leaders are guided by their values in ways that are visible to others, people will notice. They will move out of disengagement and disillusionment, and willingly follow.
- Good Decision-Making Depends On Strong Values: It goes without saying that leaders need to make good decisions—and often with incomplete information. It’s simply not possible, in today’s fast-paced world, to wait until you have enough facts to be 100 percent sure, because by that time it is almost always too late. The reason people feel they need to have all the information is that they are worried about making a mistake. Here’s where values-based leadership can be a tremendous help. Let’s say a decision needs to be made about a product line. What makes sense on a spreadsheet, however, may be very different when considering the impact on customers and, by extension, the company’s overall product mix. With a values-based approach and the pursuit of a balanced perspective, a leader solicits feedback from everyone involved in the situation—quickly and decisively. The leader has no ego investment in being right. Rather, the priority is doing the right thing and making the best possible decision.
- But What About The Outliers: At this point, you may be saying to yourself, “I can see how a values-based approach will help some people, but what about those who are truly remarkable in what they accomplish?” An example is Steve Jobs, who has been hailed as one of the world’s greatest innovators of all time (according to some, second only to Thomas Edison). But the late founder of Apple was also known to be impatient and demanding to the point of extreme perfectionism. As biographer Walter Isaacson wrote about Jobs, “He acted as if the normal rules didn’t apply to him.” Clearly, Jobs had the passion, drive, and genius that raised him above the rest. No doubt working closely with Jobs was worth all his quirks and frustrations, because of the incredible uniqueness of the situation. But the fact is Jobs was not just one in a million; he was more like one in half a billion. This is where a little self-reflection comes in very handy. If someone thinks they’re really the next Steve Jobs, then maybe they can convince themselves that values will somehow slow them down. But for the 99.99% of the rest of us, values-based leadership is the way.
- The Real Heroes Of Values-Based Leadership: The renegades and mavericks will always gain attention. But in the forty years of my career, I can attest that there are plenty of heroes who have led by their values as they brought innovation to their companies and disrupted their industries. They include people I’ve known personally and have been privileged to call my friend, such as the late Donald Jacobs, Dean of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and the late William Graham, the long-time CEO of Baxter—as well as current and former CEOs such as Greg Case of Aon, Rick Waddell of Northern Trust, Tom Bell of Leidos, and Mary Dillon of Foot Locker. Each of these leaders has consistently stood for their values as they navigated challenges, pursued opportunities, improved performance, and achieved results.
When looking at leaders, you need to pick your heroes wisely. The outliers may garner attention in the moment, but sometimes for all the wrong reasons. Values-based leadership is timeless. It is the essence of what drives people and organizations to become their best, and for all the right reasons.
This post originally appeared on Forbes here.
