The Leadership Challenge Workbook, 4th Edition

Model the Way

THE FIRST STEP YOU MUST TAKE ALONG THE PATH to becoming an exemplary leader is to discover your personal values and beliefs. You must define a set of principles that guide your decisions and actions and find a way to express them in your own words, not in someone else's. You must find your voice.

Yet leaders don't speak only for themselves. They also speak for their team, organization, and other key constituents. Therefore, you must understand and appreciate the values of your team and find a way to affirm shared values that everyone will commit to upholding. Shared values give people reasons for caring about what they do, instead of simply following orders.

Finally, leaders stand up for their beliefs. They practice what they preach. They show others by their actions that they live by the values they profess. They also ensure that others adhere to the values and standards that have been agreed upon. It is consistency between words and actions that builds credibility.

To Model the Way, you clarify values by finding your voice and affirming shared values and set the example by aligning personal actions with shared values.

Here are some examples from the personal‐best cases we've collected of how leaders Model the Way:

• The manager of a manufacturing facility saw that housekeeping conditions around the site didn't meet the plant's vision of being a “World Class Plant.” ...