I gleaned from Bill the idea that a company should start not so much with a business plan, but almost with a Declaration of Independence that begins with a statement of values: We hold these truths to be self-evident. Values come first, and all else follows —in business, in career, in life.

Yes, you should be fanatical about getting the details right. Yes, you should shape the group’s values with symbolic acts on certain specific details, but not on every detail. The symbolic acts are meant to lead the way—to guide, to show, to set an example. They are meant to leave a lasting impression so that you don’t need to tightly control people—so that people will behave of their own accord consistent with the core philosophy.

You can be hands-on without stifling people; you can have your fingers on the pulse of the organization, yet not suffocate folks. Indeed, a non-controlling personal touch has just the opposite effect of micro-management. Instead of demoralizing people, it elevates and inspires them to perhaps do more than they would otherwise think possible, which leads us right into our next leadership style element.

Vision Component 1: Core Values and Beliefs

Core values and beliefs are where vision begins. Core values and beliefs are like an ether that permeates an organization—its decisions, its policies, its actions— throughout all phases of its evolution. Some companies refer to this as their “guiding philosophy.”

Core values and beliefs form a system of fundamental motivating principles and tenets—precepts about what is important in both business and life, how business should be conducted, its view of humanity, its role in society, the way the world works, what is to be held inviolate, and so on. You can think of it as analogous to the “philosophy of life” that an individual might have. Core values and beliefs are analogous to a biological organism’s “genetic code”—they are in the background, but always present as a shaping force.

The core values and beliefs come from inside you. You, as a leader of the company, imprint your personal values and beliefs about life and business through your daily actions.

And therein lies the crucial aspect of core values and beliefs: they must be an absolutely authentic extension of the values and beliefs you hold in your own gut. You don’t “set” values. The proper question isn’t, “What values and beliefs should we have?” but rather “What values and beliefs do we actually hold in our gut?”

Ultimately, core values and beliefs get instilled by what you do, by specific, concrete actions, not by what you say.

As a leader, you are the embodiment of that company. What that means is this: Your values—your sense of integrity and decency and honesty, the way you comport yourself in the world—are a stand-in for the values of the company. You can be the head of a seven-person organization or a quarter-million- person organization, and the same truth holds: what people think of you is what they’ll think of your company.

I believe it is appropriate – indeed necessary – to view the business organisation in the same way. The proper goal of corporate activity is the flourishing of the multiple stakeholders of the corporation: employees, investors, suppliers and customers, the communities in which it operates and the corporation itself. For the corporation to flourish, it must contribute to the flourishing of the society in which it operates. And ‘the doctrine of the mean’ is as relevant to the business organisation as it is to the individual. The directors and executives of a flourishing company operate within a mediating hierarchy, which meets the needs of all its stakeholders, gives them an opportunity for voice and protects the business from the adverse consequences of stakeholder exit.