Your Philosophy Doesn’t Make You Enlightened

Your Philosophy Doesn’t Make You Enlightened

In his May 18th entry for The Daily Dad, Ryan Holiday writes:

“Decency is about what you do. It’s not a standard you hold others to [...] It’s how you raise your kids. It’s not something you wield; it’s not something you gossip about. It’s something you embody and embrace.”

The same is true for your leadership philosophy. Your core values and personal standards. They are about what you believe. They are the behavioral standards you hold yourself to.

The more clarity and conviction I’ve gained around my philosophy on leadership, the more tempting it is to think I’m enlightened. It's a cheap trick of the ego to look around and think, I’ve finally figured it out, and people who don’t think like me are just foolishly lost. But clarity doesn't make you superior.

Your philosophy is a compass, not a weapon. It is meant to keep you grounded, not to tell others how to live. It isn't a tool to measure how everyone else is falling short; it’s a mirror to reflect how you are showing up.

Know who you are. Know what is most important to you and how you want to live your life. And then work like hell to live it out.

Don’t waste time using your values as an assessment tool for everyone else.

—J.P. Nerbun

*Struggling to find joy in the pursuit of excellence? My new book, The Culture Captain, will be available June 9th. This is the playbook to help you get clarity as a leader, define success on your own terms, and start living your values.