Leadership Starts with Values...YOUR Values
The Center for Creative Leadership ( Leadership Development Results That Matter | CCL | Learn More ) published a short booklet in 2001 called “Setting Your Development Goals: Start with Your Values.” The authors, Bill Sternbergh and Sloan Weitzel, discuss the importance of setting value-based goals for your personal and professional growth. Starting with our values is a great first step in thinking through our leadership journey. It centers and grounds us—in ourselves. This is important because before we can lead others, we must first lead ourselves. We must model the behavior we expect from our peers, subordinates, and colleagues. The booklet includes a useful values exercise, which is something everyone should take. Google “values exercise” or “values leadership assessment” and you’ll find many ones that you can use. Once you are able to really identify your core values – which can be defined as those anchors or guides that inform our behavior at its most basic level – then...