395: What Have Your Values Cost You?

Yes.

And so as you were talking, I was thinking, I bet you've been in situations where the top leadership, really exemplified the values of the organization and then others where they didn't.

What have you seen in terms of the differences in the impact they had? Because you described that so beautifully, how it has a ripple effect, not just within the organization, but outside of it too.

Talk about some of the differences you see with those positive, let's call them leadership roles, and then those that are not so positive.

Sure, sure.

So I would say

when I've seen really good leadership, positive leadership, I think the way I've seen that play out is leaders say, this is what I'm about, or this is what I believe in.

And you actually see how that works in practice in terms of what they do.

So the disconnect, so we talk about the say-do gap as being an important measure, I think.

That ratio has to be really good.

And when you find that that ratio is good, you tend to find good leadership.

So the disconnect between what I'm saying and what I'm doing, very, very small gap.

And that's what I've seen in good leadership.

Where I've seen a little bit of a departure, where I've seen difficulty, let's say with leadership, a couple of different ways that that shows up.

One is certainly, okay, there's a little bit bigger gap between say and do.

So sometimes it's, I say, this is what we do, but what I actually do in practice is a little bit different.

So yes, everyone else has to have their travel and expense records audited from time to time.

or checked and sampled from time to time to make sure the expenses are legitimate.

But not me, I'm a leader.

I'm a leader, I'm entitled to a certain, let's say, status in the company.

And so you don't need to look at my travel and expense records, do you? And I've seen that firsthand.

So the say-do gap is one place where it shows

up.

Another place where it does show up is when leaders and I think this is something that will probably resonate with a lot of people, but where you see leaders really responding to the short term and not willing to pay a price for what is good over the long term.

So I see this as leaders responding to the immediate, I have to show my value proposition right now today in this organization.