Leadership Substance, Style and Shadow 49The third level is that of beliefs and values. Leaders oper-
ate here. Beliefs are the rules we make for ourselves and
assumptions we have about what is possible and, therefore,
what can happen. Leaders redefine what is possible. Values
are what matter to you, those things you hold dear. They may
be feelings like love, commitment, well-being or confidence.
Good health matters to most people. Beliefs and values
guide our actions, they determine what capabilities we have,
because we will not spend time on something that is not
important to us or that we believe will not help us.
Businesses have values as well, guiding principles that
determine how that company does business. There may be
formal rules, enshrined in such things as employee charters,
customer charters and various sorts of mission and vision
statements. Every business also has an informal culture: what
really happens, how the formal values get put into practice
(or not). Informal and formal values can differ greatly.
Beliefs are those ideas we take as true and use to guide
our actions. We all have beliefs about what sort of people we
are and what we are capable of. These beliefs act as permis-
sions for or limitations on what we do. When we believe
something is possible, we will try it; if we believe it impossi-
ble, we will not.
The fourth level is identity. Your individual identity is your
sense of yourself as a person. It takes in your dearest values
and beliefs. Your name marks your identity, while in the
same way an organization has an identity expressed in its
name and perhaps its logo. Sometimes the organization
takes its identity and values from its founder or chair; the
company may be identified with an individual in the public
eye, like the Virgin group with Richard Branson. This can
work powerfully in favour of an organization as long as the
leader of the company is admired. Branson, for example, is
seen as a creative and charismatic figure, and so Virgin
appears as an innovative and energetic company.
Two levels beyond identity suggest themselves: the social
dimension, and the spiritual level. If identity is about ‘I’,
then these levels are about ‘we’.