Values-in-Action
In the US, companies like Enron, Worldcom, Adelphia and even Hewlett Packard have recently had extensive challenges with the ethics and integrity of values of their top leadership. More than two dozen CEOs of US companies have subsequently left in disgrace due to the stock option backdating scandal in 2006. India and other emerging economies are no different in having to address on-going ethical problems. Making value statements is easy, but living those values while making difficult decisions is what differentiates leaders.

Value-based behaviours become important in many organisations after something has gone wrong. Jim Tebbe of Shell Oil compares this behaviour to installing traffic signals in intersections after there have been fatalities. When people experience a deep crisis, many get mired deeper into a shut-down or dysfunctional mode. But some are shaken out of their comfort zone and will tend to operate from a fundamental state of leadership as described by Robert Quinn in Moments of Greatness, and produce unexpected and meaningful results. Do deep change and leadership emerge only out of a crisis, or can people choose or aspire to make transformational changes, and become leaders without waiting for a crisis?

Creating Value out of Values
Creating value out of values is not an abstract concept. The phrase was first used by Anne Stadler in the 1990s in an article about Eicher Consulting Company. And in a 2006 book titled “Profi t for Life: How Capitalism Excels”, Jay Bragdon makes a compelling case for value-based management of  companies.   He   has    put together the Global Living Asset Management Performance Index – the LAMP index® which  is  comprised  of   the    most

committed corporate stewards in each major industry/sector. He shows that the returns of a sixteen company group, and the larger global LAMP index® were consistently superior to S&P 500 and MSCI world benchmarks. For example, S&P 500 gave 0.34% and 8.95% 5 year and 10 year annualised total returns at the end of 2005 whereas, the global LAMP index® resulted in 8.26% and 17.38% during the same 5 and 10 year periods.

When thinking about leaders who have succeeded in creating value out of values, the following people stand out in my mind: Bill George of Medtronics, Sakichi Toyoda of Toyota Motors, JRD Tata of Tata Group, and N R Narayana Murthy of Infosys. Each one of these leaders has built successful, sustainable, and socially responsible organisations by allowing their values to guide their actions.

A Framework for Creating Value out of Values
The leadership crisis that we face today is due to the conflicting agendas between value creation and living the values. In other words, it is due to the conflicts between the three domains – business and technology (that help create value), and spirituality where values come alive.

Business provides clear measures to let us know how well we are doing in creating value. Technology provides tools and processes to be effective, gain competitive edge, and succeed in the market place. Spirituality is at the root of our passion, meaning, and energy. It helps uphold our values, and feeds our capacity for innovation. Often we operate exclusively from within one domain (business, technology or spirituality). This is our ‘normal state of leadership’ or comfort zone, where    our  capacity  is  limited.    This    is