Our Last Road Trip

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Are you prepared right now to say what your leadership philosophy is?  If you aren't, you should be. 
If you are, you need to reaffirm it on a daily basis.

JIM KOUZES & BARRY POSNER
The Leadership Challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations

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Our Last Road Trip
It was on a hot, late May afternoon that our family left on our last road trip—our vacation to Galveston, Texas.  A fierce cold front was coming through and severe thunderstorms were on the move.  My wife wanted us to get going in order to try and get ahead of them.  We knew where we were going.  We knew how to get there and I was watching the radar. 

That where, how, and radar from our road trip are all great analogies for leadership.  Most leaders know where they and their team are going—what the goals are and what senior leadership, clients, patients, and stakeholders expect.  And, leaders and their teams usually have a pretty good idea about how to do that.

Da Boys on the docks of Galveston Bay

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They also know to keep their eyes on the radar—to keep their eyes and ears open for potential challenges or threats.

But do they know why?  Do you know why—both for yourself personally and as a leader and as a team and organization?  And, how do those align?

The why or purpose of any journey or road trip is more important than the journey itself.  Why are you even on this journey? 

Think of our last road trip, for example.  If those thunderstorms had for some reason prevented us from making the journey, the why we were going on it would still exist.  Our family still needed some much needed R&R after a long  school year.  We still needed to share experiences together, bond and build relationships, and appreciate the magnificence of nature and our blessings together.

And the why  or purpose, especially of business journeys, is often left unspoken and unclear.  And yet it is the driving force for the journey!  It's what inspires, clarifies, focuses, and gets us up in the morning.  It's what empowers us and fuels grit, growth, and results.

Why?
I was chatting with a leader a couple of weeks ago and asked him if he had a Life Mission/Leadership Philosophy and Core Values Statement ('LM-LP-CV Statement' from here on).  Not only did he not have one, he didn't even know what one was.

He's not alone.  Unfortunately, many leaders don't know what a LM-LP-CV Statement is.  And even if they do, they don't know how to write a strong one.  And even fewer know how to leverage one to amplify leadership effectiveness and a wide array of key outcome metrics. 

It still surprises me that so many leaders don't leverage purpose-driven leadership and that organizations don't teach leaders how to lead with key strategies and tools like a leadership philosophy and core values.  You see, a  LM-LP-CV Statement is the foundation of purpose-driven leadership and driving key metrics.  

Great Place to Work and a host of others report that those organizations that do not prioritize meaning and purpose—that is, they do not practice purpose-driven leadership—have lower engagement, productivity, innovation, revenue and financials, wellbeing, and increased or continued retention problems than those that do.

Purpose-driven leadership, with a leadership philosophy and core values at its foundation, has been shown in the research that it absolutely will positively impact those key outcome metrics.  To learn more about that, get my free whitepaper, Why Purpose-Driven Leadership is so Critical for Leaders Today!

And, personal development and leadership development experts and psychologists have known about the power of meaning and purpose for decades.  For example, think of names and titles like Viktor Frankl and Man's Search for Meaning or Stephen Covey and Habit 2 from The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People or Simon Sinek and Start With Why.

Leaders and organizations that aren't leveraging purpose-driven leadership—without a LM-LP-CV Statement for each and every leader—are missing out on an easy, and powerful way to drive results.  Those who are leveraging purpose-driven leadership and who are getting results have taken the time to answer two age-old questions, "Who am I?" and "Why am I here?"

Let's briefly examine each element.

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Life Mission
A Life Mission Statement on its own, is a declaration of one's personal purpose.  It answers one of the two age-old questions, "Why am I here?"  My mom called it 'my vocation.'  What was my calling from God?  I write about that experience with my mother in my chapter of The Change: Insights Into Self-Empowerment.  If you'd like a free PDF version of the book, just direct message me on Facebook or LinkedIn or email me and tell me you heard about my offer in this blog and I'm happy to share it with you.  No obligation. No email subscription.

A Life Mission Statement is your most personal understanding and deepest beliefs of who you are as a person and why you have been blessed with this life at this time and in this environment and culture.

Leadership Philosophy
A leadership philosophy is a set of principles, beliefs, and core values.  Leaders use it to guide and direct their behavior, to be more aware of how they see the world and evaluate information, and it helps them make more effective and more courageous decisions.  It guides and directs them with how they want to interact with people, events, and situations—especially critical situations.  It serves to inspire themselves and others and is used as a tool when seeking and integrating feedback on their leadership style and behaviors.

It should genuinely, clearly, and categorically define what you believe in as a person and as a leader, how you lead when you’re at your leadership best, and articulate and connect to your personal purpose, mission, vocation, or passion.  It is the operating system that guides you in how you want to make a difference in the world. 

It is your integration of the personal and professional into the answer to those two age-old questions, “Why am I here?” and “Who am I?”

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The leadership academics differentiate a life mission from a leadership philosophy statement.  There are good reasons to combine and integrate both into one statement and system.  The most important of those is that it’s simply more practical to operate from one clearly articulated document. 

Now, this kind of deep, reflective self-examination can be challenging.  So, many people choose not to do it.  However, to become an exemplary or great leader, it is an imperative.  As Drew Dudley said, “Developing an answer is crucial.  If you don’t have a personal leadership philosophy, you don’t have a plan for leading every day.  You’re hoping to lead, you’re not planning to lead.”

Finally, an LM-LP-CV Statement is "necessary but not sufficient."  It's the foundation of exemplary or great leadership and driving results—but it's not the only element.  But without it, you are not equipped with one of the most powerful and necessary elements of great leadership. 

With it, you achieve great things.

Core Values
Kouzes and Posner have been studying exemplary leaders for over 30 years.  They advance their finding that the most admired leaders have one quality that stands out above all others:  They have strong beliefs about matters of principle—they have a clear set of values that they lead and live by.

We expect our leaders to speak out about matters of ethics, principles, values, and conscience.  When they don’t, they’re not considered exemplary or great leaders.  When they do, however, they create safety, boost group cohesion, and build a positive culture by fighting for what is right.

But in order to speak out, leaders must be clear about what they stand for.  They must have clarity on what that means.  To earn and hold credibility, leaders must be able to clearly articulate deeply held beliefs and values.
Leading with a clear set of values also helps us in the process of identifying goals and priorities, making better decisions, and in taking positive actions to achieve those goals and priorities.

The Danger
Unfortunately, many leaders have not been given the skills, tools, and strategies to develop a leadership philosophy—much less discovered how to lead and live by one.  Further, most leaders are not taught how to lead with purpose-driven leadership.  They are missing a key, strategic and fundamental leadership competency.

They are not achieving all they can.  They are not realizing their full potential as a person and as a leader.  Their teams are not as engaged as they could be, not achieving all that they could,  not forging the powerful bonds that purpose produces, and not cultivating a fully thriving culture.

Purpose-driven leadership not only transforms leadership, it can transform people's lives, teams, and organizations. 

Your Own Life Mission, Leadership Philosophy, & Core Values Statement
So, the question is, "Do you want to keep doing the same things and expect different results?"  Or, do you want to join the thousand of exemplary leaders who have taken the time to do this kind of deep work—and do it right?

I've taken all of the guess-work out of how to do this.  I wrote my first Life Mission Statement in 1986 and I've been studying and leveraging purpose ever since.  I wrote my first integrated Life Mission/Leadership Philosophy and Core Values Statement in 2016 and I've helped hundreds of leaders develop their own statements and shown them the strategies and tools to leverage it in their leadership. 

My proven, six-step Staircase to a Life Mission, Leadership Philosophy and Core Values Statement is just one part of The Purpose-Driven Leadership Program.  It could transform your life and your leadership.

Watch this short video (01:53) to learn more.

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Have an amazing journey today!

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Alan Mikolaj is a seasoned coach and leadership development consultant with nearly 20 years of experience.  He is passionate about helping leaders transform their leadership, their teams, and their organizations.  He has an impactful, professional approach driven by a passion for meaning and purpose, a growth mindset, and a commitment to excellence and service in order to drive change and results.

Alan holds his Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology and Associate Certified Coach credential with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and maintains their ethics and standards of behavior, including the standards regarding confidentiality.  You can learn more about them on the ICF website.

Transformational change starts with a conversation!
Schedule your free, one-hour session by clicking here: Discovery Conversation with Alan
Or call or email: Contact Page

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