The Power of Leadership and Vision

Source: Joel Leege

As I get older, I have found myself sharing anecdotes, quotes, and proverbs in applicable moments with staff, family, and friends. I valued receiving these at the time from people in my life and hope that my sharing in this kind of venue may offer some value to you.

Setting: Early in my management career with CDI, we were growing and expanding our staff. In a round of applicants, I came across two candidates who had great stories of success in their fields. One had an MBA and experience working in HR with JP Morgan in New York. We jumped and hired Joel Leege to join our team. He learned the business quickly and showed an extraordinary ability to focus and problem-solve. But he also added value to every conversation.

Wisdom moment: We were having a conversation about mission, vision, and values.  We could see them in our annual reports but did not have much true understanding of their origin or how we should internalize them in our own daily decision-making. Joel shared a story from JP Morgan, that a CEO would be sitting in board room or executive meetings listening as topics would be brainstormed, discussed and debated. At key times, the CEO would stop the discussion and recite the company's mission, vision, or values. And every time he did it, it seemed to clarify the appropriate direction.

Value: I know that was not my first-hand experience, but you will see in this series of posts that the value is just as meaningful because you could feel the impression it left on the person telling the story. I use this principal often in my career, crafting CEO communication to staff ensuring to show alignment with stories to guiding company principles, and often using them an anchors in my own decision making. I have also seen fantastic examples in my career when values are owned by not only executives, but staff. In a conversation with the strategy team at Indeed, a business practice was being challenged based on its minimal financial results, and the team leader asked the question whether it was “helping people get jobs”. That is the Indeed mission. The answer was yes, but it was not even our employees. But the action aligned with the mission, so we moved forward.  Sometimes, doing the right thing, as long as it does not hurt you, will still bring value in the long run.