The most pervasive and debilitating challenge to leaders and achievers is something I call the Values-Performance Gap. This situation arises when our performance as an individual or organization doesn’t align with our values. This situation is usually the result of either not knowing our highest values or not living those values. This misalignment creates all manner of issues and problems, not the least of which is wasting our time chasing shiny objects instead of investing our time in our highest-priority values and goals. The solution is Unifying Principles.
Unifying principles are the enduring truths by which you live your life or run your business. By taking those values, I speak of so often and describing them in the present tense, you personalize and internalize your values.
So step one is to identify your values, only a few. Ben Franklin had 10, and I have 8, but that’s up to you. Start with your source of wisdom or “google” list of universal values, Christian values, Stoic values, or the Boy Scout Law.
Step two is to take that value and make it an action statement. So, leadership becomes I am a leader.
Step three, describe what that means and how you will live that value. So, you get something like, “I am a leader and mentor. I lead in all I do, upholding the highest leadership, ethics, management, and integrity standards. I am an effective and dynamic coach, teacher, and businessman. I make my living by serving God’s people by helping leaders and organizations to improve their performance and success personally, professionally, spiritually, and physically.”
Step four is to live your principle. That may require some goals to guide work in attaining that principle. You may need to read some books on leadership, take a class, or join a group or association.
Unifying Principles are goals; they are the goals that connect who you are with what you do and what you will achieve. So, write them down, prioritize them, and review them daily. Ben Franklin used to track his performance on a matrix, making a checkmark at the end of each day next to those he had lived perfectly.
Now, if you’re telling yourself your values are God, family, country, and Corps, you can’t be God or family or country! So what do those mean, and how are you living them? Get these zeroed in, and you can start writing goals that create the objective you, and we will talk about that next time.
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Remember, “all things are possible through prayer and heavy deadlifts.”™
