Putting You in the Picture #

Virtue #

Aristotle

Success #

Utility #

Principle Oriented #

Religion #

Contradicting Values #

As leader we are often forced to hold changing or even conflicting views depending on the context we find ourselves in. For instance, we may have a deeply held personal belief that we want to care and support others and most of all to do no harm.

However, an organisation is subject to powerful outside forces and it is sometimes not possible to put the well-being of all around us first. A leader may for instance be asked to reduce costs and decide who of their reports will loose their job.

A leader will have to decide on promotions, and rather than giving them to those who may most need them, we will most likely have to give them to those most deserving of the promotion.

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Final Thoughts #

After reading this section, you may have realised that the values for People, Organisation and Technology are discussed in a very utilitarian way.

I essentially say: adopting and promoting these values will help you be a more successful leader. And for much of what passes as ‘organisational values’ this is a sufficient approach.

However, to find or define the values you care about as a person is much more difficult. So difficult in fact that thousands of years of religion and philosophy were not able to provide us with any satisfactory answers - in my humble opinion.

However, I believe there is some sense of thinking about our personal values; and evaluating if the values we adopt in the interest of being effective leaders conflict with those. Thankfully the values I propose here are not exhaustive. There are many ways of being a successful leader, and if you set your mind to it, you sure can find one that aligns with your personal values.