In reference to Christopher Adkins, a leader at Mason School of Business, leadership values relate to having an emphatic zooming in and zooming out. An extrapolation of the zooming analogy implies getting close to who a person is working with, spending time with them to understand and build solid relationships with them. To theorize Adkins definition, spending time with college students would create a value based leadership hinged on an in-depth comprehension of their calibre (Hester, 2012). Additionally, in the context of sales, spending time with sales executive personnel in the field would create a better understanding on the products to sell or strategies to adopt to realize large scale change. Adkins further defines values as the act of zooming out to understand the kind of systems in a place. Taking time to internalize the political and social systems in a country that is contending with civil unrest is an imperative value that would enable a leader understand the cause of the current unstable situation and design scalable solutions with objective goals and measures. As the leaders elucidate, values relate to setting an example of personal courage and getting to see the environment that people are living and operating in. In the military context, a commander in charge of an Airborne Division can display value based leadership by accompanying the junior soldiers in the battle field and finding resources to help the platoon accomplish desired objectives.
The leaders define values as having an orientation of making society a better place. Values also relate to the ability to think greatly about one’s responsibilities and the consequences of one’s own actions. Rolling out healthcare plans or education to the economically disadvantaged groups and the vulnerable in the society fits the definition of values by the leaders. An admission by an army commander that it was his or her mistake that led to the loss of lives of junior soldiers during an enemy onslaught is an exemplification of the value of taking responsibility of one’s own actions. The figureheads describe values as the act of engaging people pro-actively and realizing that one cannot accomplish all individually but collectively (Kouzes & Posner, 2008). To theorize on the definition, the act of launching enterprise solutions through a micro-consignment model would establish profitable income earning opportunities for populations such as women in the society. Greg Van Kirk had such value based leadership which compelled him to engage women through a micro consignment model which changed the lives of women entrepreneurs in Guatemala, Ecuador and El Salvador.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
How experiences, backgrounds, perceptions and worldviews formulated their understanding of values
Harry Kraemer experience and perception enforced his understanding of values as the act of self-reflection. While in West Point, he formulated the understanding that value based leaders are carders who take time to ponder and introspect by asking themselves; what are my values, what really matters, what example do I want to set? What is my purpose? His worldview and education background contributed in formulation of the understanding that self-reflection enables separation of what is urgent from what is important and distinguishing of activity and productivity (Kraemer, 2013). The leader’s life experiences contributed to the understanding of values as ability to have a balance perspective. Knowing of all sides of a story, seeking to understand before being understood and taking time to gain insight into all perspectives relates to having a balanced perspective. To a great extent, the leaders’ background formulated their understanding of values as true self confidence characterized by admitting that one is learning, is in a working progress and acknowledging that there are areas where one is not well versed. Letting others know what one is not good at is a reflection of self-confidence.
The leaders’ worldview and perception greatly shaped their understanding of values as the manifestation of genuine and intellectual humility epitomized by the platinum rule which underscores on the need treat others with decorum ( Harvard Business Review , 2011). The leaders formulated an understanding of values as a strong sense of pragmatism, not having pre-judged or pre-established ideas on ways to achieve desired ends. Some of the leader’s comprehension of values was influenced by interaction with figureheads’ such as Sara Mathew the CEO of dun and Bradstreet that values revolve on having a deep sense of willingness to expose oneself to learn, take feedback and focus on what is important in bringing about productivity in leadership. From their experience in leading, the leaders to a great extent developed their understanding of values as the act of distributive justice characterized by creating wealth and distributing it fairly.
From their experiences and observation of President Clinton leadership style, the figureheads regard values as ability to embrace people, take other’s points of view, motivate multitudes to be engaged and thoughtful and inspire masses. The CEO of Proctor and Gamble (P&G) greatly formulated his understating of values from his experience of being in boys scout. The scout motto ‘to help other people’ compelled him to describe values as living a life that is purpose driven, more meaningful and rewarding than just meandering through life (McDonald 2010). The leaders expound values as ability to make others succeed by assigning tasks and turning the delegated responsibilities into a vicious cycle of success and rewards. From their experience while leading various multinationals, the leaders term values as character oriented manifested by putting needs of an organization above one’s own. In his experience as a soldier, the P&G CEO formulated an understanding that soldiers would perform exceptionally when they perceived that their commander values their lives.
References
McDonald, B., (2010). Values-Based Leadership - Part 1-5, ProcterGamble1837 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK95lEPW0kg
Harvard Business Review (2011). Leaders with Values, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZWhE5efVA4
Kraemer, H., (2013). From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership, Northwestern University Alumni Association , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK4KLv4m9Yc
Hester, J. (2012). Value Shifts: Redefining “Leadership” A Narrative. The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 5(2), 2.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2008). We lead from the inside out. The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 1(1), 5.
