ABSTRACT
This chapter explores personal understanding of self, what makes us who we are and why is it important. As a society, we share many common values and beliefs. Freedom is a common value that we share in our country, but the intensity of our values and behaviors may vary greatly between individuals. Values need to be aligned with our behaviors in order for us to feel good about ourselves and be successful. There are several leadership publications that address the concept of value alignment as a critical success factor in all we do in our jobs, careers and personal goals. Haden and Jenkins describe values as vital to leadership but also discuss the importance of virtue, which they relate to as excellence in character that is shaped by actions into habitual ways of thinking. Tom and Susan Kuczmarski in their book Values-Based Leadership speak to the importance of consistency between the leaders’ core value and the organization.
