In Bill George's book "True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership.," Bill quotes Sara Lee CEO Brenda Barnes who says: “The most important thing about leadership is your character and the values that guide your life.”
She added,"If you are guided by an internal compass that represents your character and the values that guide your decisions, you’re going to be fine. Let your values guide your actions and don’t ever lose your internal compass, because everything isn’t black or white. There are a lot of gray areas in business." Bill himself goes on to say, "When you are aligned with who you are, you find coherence between your life story and your leadership."
I want to affirm what Bill and Sara are saying. Too many leaders in this day and age have no True North, but even more than that, they have either lost or never had a Moral Compass! I am not speaking about highly educated, high ranking people in particular. I am speaking to the common everyday citizen in our society who plays a leadership (influence) role in our culture such as a husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, small business owner, etc. We the leaders in our families, farms, villages, cities, and states must find our moral compass, and lead with the conviction of character, and values, and principles once again.
Our leadership should be our life story lived out by our actions in following our True North for others to follow. I want to encourage you today, and challenge you to seek out your True North and lead with character first!
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