As a leader and developer of senior leaders for 40 years with my company, Renaissance Leadership, I came to see how much character defines effective leaders.And how much character is driven by a person’s core values.
So, in what is likely the most consequential election of our lifetime, how can you be sure you are voting according to your fundamental principles? While so much of our politics divide us, our core values as Americans have always been remarkably similar. And when we vote from those principles, America gets solid, reliable leadership regardless of party.
Most of us know what our most important behavioral values are when we reflect on them.
Here is a quick quiz ( we used with our client-leaders )to confirm yours:
Bring to mind the person who most profoundly shaped your character during your formative years. For many, that “ most influential person “is a parent or key family member, a teacher or coach, or maybe a close friend. We all have someone who helped form our core beliefs and behavior as we grew up.
Picture that person who had the greatest impact on you…and write down the most important core principles they lived by. The ones you admired most. Perhaps you were moved by their honesty or kindness and decency. Or you liked that they were inventive or sly or rebellious. Or you admired how respectful or open or trusting they were.
All that matters is that you pick the traits you most admired. Jot them down.
Growing up, my hero was Milton Hershey, the chocolate magnate who saved my life and the lives of countless orphans ( by giving his entire fortune to needy children ). As best I can, I have tried to live by his core values of:
RESPECT and CIVILITY toward all.
SERVICE above SELF , and
COMPASSION for those in need.
These are now part of my core beliefs. I use them to select friends, clients, and presidents.
Back to your core values and guiding principles. Are you applying them as a critical screen to pick our next president and congressional leaders? Sure , other factors like policy positions and programs make a difference. But nothing drives behavior like a leader’s core values…just as it does for us. We all know that politicians can..and do..say just about anything.
But what they actually do and how they treat people is driven by what they stand for.
One more quick reality check on your core values. What key principles and core beliefs do you hope your children and grandchildren embrace? Who do you hope will teach and lead them?. Children are quite susceptible to behavior modeled by our national leaders ( If our Commander-in-Chief can say or do that, well then ……. ……. ……..). This list of values may very well resemble your first.
So, for your family, your community, and your country, what cherished values will you be voting for in this vital election? Your voice matters more than ever. And character really does count. Our shared American values are the soul of our nation.
And this fall, all is at risk.
Johnny O’Brien
Easton
The writer is President Emeritus, Milton Hershey School
William Keppen says
I get it. Thank you for saying IT. I will pass it on and hope others, GET IT.
Rev Julie Hart says
EXCELLENT!! In Seminary we learn The First Principle which guides, in all aspects, what guides us as clergy. I hear and feel that in what you have shared. It allows us to put so much aside as adiaphera; as in secondary or lower on the list of importance.
Thank you!
Rev Julie Hart
Judy Gottsagen says
Judy Gottsagen Says,
As a retired elementary school teacher, we taught those core values to the First Graders, hoping they would continue to value and follow them. Thank you for such an insightful article. I hope this helps EVERYONE to VOTE for leaders that agree with these CORE VALUES.
trudy wonder says
This resonates so very much. Thank you for putting into words something I instinctively knew but couldn’t bring to clarity as you have.
This person, for me, was my father. He was a man of great honesty and integrity, who relished all life had to offer; someone who treated everyone with dignity and respect. He was mindful of the effect his choices had on his family and particularly his children. (He was a happy-go-lucky man but he wouldn’t so much as tell a dirty joke in my presence until I turned 21.)
Though my husband and I have no children of our own, I’m saddened when I see children exposed to the ugly words and actions being perpetuated, celebrated and cheered on these days – for what they see held up and revered as our ‘ultimate’ role model.
Your post reminds me of a Maya Angelou quote: People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. If we think of the person or people who had the most positive effect on us in our formative years, the person who made us feel at our best, and look for those same values in our president, the choice would become clear. Similarly, if we think of those who made us feel the worst, the least whole, we’d be wise to ensure we don’t inadvertently select someone who exemplifies those qualities.
Character does matter. So does what we’re teaching our children at this moment in time.
Judith Warfield Price says
Bravo, John.
So poignant and well said. Exactly what we should be keeping in the forefront of our minds.
Dick Deerin says
Inspiring message. Character does count. There is one candidate in the upcoming presidential election who has clearly and consistently demonstrated a complete lack of character. Let me be clear. Do not vote for him.
Michael Davis says
Thank you for writing so well a reminder to all of us that voting is an expression of core personal values.
I’d like to amplify a little bit on serive to others, in partiucular government workers. I admit this is personal as most of my family served in the military and/or worked for the federal government. Those in the executive department do not get rich. They don’t get campaign funds, or opportunies to invest based in inside information, nor do they get gifts from billionaires, unlike Congress and the Judiciary. Few government employees get rich for their service. All of that I knew worked for government out of a sense of service to others.
Today, too many of them get trouble for service. A woman Army employee at Arlington Cemetary was assaulted for doing her job. She did not press charges because she feared for her life from an entire politcal party. Online posts from that poliical party called her menally ill and other vile insults.
Voting reflects our values conserning people who serve all of us.