Your Guide to Building a Leadership Philosophy

How a leader makes decisions, interacts with others, and approaches strategic planning all reflect a core principle — a leadership philosophy. Leaders face tough choices daily, and having a philosophy serves as a guiding compass for making ethical and effective decisions. Therefore, thinking carefully and intentionally about creating a leadership philosophy is important for becoming a successful, authentic, and inspiring leader.
What Is a Leadership Philosophy?
A leadership philosophy is a personal framework that guides a leader’s decisions, actions, and interactions. It defines their core values and approach to leadership, helping them remain steady and consistent even as situations require different considerations.
The main components of a leadership philosophy typically include the following:
- Core Values: The guiding principles that shape how one leads and interacts with others (e.g., lead by example, empower others, embrace continuous learning) and the fundamental beliefs that drive decision-making and behavior (e.g., integrity, accountability, respect, service)
- Decision-Making Approach: The process of making decisions and evaluating choices
- Communication Style: How leaders engage with others, enable transparency, and build trust
- Goal-Setting Skills: The aims and standards that a leader holds for themselves and those they lead, including goal creation, accountability structures, and performance standards
- Leadership Vision: A clear statement of what a leader aims to achieve and the impact they want to have on their team and organization
- Commitment to Development: A focus on continuous improvement, both for themselves and those they lead
Professionals should develop personal leadership philosophies to become the best leaders they can be. This guide will offer tips and resources for building each of these components.
Why a Leadership Philosophy Matters
There are many good reasons for a leader to combine their beliefs, experiences, and organizational leadership skills into an overall philosophy. They include the following:
- Provide clarity and consistency in decision-making
- Build trust and credibility with teams and across an organization
- Guide professional growth
- Measure and monitor leadership effectiveness
With a guiding framework, professionals can become more effective, efficient, and inspiring leaders.
Identifying Your Core Leadership Values
Values are the foundation of a leadership philosophy. To develop a leadership philosophy, first reflect on what principles matter most. Consider some of these resources for identifying leadership values and principles:
- Brighter Strategies, “What Is Values-Based Leadership”: Defines what it means to lead by example and put values first
- Center for Creative Leadership, “12 Essential Qualities of Effective Leadership”: Outlines the characteristics a good leader should value, such as self-awareness, respect, compassion, vision, and integrity
- Forbes, “Clarifying Core Values For Effective Leadership”: Illustrates how to define and implement core values in leadership roles
- MIT Sloan Management Review, “Effective Leaders Articulate Values — and Live by Them”: Explains how to choose among leadership values to preempt crises
- The Muse, “21 Leadership Values Every Leader Should Embrace”: Offers an explanation of almost two dozen values and how these values shape the workplace
- com, “8 Leadership Assessment Tools to Uncover Hidden Strengths”: Offers an overview of several assessment tools to learn about leadership styles in depth
- Routledge Open Business and Economics, “Philosophy and Leadership: An Evolution of Leadership from Ancient Times to the Digital Age”: Provides a deep dive into the philosophical principles that have underpinned leadership from antiquity to the present day
Key Questions to Ask
- What are the three most important values that define you as a leader?
- What values does your organization need most? How can you embody these values?
- How do these values influence your decisions and interactions?
Crafting Your Decision-Making Approach
Leaders need to be decisive while balancing different perspectives. Here are some resources on decision-making strategies for leaders working on developing an effective leadership philosophy:
- Dilan Consulting Group, 5 Key Traits of Effective Decision-Makers and How to Develop Them: Offers practices for developing emotional intelligence (EQ), risk management, and long-term vision, among other traits of effective leaders
- Forbes, “5 Steps Leaders Can Take To Make Better Decisions”: Explains how to embrace data-driven decision-making and promote collaboration
- Forbes, “This Is How to Be an Effective Decision Maker: A Leadership Imperative”: Suggests that there are three types of decisions that leaders make regularly: strategic decisions, tactical decisions, and operational decisions
- Harvard Business Review, “How to Make Great Decisions, Quickly”: Explores eight elements of a great decision
- Skyline G, “Effective Decision-Making: Skills, Process & Strategies to Improve as a Leader”: Covers common biases that plague decision-making in the workplace and how to overcome them
Effective decision-making involves collaboration and adaptability, as these and other sources can attest.
Developing a Leadership Communication Style
Effective leaders communicate with clarity, empathy, and transparency. Consider some of the many ways to align communication style and leadership philosophy:
- Center for Creative Leadership, Essential Communication Skills for Leaders: Defines successful leadership communication as embodying authenticity, accessibility, clarity, confidence, empathy, respect, and trust
- The Grossman Group, “Leadership Communication: 6 Skills That the Best Leaders Apply”: Explains the importance of taking the time to communicate, communicating with care and warmth, and using stories to connect with stakeholders and build trust
- Growth Tactics, “10 Leadership Communication Styles to Enhance Your Impact”: Describes 10 communication styles — including directing, teaching, coaching, and advising — and gives examples
- IMD, The 6 Most Common Leadership Styles & How to Find Yours: Explores six leadership styles: transformational, delegative, authoritative, transactional, participative, and servant
- Indeed, How to Develop Effective Leadership Communication Skills: Suggests that leaders develop active listening, choose their words carefully, and maintain their composure to communicate well
With effective communication skills, leaders will be well equipped to drive initiatives and inspire teams to success.
Setting Goals and Managing Expectations
Great leaders set clear expectations for accountability, teamwork, and performance. That means setting ambitious and attainable goals, monitoring progress, and course correcting as needed.
Resources for setting goals and managing expectations as a leader include the following:
- Careerminds, “11 Leadership SMART Goal Examples”: Defines specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals and explains why leaders should use them
- Deel, “15 SMART Leadership Goals Examples to Inspire and Motivate Growth”: Offers best practices for setting SMART goals in leadership, including identifying opportunities and threats, setting medium- and long-term goals, and involving team members in the goal-setting process
- Fix Your Why, “Goal Setting: Techniques and Best Practices”: Explores goal-setting tactics beyond SMART goals, including using habit stacking, establishing accountability partners, and restructuring inadequate goals
- Join The Collective, Unlocking the Power of Goal-Setting in Leadership: Explains why setting clear goals and aligning team goals with the organization’s objectives matter for team success
- Quantive, Leadership Goal Setting for Annual Planning Success: Covers the importance of annual planning and makes the case for translating strategy into action
With a combination of SMART goals and tactics for adapting to changing conditions, leaders can effectively meet or exceed expectations.
Honing a Leadership Vision
Leaders don’t just have authority — they have vision. By thinking carefully about the future and envisioning a pathway to success, leaders can earn buy-in from internal and external stakeholders. From seeing potential in underused teams to envisioning digital leadership benefits and strategies, effective leaders can streamline processes and improve organizational outcomes.
Consider some of the many resources available to help leaders craft their leadership vision:
- ACS Professional Staffing, From Strategy to Action: Translating Company Vision into Your Leadership Goals: Gives four principles for translating leadership vision into goals
- Aurora Training Advantage, Understanding Leadership Vision and Mission: Suggests a symbiotic relationship between a leader’s mission and vision, with the mission being the “route” to the leader’s envisioned destination
- Feldman Daxon Partners, “The Cornerstones of Effective Leadership: Vision, Communication, and Integrity”: Describes how vision, communication, and integrity work together
- Forbes, “Why Leaders Need Less Vision and More Action”: Suggests that as important as vision is for leaders, effective professionals will treat their projects as experiments and learning opportunities
- Nathan Jamail, The Role of Vision in Leadership: Inspiring and Guiding Teams: Offers pointers on crafting a compelling vision (making it concise, relevant, and aspirational) and tips for communicating a leadership vision (incorporating storytelling across multiple platforms)
Developing a vision is an important feature of an overall leadership philosophy. Leaders can use their vision to help others understand the long-term goals of a strategy.
Investing in Continuous Improvement
Effective leaders understand that lasting change rarely happens overnight. Here are some resources that stress the importance of continuous improvement and that can empower leaders on their development path:
- Exude, How to Achieve Continuous Improvement in Leadership: Suggests core leadership skills that enable ongoing positive change as a leader
- Forbes, “How Leaders Employ These Six Steps for Continuous Improvement”: Offers concrete steps for developing as a leader, an employee, and an organization
- Harvard Business Publishing, “How to Create a Successful Leadership Development Program”: Provides strategies and steps for creating leadership development programs across an organization
- T, Burks and Associates, How Leadership Can Foster a Culture of Continuous Learning: Emphasizes the importance of recognition and rewards in creating a culture of continuous learning
- Voltage Control, Elevating Performance: Continuous Growth in Leadership: Explains the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle and why it matters for continuous improvement
With sustained effort and ongoing dedication, leaders can commit to the nonlinear growing process and learn along the way.
Drive Your Success With a Robust Leadership Philosophy
As an aspiring leader, creating a leadership philosophy can help you grow, build trust, make smart decisions, and measure your effectiveness. Understanding where your leadership is rooted can help you effectively communicate your vision and increase organizational buy-in. Build your leadership philosophy and find out how it can help you become a successful organizational leader.
Claremont Lincoln University is a non-profit university offering affordable online degrees, graduate certificates, and professional development programs. Through a socially conscious education framework, CLU’s mission is to create a new leadership ecosystem through its proprietary Claremont Core®, a distinctive model that encompasses the knowledge needed to become an effective leader of positive change in the workplace or community. CLU is regionally accredited by the highly regarded WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), which ensures institutions meet strict standards and fulfill their missions to serve their students and the public good. Degree programs at CLU focus on healthcare administration, human resources, organizational leadership, management, professional studies, public administration, social impact, and sustainability leadership.
Claremont Lincoln University is the university of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a non-profit global thought leader solving social, environmental, and economic challenges. Together, we are mobilizing leaders worldwide to tackle the most pressing climate, land, water, finance, housing, infrastructure, and other issues.