Amazing Leadership Community Values

In a recent discussion with one of my colleagues, I was asked what my audience for this site is… and my answer is clear -- I want it to be centered on leaders!

But who are these leaders? Of course they will be from many different backgrounds, but the ones that need the most help are those starting with very little, for instance, new start ups, new managers with little experience, military junior leaders, and anyone who thinks they cannot be a leader.

But what about the more Senior leaders? Of course I want to cater to their needs as well! Their input will be more valuable to the junior leaders but they will also learn from the junior leaders as much as from our own panel of experts here at Amazing Leadership. With a forum that caters to all leaders, we will be able to show better methods of communication and idea sharing throughout the forum.

But what do Senior and Junior Leaders share that would bring them together? The biggest similarity between leaders is their uncompromising dedication to a set of Values.

To what Values are you referring? In the Army, they promote the Seven Army Values of LDRSHIP (Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage). I believe that any organization that wants to promote an atmosphere of leadership has to have a similar set of Values. It is like a moral compass that provides guidance for all of its leader’s decisions.

My recommendations:

So here is what I recommend for the Amazing Leadership community, let’s keep it simple:

Integrity – Doing what is right, legally and morally, even when no one is looking. This one to me is the most important because it really encompasses all the rest. Guiding yourself to do the right thing is the hardest part. I don’t subscribe to the “if it feels good, then it must be right” standard. If it feels good to kill people, then being a mass murderer is good right? – NO! of course it isn’t, so how can you guide your decisions by simple emotion. Logical actions must take precedence over those that just “feel” good. You do the right thing by taking your ideas to a panel of experts or advisors like those we are offering at Amazing Leadership and listening to, molding, and implementing their collectively great ideas into a method that works for you.

Selflessness – A person alone can be smart, but many people putting their ideas together are smarter. The way people learn is by trying, failing, and learning from their mistakes. But no one should ever feel as though they are “starting from scratch” in this community. Any questions that one member has can often be answered by the other members and can certainly be answered by our experts. Even the highest level executive sometimes can use the outside opinion of a leadership coach to guide them through the process of bringing a good idea into the real world where it is actionable.

Respect – Show each other courtesy in your dealings on the website and in your sessions. I would propose that we consider what we will write on the site especially because it is important that what we say we can deliver to our fellow Amazing Leaders we actually CAN deliver. We should never misrepresent ourselves to the world. Say what you can do, and do it! If you cannot deliver something, don’t promise it! Be mindful that your words are your bond. And treat others here as professionals. Remember that if you would not want to worry about whether or not you could trust the person on the other side of the phone, chat, or blog – then you cannot be that kind of person to lie, cheat, or steal from the person on this site either. And we may institute a rating system for all answers given on our site so that you could see candid feedback on those you interact with. But as with anything, it is easy to fool a computer. I can assure you here that if I get multiple complaints about the same member, I will confront them myself, and they will no longer be able to benefit from the good people in our community.

Courage – Being brave isn’t about taking blind risks. Being brave is about calculating your risks and being bold enough to go forward even when it appears to go against popular opinion. Take for instance a recession like we have in the United States currently. Most people are concerned with their house payments and losing their jobs, but Warren Buffet invested Billions in Goldman Sachs. Why did he do that? He did it because he saw their shares go down – like a sale at your local department store – and he went in and bought up the stocks. He knows that they will be back on their feet after the recession, and then he will own a great percentage of their profits on into the future. That sounds risky, doesn’t it? Maybe it is risky to other people, but Warren Buffet knew exactly what he was doing and he didn’t do it on a whim. He and his advisors saw an opportunity and they seized it! Making the decision can be easier with others who are like minded and who share similar goals. This site will be designed for you to meet and communicate with those kinds of people for your own decisions as well. Making those decisions will be easier, and you will find that implementing them will be easier as well through the Amazing Leadership community.

Please offer us your support:

So, that is the short list of Values I propose that we should have as a community at Amazing Leadership. Please offer me your comments and questions on the site at www.amazingleadership.com in our forum section, or in the comments to these blogs. Or if you want to be more selective or anonymous, please submit your responses to keith@amazingleaderhip.com and I will send you back an email with a response, and I will edit and construct a forum post or blog with your questions for others to consider as well. Your responses will make this the one site that no one can imitate! Together we can be a stronger force in the world of Leadership coaching, instruction, and method development each day.