Leadership the Hard Way: Why Leadership Can't be Taught– and How You Can Learn it Anyway

Chapter 6. MAKING VALUES REAL

In a world characterized by turbulence, every organization needs a solid anchor, some unchanging core that remains the same no matter how disruptive the environment gets. That anchor is the organization's values. Markets and competitors, technology and business models—all may change, some even radically, over time. But once an organization defines its values, those values should not change. They are an important reference point for orienting the organization to the long term. They provide the stability and continuity that allow an organization to adapt to new circumstances.

With the increasing turbulence of the world economy, more and more attention has been paid to the critical role of values in driving competitive ...