Why a Leadership Philosophy is Essential for Every Leader!

Understanding your leadership philosophy helps you determine when to take a firm stance and make decisions amidst uncertain outcomes or limited information.
In this episode, we discuss the following:
👉 Leadership requires followers and a sense of direction
👉 Understanding why leader's brand philosophy and values are intertwined
👉 Significance of decision-making and guides behavior during difficult times.
👉 Why leaders to make decisions based on their own values
👉 Developing a leadership philosophy involves understanding personal values
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 Welcome back to the Leadership Zone. In this episode, we're going to talk about why every leader needs a guiding philosophy and set of values. You see, while your leadership purpose might change, because leadership's a social construct, you only can lead if you have followers. You can only lead if there's somewhere you're going, if there's a North Star, something you're aiming for, and that will differ if you move organisations or you engage in different industries.
While that does differ, Usually a leader's signature brand philosophy, values is weaved throughout their career, and it's not often intentionally set out, but by the time you get into a leadership position, it tends to be there in the ether. It tends to. Exist. People feel it. They talk about it. It's how they position you.
It's how they think about you. It's how they make sense of how you make decisions they don't like, they might not approve of. So a leadership philosophy is really important. A leadership philosophy is not just about having some manifesto while. It is partly that it's also having something that you lean on as a person when things are difficult or when people are withholding validation or approval, or when you're in doubt of the best way forward.
Your leadership philosophy allows you to make decisions that are guided by. Who you are and what do you value, rather than allowing you to be overly dependent on external validation, feedback, or approval. And while leadership is this moving thing between you and others and a task, because it doesn't exist.
It's not just about people following leaders, there's also a task involved in the dynamic. While it is those things, your leadership philosophy supports you in leading in a way that is aligned with your values and your beliefs. Now, without a leadership philosophy, kind of some of the signals that you don't have one or you're not clear on one.
Is a lot of self-doubt arises because you don't know what you're measuring your success against. Usually you're measuring it against external feedback or tangible outcomes, but often in leadership there aren't tangible outcomes. A lot of your work is relational. A lot of your work is influencing a lot of your work is creating a sense of psychological safety in the environment and inclusion.
And valuing people and setting standards. In terms of values and practices, it isn't always about what you achieve, which is usually how people get into leadership positions. They were usually quite effective in achieving things as a solo contributor or as a member of a team. Whereas in leadership, it's far more about your ability to support others.
While many people will say that they didn't intend to get somewhere, or they don't have their career led them here. What you will see when you look back over your own career and other people's career is the values and the interests that guided them, the philosophies that they lived by. Influenced where they were more successful and less successful, where you thrived and where you just survived.
And so understanding what your leadership philosophy is allows you to know when to put a stake in the ground. It helps you make decisions when there's maybe not a possibly great outcome or when there isn't enough information to make a good decision.