I have had a fascination with philosophy, and particularly with Socrates, ever since winning the book, A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, as a prize at school. As someone passionate about personal development, and as a professional coach, it continues to amaze me how many important themes, such as self-inquiry, question technique and ethical decision-making, can be traced back to the thinking of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
Arguably, Socrates was the father of personal development as well as Western philosophy. He is most associated with the Greek aphorism, “know thyself” and is quoted as saying,
“To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom”
Socrates
This premise is echoed in personal development literature, such as Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which starts with mastery of self before moving onto success in the public field or in the leadership of others.
It is somewhat tautological to say that self-improvement should start with self, but it is a point that is often overlooked. All too often, when setting goals, we choose to focus on people around us. This might be in making unhealthy comparisons (a particular problem in the age of social media), blaming our situation on others, or endlessly seeking to fix everything around us, without doing any home maintenance.
To know that we have progressed – in whatever field we want to develop – we need to be able to manage a process of improvement. As the adage goes, “you can only manage what you can measure.” That being the case, when setting a goal, you need to define the start-state as well as the end-state. Self-examination should therefore be the first step of productive personal development. We start by working out where we are now. And the most important aspect of this self-examination is to identify the motivations, beliefs and ideals that inform our behaviours.
Socrates, in his dialogues, sought to seek out and test the foundations on which people based their ideas and actions. He also believed there were right and wrong actions, good and bad decisions. In other words, he sought virtuous behaviour and ethical decision-making.
Socrates believed in an objective good, a standard of right and wrong. This contrasted with the Sophists who treated truth as relative. The Sophists were more concerned with eloquent debates and winning arguments; it was less important whether what they were arguing for was true or not. Today a Sophist might be compared to an unprincipled lawyer who is willing to defend anyone for the right price, or a rotten politician who is willing to say anything to bolster their position. Few of us would claim to know objective truth but fewer still are comfortable with such extremes of relativism. Most people prefer to have principles to live by.
Are there immutable and irrefutable principles? It is an excellent philosophical question and one that is still being asked. Socrates did not claim to know, or presume to dictate, the standard of absolute truth, but he always strove to find it. I think that is a great place to start. We can imitate the likes of Socrates by having the humility to admit we may not know the truth and that we are imperfect people. Add to this a curiosity to seek out the good and a determination to change, and we find ourselves describing what today we call a growth mindset.
We might not have thought of it in these terms before, but this search for truth is – in philosophical terms – about ethics. It is about making the right choices. If these choices are about acting beyond pure self-interest, then we are also talking about virtues. And there is the rub. A lot of what we desire might be purely selfish; it may even be base or wrong. Self-examination can require us to be brutally honest with ourselves about what we value and why.
Leadership also starts with self. If you cannot lead yourself well, how can you expect others to follow you? That is why leadership itself is a development journey akin to broader self-improvement; it is a path of learning much more than it is a role or title. Which ones again leads us back to the need for self-inquiry and the need to ask some questions.
If you compare lists of leadership traits, probably the most common trait you will come across is integrity. In my military career, it was certainly considered the most important of leadership traits as a failure of integrity was the quickest way to lose credibility as a commander.
Integrity is about walking the talk; about acting in accordance with the standards that you set. But this begs the question, what is the right standard? In theory, a bad boss could have integrity of a sort if they acted in accordance with their ideals, even if bad ones. So, integrity must be coupled with the idea of good leadership, not just effective management. And hence we find ourselves back in the realms of ethics, virtues, and values again; as we need to know our principles to act in alignment with them, and the precepts we follow should be good ones.
Similarly, to Confucius and Buddha, Socrates’ style of pedagogy was through inquiry. In other words, he taught by asking questions. In this way, I like to think that Socrates is the grandfather of coaching as well as philosophy and self-improvement!
Socrates developed the elenchus or Socratic question technique. The aim of this technique was to clarify someone’s position on a subject and then question the foundational assumptions of the idea to test its logic. The technique has been adapted and used in diverse fields such as debating, legal cross-examination and coaching. If you are curious about the world and like to understand ideas and test beliefs, then it is an important tool – even if just to use in everyday conversation.
“The highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others.”
Socrates
In this context, we can use the same process to question ourselves. If we do not have someone to help us, such as a coach or counsellor, we can do some self-reflection. Using a journal or taking notes can be helpful in this process. Here is a simplified way to use the Socratic method when using it for self-examination:
Reflect upon a statement or a decision that you have made. Some of the most insightful statements and decisions to investigate are the more negative ones. For example, we might choose not to do something, saying “I can’t do that!” Hold that thought or write it down.
The next step is to refine. Here the context of the word refine is like that of refining precious metal; the aim here is to expose our thinking to the flame, to burn away untruths and remove the impurities from our thinking.
To do this we must examine the assumptions that have informed our words and actions. If we don’t think we can do something, why is that? What is the belief or feeling that underpins this? Some assumptions are reasonable, some are simply false. The purpose of this stage is to sift what is true from what is not.
Once we have examined the thinking behind our statement or decision, we can re-state it, bringing in our new knowledge. If there was a false assumption identified, it might be we can turn the statement on its head. We might be saying “I can” instead of “I can’t”.
The next step is to further examine the new statement. Are there further assumptions that need to be identified and tested? In this way the process is like the 5 Whys interrogative technique; we keep on asking the questions until we get to the fundamental issue. As we delve ever further into our thinking, we should be able to identify the core beliefs that shape our thinking, the standards that drive our behaviour and the values that inform our decisions.
Socrates commitment to enquiry, truth and ethics got him into trouble. He was nicknamed the gadfly; an annoying biting insect, by self-important and self-proclaimed wise people. They did not like to be exposed by Socrates as his questioning revealed their fallacies and undermined their position. He so challenged the beliefs and norms of his day that he was sentenced to death. His integrity was amply demonstrated in his unwillingness to back down in his search for truth.
Revealing the truth can be uncomfortable and maintaining our integrity often comes at personal cost. Self-inquiry can be a humbling process, but it is a vital one if we truly want to be happy in who we are and successful in what we do.
So, be prepared to be confronted with some brutal facts as you begin your self-examination. And don’t just make it a one-off, instead, develop a habit of challenging your own thinking. For all of us, whether in leadership positions or not, this process of reflection is a vital part of self-improvement.
Be like Socrates and seek to know thyself.
The Right Questions is for people who want to lead better and make better decisions. We are all leaders as we all have influence, no matter how much or how little. So, how are you maximising your influence?
If you are unsure, just drop me a line. I would love to help!
Do you want to lead better? Would you like to make better decisions? Want support in achieving your goals? Get in touch and let me know how I can help!
I am fascinated by the concept of values and their different types; particularly how they affect our character, decision-making and leadership. The more I explore this topic and implement the lessons, the more I am convinced of the importance of understanding principles at every level, from the individual to the global.
In my own learning journey, I have discovered the impact of knowing my core values and applying that to my life choices. As a coach, I have witnessed the transformation that exploring personal values can have; seeing people gain a deeper understanding of themselves and others. As a leader, I have seen the impact of leading authentically, by my principles, and the transformation of groups into high-performing teams, when they properly understand and behave according to their shared values.
I have also witnessed first-hand the friction when people breach universal values on the international stage and the terrible conflict that results. Now, as we live through yet another terrible war in Ukraine, it is important to reflect on what these values are and how we should respond. Not only that, there are other crises, such as environmental change – wicked problems – that require a principled approach if we are ever going to tackle them.
This specific post looks at the different levels of values and brings together the differing perspectives, paradigms, and insights that I have shared in the most recent ten articles in my Leadership Unlocked column. This post provides an overview of the topic as well as embedded hyperlinks to help you explore in more depth any area that particularly piques your interest.
Firstly, we should ask the question, what are values? Among other things, values are principles, standards, judgements, beliefs, and priorities. They are things we give worth, a concept that is explored in How We All Worship Something (and Why That’s Important).
Broadly, values can be categorised into three types:
These different types of values tend to overlap and have some commonalities but the way these values are expressed and prioritised is often subtly different at each level. These can be visualised as overlapping spheres or ellipses, as in the diagram below.
Different typoes of values and how they overlap
Let’s look at each type of value in turn:
Personal values are the specific combination of values that best reflect our character and preferences. For example, these could be compassion, courage, honesty, or any number of other virtues. For me, adventure and inquisitiveness are core personal values.
Finding your personal values is an important part of self-awareness. As the Greek philosophers said, the starting point of wisdom is to know thyself. Self-inquiry is the start of self-improvement, as explained in Why Socrates is the Father of Self Improvement.
Our values reflect our sense of identity. If we are not true to our values we become inauthentic – an imposter – as explored in How to Smash Imposter Syndrome: Don’t Be a Job Title.
Understanding our personal values is also important in terms of mental health and physical wellbeing. Our values help us to gauge our performance and energy levels, as seen in Burnout Prevention: How to Monitor the Essentials.
And once we find our personal values, we become better at achieving things; we align ourselves to our values to achieve our targets. In other words, to achieve your aim you need to know and apply your principles.
But it does not stop there. We need to constantly re-examine our values. We change and our situation changes. These changes can cause misalignments between ourselves and these actions. This can lead to feelings of frustration and unhappiness, as I have experienced and shared in My Mid-life Crisis and How to Re-find Happiness.
Corporate values are the precepts we hold in common within a family, team, organisation, or people group. These are the principles that bind a group of people together for a particular purpose.
Many organisations have statements that include values such as integrity, creativity, and collaboration. These values should be visible in the behaviour of an organisation, as explained by the Iceberg Model of culture.
If organisations don’t take their values and culture into account then things can go very wrong, especially when they are implementing change programmes, as explained in How to Stop Culture Eating Your Strategy for Breakfast.
Universal values are core virtues that transcend individuals, organisations, and national borders. Examples of these would include those enshrined in the United Nations Charter, such as peace, freedom, equal rights, and human dignity.
We often examine values through a very personal lens, and this is important, but this can often limit our ideas of success, both in time and level of impact. Values or virtues should help us define what achievement really means. This success goes beyond just us as individuals as none of us can live a life without interacting with and influencing others. Therefore, we cannot examine values in isolation. Personal values are nothing without the context of corporate and universal values.
There can often be a difference between how we try to sell ourselves – through our CV or on social media – and what really matters when we consider the perspective of universal values. What does success actually mean in this life? The author David Brooks challenges the question “what do I want from life?” and asks another question, “what does life ask of me?” This challenging idea is explored further in What is the Difference Between Eulogy Virtues and Resume Values.
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Here is another way to look at the three types of values (personal, corporate, and universal) intersect. This time we have three overlapping circles.
Where values overlap can give us insight to our purpose
Each of us has a unique expression of how and where these circles meet. When you have explored and understood each different sphere you should have a better idea of where and how the values overlap.
Why is that important? Well, this intersection can give us a great insight into the specific role we can play, and the special impact that we can bring to the world. We may not feel we can change the whole world, but we can certainly change our world; the environment and the community we live in. This opportunity, where our values align and can bring the greatest impact, can reveal our personal or life purpose.
So, what is that place for you?
The Right Questions is for people who want to lead better and make better decisions. We are all leaders as we all have influence, no matter how much or how little. So, how are you maximising your influence?
If you are unsure, just drop me a line. I would love to help!
Do you want to lead better? Would you like to make better decisions? Want support in achieving your goals? Get in touch and let me know how I can help!
Earlier in my career, when I was working as a project manager, I ended up working on one of the largest building projects in London for one of the most successful property developers in the business. The guy was rich, was the boss of a large team, owned a powerful organisation and achieved big results. He was certainly an effective property developer. I also knew that his methods for achieving this success were questionable and I hated working for him. So was he a good leader?
If we want to think about what makes a good or effective leader, we must first define what leadership is. W.C.H. Prentice, in his famous HBR article of 1961 defined leadership as:
“The accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants”
But this definition does not quite capture the ideas of some types of leadership such as self-leadership, 360-degree leadership, or even thought-leadership. Therefore, my favourite definition of leadership is that of John Maxwell who says that leadership is, in its essence, influence. Thus, I would define leaders as people who use their influence (or power) to initiate change.
So, by logical extension, we can now define what effective leadership is. An effective leader does the same but can accomplish bigger goals, with more people. They have a greater level of influence and bring about larger change.
But again, here we see that effective leadership is not necessarily identical to good leadership. For example, Stalin led huge numbers of people and Hitler had a massive influence, but few people would describe them as good leaders.
Thus, now we must define what we mean by good, which is a little more tricky. In fact, it is often easier to describe what bad or toxic leadership looks like (particularly if we are working for the leader in question!) As Barbara Kellerman captured in her work identifying the 7 Types of Bad Leaders, we can (hopefully) spot leaders who are incompetent, rigid, intemperate, callous, corrupt, insular, or plain evil.
Kellerman’s model follows the trait theory of leadership and we could come up with an alternative list of positive qualities to reflect a good leader. Qualities such as integrity, confidence and self-awareness are frequently on such lists but these characteristics – positive or negative – can be boiled down to certain behaviours. These behaviours are, in turn, just the outward manifestation of choices. Therefore, we know whether a leader is good or bad by their decisions.
There is a long history of thinking about how to make good decisions. Much of our understanding in this area reaches back to the fathers of philosophy such as Confucius (551–479 BCE) and Socrates (469-399 BCE). In philosophical terms, this field of study is known as ethics. Ethics is the study of right and wrong and the examination of the moral principles that drive good behaviour. Ethical decisions can therefore be thought of as good decisions.
There are various schools of ethics, such as deontology, consequentialism and utilitarianism but I want to focus on virtue ethics, which is most concerned with the values or moral character that drives good behaviour. It is these virtues or tenets that help someone make good decisions.
Virtues are positive values. By contrast, we would label negative values as vices. The idea is that these principles drive good behaviour and build healthy habits. For example, the virtue of temperance (one of the virtues championed by Aristotle) informs the decision to moderate what we eat, which leads to healthier lifestyles.
The great thing about virtues or values-based decision-making is that, in psychological terms, it informs both our system 1 (intuitive) and system 2 (rational) decision-making. In other words, the values we choose to live by help our conscious and unconscious decision-making because the more we actively decide to behave according to a value, the more second nature that becomes. Proactive decision-making using virtues builds useful heuristics and habits.
But this is reliant upon knowing the right values, or virtues, upon which to act. Here things do become more subjective as there have been many lists or interpretations of virtue from Plato to Hume and Aristotle to Nietzsche. More recently, research shows differences in values from the male and female perspectives (Gilligan, 1982).
Whichever list we construct, the principles we live by are a mixture of social values (ones that we share with others due to our birthplace, culture, or workplace) and individual values (the precepts that we prioritise personally). If you have not done so already, it is worth identifying and reflecting upon both these corporate and personal values and how they inform your decisions.
Identifying your personal values is just one step on the road to becoming of good character and a good leader. There are other ways we develop good character in addition to knowing our values. Fortunately, psychological research at Oxford University has identified seven key strategies that reinforce this development, as outlined below:
By employing these strategies we can accelerate and reinforce the development of good character. For example:
Role models are exemplars, people whom we look up to because of something we value in that person. It is therefore important to pick the right role models as we will become like whomever we choose to follow.
If we are going to improve our character and leadership then we need time for personal reflection. We might achieve this in various ways (for example finding a place with no distractions or going for a walk) but whatever our preferred method it requires an investment of time to do it properly. Self-reflection is a critical stage of experiential learning – we cannot develop effectively without it.
How we talk about things is important. Words are the outward expression of our inner thoughts. Our language indicates what is going on beneath the surface in the iceberg of our character, revealing our beliefs, values and fears. So, we need to be mindful of what we say. Also, when we learn new terms and language, we open ourselves to new opportunities and ideas.
A lot of our behaviour is driven by systems or processes. Many of these we are barely aware of most of the time as they are sub-conscious heuristics. Reflection can help us identify these systems and also help us put new systems in place. When we want to develop a new habit (especially something that doesn’t come naturally) we need to put new systems in place to help embed behaviour.
We all need reminders, and our brains react to reminders (as app developers well know!) Reminders help us stay the course, keeping us consistent on the way to developing new habits and better character.
Friendships provide us with support and accountability on the road to good character. A true friend will challenge us as well as give us the encouragement we need.
Practice allows us to experiment and learn. As we refine our knowledge through this experience, we also build habits that reinforce that learning and good behaviour. In the end, we become what we repeatedly do.
It is worth noting that even good leaders make mistakes. We all have to accept, that on our journey of character development, we will at times fail. We will mess up frequently, but that is just part of learning.
Our mistakes can also empower others in their journey. As Brené Brown points out in her excellent book Dare to Lead, if we dare to be vulnerable and admit our mistakes that makes us more accessible as leaders, gives others a chance to learn from our mishaps, and creates an environment of phycological safety where people feel they can take risks too.
I strongly believe that we are all leaders because we all have a measure of influence. We can develop that leadership to become ever more effective (and powerful) but that is of less importance than making sure we are good leaders.
“Whatever you are, be a good one.”
Abraham Lincoln
To be a good leader we need to make good or ethical decisions. Therefore, we need to know the values that we live by.
If we want to make good decisions, we need to build good character, and that can be done through having good role models, taking time for self-reflection, using language, building systems, creating reminders, fostering friendships and deliberate practice.
We will make mistakes, but these are just part of the learning journey. We will trip, so we just need to ensure that we fall forward, towards our goal.
And why is this important? Because our character and where we end up is the cumulation of the decisions we make. If we want to end up in a good place, we need to make good decisions. As legendary Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu observed:
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”
Lao Tzu
The Right Questions is for people who want to lead better and make better decisions. We are all leaders as we all have influence, no matter how much or how little. So, how are you maximising your influence?
If you are unsure, just drop me a line. I would love to help!
Do you want to lead better? Would you like to make better decisions? Want support in achieving your goals? Get in touch and let me know how I can help!