Values-based leadership

Headnote

How do the leader's values affect the organization's strategy development and deployment? According to this research, there is a profound connection.

The CEO's job is like no other in the organization. Broadly speaking this huge responsibility boils down to two basic functions: setting the organization's aspirations and mobilizing the organization to meet them. We deliberately use the word aspirations because to set direction for an organization is more than just a cognitive exercise. Setting direction also has a strong component of emotion. The ultimate destination becomes something people in the organization want to reach; therefore, effective leadership taps into people's core values and ensures everyone is striving toward the same goal.

Leadership and Values

Values are important to understanding leadership because they explain the focus and direction of people's actions. In our work, we use the Motives, Values, and Preferences Inventory (MVPI), a 10-scale instrument designed to assess an individual's core values. While studying the relationship between values and leadership, we uncovered four different values clusters. Each of the clusters produces a coherent, explicit managerial character. They are: the strategist, the analyst, the mentor, and the innovator.

The Strategist

Executives who use this approach are driven by power, recognition, and excitement. Interpersonally, they are forceful and decisive. Accordingly, they create a work environment that is competitive and confrontational. For them, devising a winning strategy is the highest priority. As a result, time is devoted largely to matters external to the organization's operations-- customers, competitors, technological advances, and market trends-as opposed to internal matters such as hiring or control systems. They rely on employees to whom they can delegate the day-to-day operation of their organizations, as well as those who possess excellent analytical and planning skills.

The Analyst

Executives who exhibit this character desire to control resources and...