How Would You Elect a Leader Worth Following?

At Leadercast, we exist to help people become leaders worth following. Whether at our live events or through our digital platform, our purpose is to help you become the kind of values-based leader that those around you trust and are eager to follow.

Why are we so passionate about this mission? Our world is facing serious challenges today. Many of these challenges boil down to a common denominator: a vacuum in leadership. And not just a void in the leadership of others, but also in self-leadership – where it all begins. We seek to help fill that vacuum by sharing the wisdom, insights and applications we learn from leaders worth following…those who lead with integrity, discipline, excellence, clarity, authenticity…who put people first and build through collaboration, not conflict. We believe that as each of us strives to emulate these best practices from leaders worth following, we can become leaders worth following ourselves.

Currently, the United States is conducting an extensive job interview for its Chief Executive Officer, the President of the United States. Through the democratic process, the American people have narrowed down the pool of candidates to two choices, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton (third-party candidates aside). Over the past several months, I have heard many people lamenting this choice as deciding between the “lesser of two evils.”

The campaigns have embraced a decidedly negative tone. However, for the very last question at the most recent debate, each candidate was asked to describe a quality they admired in his/her opponent. Hillary Clinton described the qualities of Trump’s children; Donald Trump described Hillary Clinton’s fortitude in “not giving up.” It was the one question of the night when neither candidate went over their allotted time.

What qualities do you look for in a presidential candidate? How do you evaluate a candidate’s character? What metrics would you use to measure a candidate’s values and leadership quality?

What if we approached the presidential election as if we were interviewing CEO candidates? If you got to choose the person you would be working for over the next four years, how would you evaluate his/her core competencies, behaviors and values?

We believe we have a place for you to start. When Leadercast founded its mission to develop better leaders, we created a simple formula:

A Leader Worth Following = Values + Behaviors

We believe that leaders should think and behave differently. A Leader Worth Following embodies a foundation of core values. In addition, they consistently demonstrate key leadership behaviors. It is this combination, and the dedication to continually develop these qualities, that produces the kind of leaders we want to follow.

Our list is certainly not all-inclusive; you and/or your organization may have additional values and behaviors, or ones that are slightly different. However, we sincerely believe that focusing on key values and people-first behaviors is the path to becoming a leader worth following.

Leaders Worth Following: Values
Integrity, Authenticity, People-First, Excellence and Discipline

Leaders Worth Following: Behaviors
Bravery, Beyond You, Vision, Culture, Simplicity, Creativity and Insight

We have a challenging exercise for you: Can you positively evaluate the candidate you’re supporting using these values and behaviors? Or can you only express your support for your candidate by describing the shortcomings you see in the opposite candidate?

In less than a month, the United States of America will elect its new leader. As you evaluate the candidates, will our new President be a leader worth following?