I feel as though compassion and understanding are an afterthought when thinking about leadership today. There is a long list of values and characteristics that are vital to become a successful leader and everyone’s opinions on which are most important to master vary based on their personal morals and vision of who they want to be however, in order to be an effective leader in any industry compassion should never be last on the list. I am new to the business world, starting early in my career and see many opportunities to focus on employees as people instead of as another cost effecting the bottom line. I understand that business is business and not personal although in order for businesses to succeed in longevity our leaders should focus as much attention to its investment of people as its financials.

As mentioned previously, I am young in my career only experiencing the business world for the past few years but every day I am seeing a clearer vision of the leader I will become. There are many values I aspire to hold but three I know I will have are compassion, honesty, and perseverance. Every leader should care for their team and show understanding when mistakes happen; without compassion a team can not function effectively. Honesty without saying is a critical value to have when being in a leadership position. It is unsettling to see so many leaders today who are publicly accused for being dishonest in handling their business financials or in their personal lives. Bottom line is no one will respect a dishonest person and a leader must have respect in order to effectively lead. Lastly, adversity is an everyday occurrence in a leader’s world and a team will only follow a leader who dedicates themselves to work through it. With perseverance comes sacrifices and a leader who endures hardship for the betterment of their community is someone who will be unavoidably supported. These values are the first of many that I will practice everyday when guiding my future employees.

Definition of value:

val·ue/ˈvalyo͞o/