A recent Forbes article discusses how improved organizational structure is linked to values based leadership. The article discusses recent studies that suggest almost all organizational culture shifts or changes fail however, the ones that succeed are those where the leaders of the organizations stay true to the values of the organization and seek not to compromise them while undergoing the change. I find this interesting because I believe that the organizational culture of organization is one of the most important part towards that companies success.

Throughout the article, the author uses his military background as a former navy SEAL in the United States Military as an example of an organization that went through rapid change over four wars but what kept them at the best of their capabilities was the SEALs ethos. He states as a navy SEAL he was clear on the purpose, what and who the organization is and the people that are in it. I found this interesting because when I think of the military i think of an organization that only ares about results considering the life and death nature of their work. However, here the author suggests that the reason for the unparalleled success of the SEAL corp was because their ethos was so clearly defined.

I found this extreamly compelling as I personally believe the bedrock towards an organization succeeding or failing heavily depends on the environment the organization’s leadership provides because thats what drives trust and loyalty amongst the members of the organization. With trust and loyalty people will give blood sweat and tears towards the organizations success without expecting anything in return meaning they are solely doing this from intrinsic motivators. This is the reason I believe that only 1 navy seal has been killed in the line of duty since the founding of the organization, its because these men and women have such trust and loyalty towards each other and the people they serve. Therefore, values based leadership in my opinion is extreamly powerful towards providing the right environment for an organization and in my opinion if leaders provide the right environment the results will follow as demonstrated by  the track record of the navy SEALs.

Finally the reason why I advocate for this is because when you take care of people majority of them will reciprocate the gesture in return when an organization goes through a rough patch and when organizations can develop that level of loyalty they will see long term success and sustainability of that success. Another, great organization that achieved this was South West Airlines who was the only airline to not make losses after the horrific 9/11 attacks because they took care of their customers through providing the right environment and the customers took care of them during hardship. Therefore, I think values based leadership is a style of leadership that is extreamly underrated but has some powerful implications when it comes to the long term sustainability of an organization.

Article Link: – https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2017/03/10/how-values-based-leadership-transforms-organizational-cultures/#d6aa09a1fbd6

Picture from the article.

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