Values

One of my best leaders, Beth McDonald, is leading a Business Forum small group this semester for entrepreneurs and leaders who want to grow in their leadership, creativity, and management skills. I'm so excited to get to be a part of the group.

Yesterday, we talked about values-driven leadership and used John Maxwell's Value Cards to determine our top values as a leader. My top 6 were as follows:

• Legacy
• Passion
• Fun
• Creativity/Innovation
• Teamwork
• Growth

Loyalty, Change, and Courage were close runners-up. (**I also need to note that I didn't include Faith/Religion because that seemed a "given" considering my work. And I included "Family" under the legacy category.)

Ryan and I also determined values for our family by combining the cards that we had in common and the top card in each of our stacks. We came up with the following:

• Growth
• Fun
• Legacy
• Integrity

Values are important for our personal lives, work lives, and ministries because they set parameters on what we do and what we don't do.

It's critically important that we establish values for our small group ministry, as well, because it helps us remain laser focused on our goals. It helps us determine how we train, what we reward, and where to invest our time. Values keep us from being a chameleon- trying to adjust what we do to accommodate the whims and wishes of everyone who has an idea for how things should change.