The Owners’ Core Values help Define their Authentic Leadership
November 10, 2019
Raj Sisodia, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Conscious Capitalism Inc. says that Conscious Business (sometimes referred to as conscious capitalism) is not a business strategy or business model. It is a comprehensive philosophy of doing business. These companies seek to benefit both human beings and the environment.
Conscious Businesses have four essential practices in order to be acknowledged as a Conscious Business:
- Higher Purpose
- Stakeholder Orientation
- Conscious Leadership
- Conscious Culture
Having a higher purpose spurs conscious leadership into action and can require managers learn new skills especially in authentic leadership, emotional intelligence, and maximization of employees’ potential. Today my focus as a business coach is zooming in on authentic leadership.
Working with small and medium-sized companies enables the business coach to teach and help implement these tenets much faster than with large bureaucracies. Why? First of all the owners already have a strong passion and vision for having both monetary and purpose-driven successes for their company. It transcends profit maximization. Their intention is there from the conception of starting their business due to their strong core values. There’s no time spent on selling this concept to the top of the hierarchy or trying to gain top-down support.
Brene Brown explains in Dare to Lead, “Living into our values means that we do more than profess our values, we practice them. We walk our talk—we are clear about what we believe and hold important, and we take care that our intentions, words, thoughts, and behaviors align with those beliefs.” Clearly the owner’s core values must be assessed initially so that her managers can be in alignment and discussion can ensue for the desired action. Otherwise, her managers’ values might be incongruent with the values she touts which then only serve to further frustrate employees and promote distrust.
While this particular business owner already possesses the necessary core values to accomplish this, they may need assistance in how to execute their vision. Possibly they have an entrepreneurial mind and require assistance in training their managers with skills necessary to implement specific practices. Perhaps they’ve come from an environment which had lofty mission statements or high-level executives saying the right words but not modeling the behavior necessary to achieve a truly conscious business model. If previously managers, these owners may have known integrity was lacking and want better for both their customers and their employees. However, because they have not experienced this type of leadership, they may be unsure where to start with their management training. Sometimes their ego can become inflated and because of their self-awareness, they realize an accountability coach can help with their maintaining a functional humility. Frequently they need to talk with someone, expressing their thoughts and feelings in order to gain clarity. There are a myriad of reasons an owner might require coaching.
After initially assessing the needs and values the owner wishes to establish in his business, the coach evaluates the managers for their authentic leadership abilities. According to Y Scouts, these characteristics should include
- Self- awareness
- Leads with the heart
- Focuses on long-term results
- Integrity
- Leads with vision
- Listening skills
- Transparency
- Consistency
- Shares success with the team
- Draws on experience
If the manager already possesses strong values such as respect, integrity, and authenticity, most of these skills can be taught fairly quickly. They will need to comprehend and then assimilate them to be effective managers within this company’s scope.
This in itself is truly an amazing change from Traditional Management because it requires transcendence of self-interest. Many leaders in managers’ roles have come from corporate America jobs which utilized traditional business strategies primarily motivated by money and power. This may have included a lack of consideration for their employees’ needs. However, many of these good managers may have had conflicted thoughts due to the behavior required in their positions. Increased stress levels due to misalignment with their own ethics became unbearable and ultimately they chose to leave their employment for a company more congruent with their core values.
Katie Couric actually addresses this insidious culture when she addressed the sexual assault allegations against her former Today cohost, Matt Lauer. According to Helen Murphy’s article in November 9th People Magazine, [Katie] opened up about the #MeToo movement and Lauer’s 2017 firing from the show. “We need many more women in leadership positions in journalism and broadcast news. Things don’t really change unless you have a woman with real authority and decision-making opportunities, and I really do believe that the atmosphere of a company and the standards, they all come from the top.”
The culture of a company starts at the top. In other words, the buck stops here.
The hiring and retention of good employees is a huge challenge in today’s workforce. Companies with Conscious Leadership are able to promote integrity in their company’s culture due to their authentic transparency leading to sustainability. The most effective leaders are then primarily motivated by purpose and service for the company’s people according to Sisodia. Core values in Conscious Business may be one of the solutions to this retention dilemma. Oh and the research confirms that these conscious business companies outperformed the S&P 500 by 10 to 1. That doesn’t hurt!
