As we progress through our work and life with our guiding principles unambiguously in our awareness, we can have the benefit of added clarity and power in our choices and actions. When we formulate a picture of ourselves that is both wide and authentic, we are then able to draw on the true heights of our creative power as contributors and as leaders. Powerful leadership requires authenticity, and authenticity requires self-knowledge.

The following exercises are designed to provoke reflection. There are no right or wrong answers, as the responses reflect your unique inner drives and principles. Clarity on these issues will assist in creating the clearing for a common endeavor at work that is totally aligned with your personal values, as well as supporting your personal goals and aspirations.

The process is not scientific and is not meant to be perfect, but rather to bring to the forefront of your awareness a broad sense of what really matters to you. This process can simply end there and be for your own reflection, or it can, through sharing with a coach and perhaps even through dialogue with close colleagues, come to form the foundation for the setting of an ambitious and exhilarating personal and professional future.

These exercises can be completed in under 30 minutes, or the process can be spread over a few days. Your choice. Either way they should be a joy to complete. That is not to say that they will be easy or that you will not have to go through some discomfort to complete them. You may feel some boredom or frustration. You may have to show diligence and commitment to complete them, but don’t be disheartened if you need to spread completion over several different times. Let your thoughts flow freely. Write everything down at first – you can always edit later!

You will be asked to complete 8 Exercises, as follows:

Exercise 1 Parental Synthesis

Exercise 2 Mentors

Exercise 3 Core Values

Exercise 4 Leaders

Exercise 5 Defining Experience

Exercise 6 Core Purpose

Exercise 7 Vision and Goals

Exercise 8 Reflection and Commitments

Exercise 1 - Parental synthesis

Think about the unique qualities of each of your parents – the positive strengths they exhibited and the principles they believed in. Some people believe that we are in fact a synthesis of the combined best qualities inherited and learned from our mother and our father, even in cases where we may not have had an opportunity to know one or either of them well. If that were to be true in your case, what beliefs and characteristics have you inherited from each of your parents? You can of course make this section about your primary carer if you did not know or were not raised by your parents, although I would encourage you still to acknowledge the genetic component as much as the nurturing.

Exercise 2 - Mentors

Think about key individuals that you remember from your formative years – maybe up to and including your current job. Often we are lucky enough to come across someone special – a teacher, a first boss, a relation who takes a special interest in us – whom we admire or whom we aspire to be like. Who were these people in your life, and what were the qualities they possessed and beliefs they held that inspired your development and shaped your aspirations?

Exercise 3 - Core Values

Core values are the inner beliefs we hold most sacred. They rarely, if-ever, change. We live our lives by them, even though we may be unaware of what they really are. When we fail to live up to them we get stressed and feel dissatisfied with ourselves. We frequently make compromises on these values and then seek to manage the situations that we find ourselves in. We may never have articulated our values to ourselves, let alone others. Working out what they are can be challenging, but here are a series of questions that will lead you to uncover them.

What makes you angry, frustrated and irritated with other people?
What are you doing and what is happening around you when you are at your most excited / at your happiest?
What are the social issues that you feel most strongly about – in the UK / in the world – and why?
If you had only one lesson to teach your children for them to carry with them through their lives, what wisdom would you pass onto them?

Now, how would you summarise your own personal values under a few headings?

Exercise 4 - Leadership

In leading others, we unconsciously call on beliefs and principles to guide us. Believe it or not we have a strategy for everything we do as leaders; we are usually simply unaware. When we are clear about these beliefs and principles, we are better placed to perform consistently as a leader at the very highest levels, including having the courage to act when we know it will not be popular, thus inspiring people to follow us and use us as role models.

These simple questions will assist you in gaining clarity on your leadership beliefs.

What are your fundamental beliefs about people at work?
What are your fundamental beliefs about leaders at work?
Who are the three leaders (whether personally known to you or not) you admire most and why?
What qualities do they share?

Exercise 5 - Defining Experience

Think back to an event or achievement in your life (personal or work related) that you would say was the greatest example of you at the height of your powers. Analyse how you did what you did – the mix of raw instinct, courage, planning, intellect etc. Realise that you have successful strategies within your repertoire. Think about the single instant of time that was the most intense physical and emotional result of that event. Recalling the event should instantly re-connect you with those physical and emotional sensations, allowing you to ‘use’ the event as a defining experience for you to call upon when you need to motivate or inspire yourself – to use the memory or re-living of it as a source of ignition or fuel for new action.

Exercise 6 - Core Purpose

Our Core Purpose is our guiding star for meaningful action. It frames the context of our contribution in life. We may have a strong belief in this concept, or indeed we may eschew such notions. Either way, we can work out what purpose we are seeking to pursue as we live our everyday lives. Answering these questions will help you clarify your purpose. Don’t be too concerned if your purpose is still not clear at the end - some people believe that our purpose is to spend our whole lives seeking to answer just this one question!

What is the purpose of your life?
What were you, uniquely, put on Earth to do?
If you could change 3 things about the way your industry works or is seen by others, what would they be?
At the end of your career, what do you want your legacy to look like?
If you could ‘retire’ today with no financial considerations, where would you choose to focus your talents? Why?

Exercise 7 - Vision and Goals

We have now considered our values and our purpose. What about our vision or our goals? A vision is a picture of what one aspires to achieve or become. Goals are specific targets or objectives that we set ourselves as milestones or markers on our path to achieving our vision. Again we may be unclear about our vision, and we may simply set very short term goals that are related to the more material elements in our lives. Answering these questions will assist in clarifying your vision.

What makes you happy?
What is it you really want in your life?
What do you want to be doing in 5 years’ time? In 10 years’ time?
If you knew you were going to die in 6 months’ time, what would you want to achieve to get your affairs in order or to complete any ‘unfinished’ business?
What goals have you / would you set for yourself in each of the following areas of your life:

Financial
Health
Family
Friends
Work
Leisure
Learning
Social or community contribution

Exercise - 8

Now you have completed all the exercises, what have you learned about yourself? What is clearer for you now? What commitments are you going to make to change something about your life?

When we know what the best possible version of ourselves looks like and behaves like, then we can constantly hold ourselves to account. We can truly hold the possibility and vision of our most creative future potential. We can ensure we are always ‘On Purpose’.

”Personal Core Values Process is excerpted from “And The Leader Is… (Transforming Cultures with CEQ)” - by Gareth Chick

About the Author:

Gareth Chick is a 40 year corporate veteran with a global profile. His career has included hugely successful spells as CFO, CEO and Chairman in both public and private sectors, including private equity. What makes Gareth's experience unique is that he combined those executive roles with a part time career as a leadership trainer, researching psychology, neuroscience and psychotherapy to create leadership development programmes used now by many major global corporations. In the last 15 years Gareth has trained over 5000 managers and served as Executive Coach to over 200 senior execs including FTSE100 CEOs and Fortune 500 VPs. As Founder of Collaborative Equity LLP, “promoting corporate cultures and sustainable business models of shared ownership, shared responsibility and shared rewards", Gareth acts as consultant to many global leaders, specialising in first time CEOs and Start Up founders. ↠ find out more at ceq.com

Personal Core Values Process