Our VP of Marketing, Jeff Weidauer (follow his blog at The Shelf Edge), forwarded me this interview with Don Soderquist, former chief operating officer for Wal-Mart. Soderquist, who now runs The Soderquist Center for Leadership and Ethics, discusses the applications of ethics and values in business leadership. I liked that Soderquist included both “Leadership” and “Ethics” in the title of his organization. One cannot effectively exist (especially long-term) without the other, and the recent news cycle, filled with stories of companies that have failed to exhibit either quality, reflects the truth of this. We’ve dealt with the news of energy companies, Wall Street financial giants, and national mortgage lenders whose ethics have been called into question. These types of stories break far too often.
To me, leadership has to be about having the ability to drive change and create value. It’s the sum of our actions that takes an enterprise to a defined goal, and specifically, to its greatest level of promise. Equally important to the action (the “what we do”) are the values which support it (the “how we do it”).
I live by these core values:
- Transparency—openness and honesty
- Integrity—consistency between actions and words
- Respect—for others
- Urgency—compelling immediate action
- Courage—do the right thing … when it would be easier not to
- Accountability—“own” the outcome
- Enable—others to contribute and succeed
- Excellence—in all we do
Some comments on the message board of the above interview mentioned “walking the walk” and not just “talking the talk.” Of course, it’s easy to list one’s values and share them with your fellow associates. Living each value daily requires a far more focused mindset. In future posts, I will cover each of the values mentioned, why I selected them, and share how I hold myself accountable to them. If you have any values you think are missing, and thoughts on how values fit into your leadership role, please share them. I am listening.
