Leaders make their biggest leaps when they plan who they want to be when things get hard — and dedicate themselves to those values.
Key Takeaways
Why defining leadership values matters:
- Leadership presence comes from the values you commit to living every day, especially under pressure.
- Values provide steadiness, authenticity, trust, and clarity — the foundations of high-performing teams.
- When you articulate your values, you strengthen culture by shaping communication norms, expectations, psychological safety, and accountability.
- A simple reflection exercise can help you define the five values that will guide your decisions and actions as a leader.
- Values become your signature leadership style — the compass that shapes both your personal impact and your team’s performance.
Leadership presence isn’t charisma, confidence, or polish. It’s the steadiness that comes from knowing what you stand for and being able to return to those values in the moments that matter most.
Your values shape the culture your team experiences every day — how people communicate, raise concerns, solve problems, take risks, recover from mistakes, and treat one another. When your values are clear, your leadership becomes clear. That’s when people trust you and do their best work.
This is why the strongest leaders don’t wait for a crisis to figure out who they are. They define their values deliberately and return to them often, creating a signature leadership style that feels authentic, resilient, and deeply aligned with the impact they want to have.
Define Your Signature Leadership Values
To create a defining leadership style, you don’t need an MBA, a VP title, or even a team that you are leading. Anyone can be a leader. Dedicating yourself to a set of signature leadership values helps you become the leader you want to be and create a postive leadership identity.
What you need is a moment for leadership self-reflection and find your leadership north star. So:
Find a quiet moment.
Give yourself 10 minutes.
Grab a notebook — or open a blank document.
STEP 1 — Recall a moment when leadership felt hard.
Think of a time when:
- the stakes were high
- people were stressed
- you felt pressure to get something right
- the path forward was unclear
Don’t judge the moment. Just observe it.
STEP 2 — From a place of calm, ask: “Who did I want to be in that moment?”
This question unlocks everything. Imagine your best self — the leader you aspire to be. What qualities do you wish you had brought into that moment?
- More steadiness?
- More empathy?
- More clarity or alignment?
- More courage?
- More presence or calm?
- More transparency?
Capture the words, even if they feel imperfect.
STEP 3 — Turn those qualities into behaviors.
Values only transform leadership when they become actions.
Example:
- “Empathy” → Listen first. Slow down. Validate feelings before problem solving.
- “Clarity” → Set expectations early and check for alignment and execution.
- “Collaboration” → Solve problems together, not alone.
Write one sentence or phrase for each value that describes how you want to show up.
STEP 4 — Choose your Signature Five.
Limit yourself to five leadership values.
Why five? Because five is the number you can reliably remember, practice, and live every day.
Choose the five that:
- feel most like home
- move you closer to the leader you want to become
- reflect the culture you want to build
- would have changed that hard moment in meaningful ways
These are your Signature Leadership Values. They become your north star.
Examples of Leadership Values (Use These Only if They Truly Resonate)
These examples come directly from patterns I see in high-performing leaders — but the key is to put them in your own words. You’ll follow your own words more faithfully than any template. Use these for inspiration or brainstorming.
Empathy
- Slow down and be patient.
- Pay attention to my own emotional triggers and how my behavior affects others.
- Listen first — understand fully before solving problems.
- Everyone deserves to be heard respectfully, even when I disagree.
Collaboration and Shared Success
- Prioritize the interests of the team and organization over any one individual.
- Solve problems together.
- Define success as a shared outcome, not a personal win.
Transparency and Supporting the Team
- Share knowledge openly and actively help others learn.
- As a leader, my job is to support and align the team.
- Build systems (1:1s, check-ins, feedback loops) that help people grow.
Leadership & Developing Others
- Value every person’s contribution.
- Track accomplishments and reward success consistently.
- Use frequent, forward-focused feedback to align people to goals.
- Consider customer implications first.
- When challenges arise, seek full understanding and believe in the team’s ability to solve them.
- When things go sideways, take ego out of it — focus on the needs of the team and the mission.
Choose values that resonate with you and put them into your own voice, adapting them to your job and who you want to be. Your values must be personal, meaningful, and real to you.
A Real Example: How One Leader Transformed Her Career with Five Values
One of my clients, a brilliant scientist in biotech, discovered that leadership required a different type of intelligence — not analytical precision, but emotional clarity.
She defined five values that became her north star:
- Everyone deserves to feel heard.
- Everyone is responsible for being honest and sharing knowledge that will support the team.
- When problems arise, it’s the leader’s job to empathize and understand people’s problems and believe in their ability to solve them.
- No one member’s needs or desires are above the team’s success.
- When things do not go as planned or when people act in disruptive ways, take ego out of it and prioritize the needs of the company and the team.
She didn’t just write them down — she lived them. The result?
- a high-performing team
- dramatically reduced duplication and rework
- stronger engagement, trust, and team learning
- recognition across the organization
- two promotions in two years, doubling her salary and earning stock options
Values defined her leadership presence. Leadership presence became her career accelerator.
Your Signature Leadership Style Starts with Five Commitments
Decide who you want to be — not only on the good days, but on the hard ones.
Write your 5 signature values.
Turn them into behaviors.
Live them consistently.
That’s how leaders develop a signature leadership style that inspires trust, builds strong cultures, and accelerates careers.
Keep Learning
Here are a few more articles to help you refelect on your leadership style.
- Why Every Leader Needs a Signature Leadership Style
- How to Be a Confident Leader and Beat Imposter Syndrome
- Start Here for Leadership Resources: Practical TIps and Solutions to Use Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What if I’m not sure which values to choose?
A: Think about the leaders you admire, the great boss or mentor who helped you along the way. Then think about the leader you want to be on your best days and your hardest days. Values are simply the patterns underneath the behaviors you admire most.
Q: How many values should I pick?
A: Between 3 and 5. Fewer forces clarity; more becomes noise. Your leadership needs a simple, memorable framework you can actually use under stress.
Q: What if my values feel too “soft” — like empathy or patience?
A: Those aren’t soft skills. Empathy and trust are proven performance drivers. Leaders who communicate, regulate, and motivate effectively consistently outperform those who rely on intensity or pressure.
Q: What if I pick the “wrong” values?
A: You can’t. You’ll refine them over time. What matters is choosing values that feel authentic — ones you want to practice daily and that work for you.
