Dave, a young executive worked directly for the CEO of the corporation. He supervised seventeen staff and according to his annual performance review, his unit was doing an impressive job. As life would have it, after a re-organization he found himself reporting to a new boss.
The new boss supervised four executives. In his first two years he fired two and the third had a nervous breakdown. That left Dave. Hmm! As time progressed it became obvious that the two individuals had totally different values. The new boss asked Dave to falsify budgets, lie to the CEO when he called and to cover for him when he had had too much to drink. It became obvious that to maintain his integrity, Dave had to leave. His letter of resignation didn’t blame anyone and didn’t make any accusations.
Skip ahead two years, Dave was hired by another wing of this corporation in another city. His new boss illustrated one of the reasons he was called for an interview was because she recognized the challenges in the former department. Her call to Human Resources confirmed the young executive had resigned due to an unwillingness to lower his values, lie and cheat. The new boss, the Vice President confirmed that was all she needed to know and he was invited to the interview. To conclude this value based example, this young Executive rose through the organization to be the next CEO. The rest is history.
Leadership is value based. What values guide your leadership?
What values are so strong in your life that you would resign before you would compromise your values?
Yours in Service,
Laurie D. Kennedy
Leadership Coach