Values as the tie-breaker
Faced with two equally compelling, data-driven options, it is the leader's value system — "customer trust over short-term gain" — that decides. Values are the core algorithms of judgment, not poster copy.
Conscious LeaderInner Game
Purposeful Leadership - The Value Lens
values on a poster→values at the fork
The Goal
Filter the next decision through the value you say you live by — expand it, don't dilute it.
Ideal For
Leadership offsites, performance-management edge cases, ethical decision points, and strategic trade-offs where short-term cost tests long-term commitment.
The Shift
From values on a poster to values at the fork.
The Neuroscience
Naming the value before the decision focuses attention on the value-relevant features of the choice, and research on self-affirmation suggests that affirming core values lowers defensiveness under threat. Linking a decision to identity — "I'm the kind of leader who…" — is associated with meaningfully higher follow-through.
The techniques, and why they work
Values at the fork
Apply the value at the moment of a real decision: name the fork, name the value you say you live by, and let it filter the options — expand the value, don't dilute it.
Living into values
A leader who consistently decides in line with stated values builds the integrity others want to follow — the behavior Brené Brown calls "living into our values."
Selected research
- Brown, B. (2018). Dare to Lead. Random House.
From the research
The thinking behind this lab, published in full: