Your Values, Your Legacy

By Ilka V. Chavez

“I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values - and follow my own moral
compass - then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.” - Michelle Obama

A compass is said to be the most important instrument for navigation. My uncle used to work on ships and several years ago he made a statement that left a lasting impact on me: “It doesn’t matter the weather, a compass will always lead you home. Find your compass and it will always lead you home.”

Since then, I have used the compass, as well as the anchor, as two important navigational items to teach leadership. A compass guides the ship along the journey and the anchor stabilizes the ship to the bottom of the waterway to keep it from drifting.

Today’s leaders face many challenges and are often presented with an array of choices in making critical decisions. Without developing his or her personal leadership compass, a leader may be prone to drift off course or make decisions influenced by culture or environment rather than influenced by morals, ethics and values. Once you establish your leadership compass you are better able to make decisions you can live with. This was the moral of my uncle’s story.

Establishing your values early in life will help guide your leadership style. It is never too early to learn your values; and it is never too late to rediscover them. Your values serve as a critical tool to your decision-making process. If you never establish your personal values and relate those with the values in your workplace, you may be vulnerable to making choices that do not align with the core of who you are. I coined the term “drifting decision making” to describe when an individual or organization has not learned its values or has not learned to use its values as a compass and anchor. Their decision-making drifts and cannot be consistent.

Leading teams, organizations, and families require the use of your leadership compass to successfully guide your tribe to their destination. As a leader, you must live out your values daily. Your actions define your belief system, what you value and who you are. If you consider your track record as a leader, you would observe that you relied on a core set of values to guide you through difficult situations. These values are the compass that gives you direction and the anchor that keeps you grounded in good and bad times.

Unless you develop a core set of personal values that guide your decisions and choices, you may land in a vicious cycle of people pleasing. Leaders are not people pleasers; they are decisive and understand that they must take the ship and its passengers to their destination. As you mature as a Leader,, you will note that your values are refined through your experience and the wisdom you picked up along your professional and personal journey.

When I recall my personal journey, I realize that I was fearful. I was a small-town girl from Panama when I stepped off the plane in New York City. The values instilled in me by my parents, grand-parents and great-grand parents were the only compass I had. Spending my last two years of high school in a strange country and having few friends led me to depend solely on lessons from my early years to sustain me through a critical stage in my life. I relied on pure courage, resilience, respect, perseverance, preparation, integrity and continue to grow through fear.

Making decisions with fear in the midst can cause you to make decisions that are not aligned with your character. However, consulting and checking in with your values in your decision-making process may increase the chances of you making decisions that you can live with and that safely guides those you lead. As a leader you will continue to face hard decisions that will challenge your values, beliefs and integrity. One rule I always follow is doing the right thing for the right reason, at all times. “Wisdom is knowing the right path to take. Integrity is taking it.”-M.H. Kee.

Becoming intimately connected to your “True North” unveils who you are as a leader. The book True North, Discover Your Authentic Leadership by Bill George discusses embodying authentic leadership rather than becoming the ideal leader for an organization. Mr. George argues that following CEO archetypes and following what others have done in the past is completely unrealistic. He states, “’True North’ is the internal compass that guides you successfully through life. It represents who you are as a human being at your deepest level. It is your orienting point - your fixed point in a spinning world - that helps you stay on track as a leader.”

There is a quote by Ann Fudge that further drives the point home on why your values matter, “Any of us can figure out ways to drive a business for two years and make a boatload of money and move on. That’s not leadership. That’s playing a game. Leadership is leaving something lasting, whether it is how you treat your people or how you deal with a problem.”

When you recognize that the way you lead affects the legacy you leave behind, it should change your perspective and encourage you to hone in on your own values. Here are a couple questions to consider as you continue to grow as a leader: 1) What compass do you use in your daily decision-making process? Is it your values or your environment? 2) Do values, morals, ethics matter to you? If so, what steps are you taking to continue to refine these values to ensure you operate and make decisions based on them.

Bonus Tips:
1- Learn, Live, and Lead with your values
2- Who you are authentically will outlive what you do.
3- Remain intimate with your True North. You will be able to live with the decisions you make.
4- Know the difference between your values and your influential environment.
5- Your values and legacy matter. Choose wisely.

The values you anchor on will make or break your leadership. Your values, ethics and morals are the compass to your leadership and your legacy.

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”
- Shannon L. Alder

Ilka is the President of Corporate GOLD (A Global Organizational Leadership Development Company.) She is a leadership consultant who helps leaders become better leaders, a certified emotional mastery coach, and an inspirational speaker. Her slogan is “Learn It. Live It. Lead it.” Her clients dumbed her “the connect the dots strategist.” She is a #1 international best seller author and a fervent leader with an extensive track record for helping leaders, communities and organizations reach their highest potential. She has spoken on stages nationally and internationally. Many speak of Ilka’ stage engagement and motivational speaking as captivating, inspiring, and impactful.

Ilka@corporate-gold.com
571-359-8370
www.corporate-gold.com
Ilka@corporate-gold.com
Learn it. Live it. Lead it.