4 Principles of Values-Based Leadership

From Values to Action Book

Weeks 16 & 17 of the NIV Leadership Bible focus on Values…crucial to a leader’s credibility and success.  As I’ve studied these daily devotions, I’m reminded how fortunate I’ve been to work for leaders with strong values over the past 20 years.

Values-based leadership is important for any leader seeking to shoot for the stars.  Three years ago, Harry M. Jansen Kraemer Jr. published From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership.  Drawing from his first-hand experiences as the former chairman and CEO of Baxter International (a global health care company) and from the popular classes he taught at Northwestern University (where he was voted as Kellogg School of Management’s professor of the year in 2008), Kraemer offers current and aspiring leaders a framework to adopt four principles of values-based leadership that will help them improve their organizations.

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It’s National Stress Awareness Day…Do You Know Your Boundaries?

It’s the day after Tax Day, and the Health Resource Network is sponsoring the 22nd National Stress Awareness Day today.  In fact, April is also National Stress Awareness Month.

Not all stress is bad.  A little bit of stress is good for us, but it’s important to keep it in check. When left to its own devices, it can lead to a number of health issues, from heart problems, to weight problems, to even depression and anxiety.

The important goal in identifying and managing stress is to find that optimal level within your ‘best stress zone’ that you need to work most effectively.  With too much stress, we can become overwhelmed.  At the same time, zero stress might have the opposite effect—complacency.  There is a fine balance that must be maintained to reach one’s highest potential on a day-to-day basis.

In finding what’s right for you, Dr. Henry Cloud’s 2013 book, Boundaries for Leaders: Results, Relationships, and Being Ridiculously in Charge proves instructive.

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