Different people have different leadership values. Understanding my own core leadership values and writing about them led me through a path of introspection and clarity. I believe in these values and hope to be guided by them, on a daily basis, to serve myself, my team, my company and the community in a better way. Turning to my values helps me to be more effective in my interactions with my team and colleagues, and in making decisions. Equally important is the need to communicate these to my team so that it clarifies the expectation that I have from them and vice versa.

Here are the values that are most important to me:

Honesty and transparency: One of the most significant leadership values for me is honesty and transparency. Together they make up the foundation of trust in our lives, both personal and work. I strive to be honest and transparent in my daily operations and  interactions with my team and colleagues and I expect the same from them. At times it may be challenging but it is what I strongly feel, builds the core of a team and bonds it to serve everyone the best.

Responsibility: Taking responsibility is what I believe is a key leadership value. To me it not only means to be accountable for meeting the deadline of a project. This means to be responsible for everything and everyone that fall under my domain including the team’s overall well-being, morale and performance, ensuring a project’s successful delivery in alignment with company objectives, taking  accountability  if something goes wrong and learn from mistakes, and take effective steps to make others aware of what we learned from those mistakes.

Courage: Courage is difficult at times but I think it is crucial for a leader to serve her team well and benefits everyone. I hope and expect of myself and my team to act in situations which may be unwelcome or not popular but is right to act for the benefit of the project, team, company or the community. I believe in having the confidence and faith in my team to execute, to bring up concerns and issues for discussion which are difficult, to be open to accept and change directions if needed, and to take risks.

Growth: A leader must inspire and cultivate a growth mindset. I believe a leader grows with her team. I work to have a growth plan in my team which includes awareness of individual’s motivating factors and curiosities, encourages out-of-box thoughts, provides opportunities to nurture them and embraces and owns the related uncertainties. I think growth is a stimulus and the more people around us can be stimulated, the more benefit we reap.

Empathy : I believe a leader is truly effective when she is empathetic. I strive to practice it and expect my team to do the same. It forges a close bond within a team as everyone feels appreciated and their needs and thoughts acknowledged. It fosters strong teamwork, boosts our morale, motivates us and makes us better human beings.