Eradicate Old Beliefs and Ensure Everyone Shares Your New Mindset

To a certain extent, everybody is in business to make money. Organizations fail when they are unable to generate enough resources to grow — or at least sustain their operations. They succeed when they make money.

This fact — money matters. It is easy to accept the idea that the bottom line is everything. Great leaders know the truth: Success in leadership is found outside a balance sheet.

Your Integrity and Your Success

Think of it in terms of golf. You want to get as low of a score as possible, every time. The question is: What are you going to do in order to come out on top?

Great golfers practice, practice, practice. They never pad their scores. It doesn't make sense to claim a result you didn't get. You would just be compromising your own values. It's the same in leadership — it all comes down to integrity.

Your values are more important than your bottom line. They are what gives you strength as a leader, and they are what generates the momentum your organization will need to continue to expand and succeed.

Chances are you already know this. The hard part is putting it into practice — stepping up when you're faced with a hard decision.

Your Choices and Your Results

Leading with integrity isn't always easy. However, you can start by abandoning the idea that your primary concern is money.

Imagine a situation where you had a high-performing employee who would not conform to your company's culture. Would you keep that person, despite the disruptive behavior? Would you let the employee go in order to preserve the set of values you had all established as a group?

You might retain the person if you were only interested in money. Even though you might be making a choice that looks good in the short term, you would be reducing the power of one of your most important leadership tools — your company culture.

When you let someone go because they disrupt your culture, you send a message to everyone else that you are ready to walk your talk. Do this, and your team will come together around your values.

Your Culture and Your Future

This example of the disruptive high performer comes directly from my coaching practice: A top sales earner was let go for repeatedly refusing to get on board with cultural changes. Letting this person go completely eradicated the old belief that money was more important than culture and the sales team performed better than ever within the new mindset — even without the former star.

It just goes to show: Even in sales, money isn't everything. Solid leadership practices — identifying your values, incorporating them into your group's culture and walking your talk when it comes time to make a tough choice — these are what really drive your success.