All leaders have responsibility – response ability

Our core values and beliefs are ingrained into our being from an early age. They become our ‘normal’ and we often seek to identify with others ‘like us’; one of Maslow’s foundational traits for all people. Whether it’s gender identity, social behaviour, economic status or the roles we play in our families and communities, we are ‘programmed’ in our early life and by the time we mature into young adults, we have formed our ‘identity’ and usually continue to live our lives in that ‘character role’. One of the core values instilled in us is the importance of responsibility.

Values, responsibility and ‘response ability’  

As business leaders we play a critical role in shaping the lives of countless stakeholders, including our team members, customers, business partners and the communities we impact. Our values and our organization’s values are much more than a few statements on a piece of paper – they represent our responsibilities, the energy, purpose and actions we bring to the table every day. The responsibility of leadership is our ‘response ability’ to lead with authenticity, integrity and impact. As we unite to achieve our personal and corporate goals, we have the response ability of enhancing and benefitting countless lives.

Throughout my 40 years in business, I’ve refined my values and response abilities, discovering that despite the perceived competing needs of investors, business partners, team members, and communities, we are all united by our shared humanity. Investors seek maximum returns, business partners look for the best value in products and services, our team desires respect and recognition, and our communities expect strong corporate governance and social responsibility. As a leader, my ability to respond to these intertwined needs ensures the greatest impact and benefit to as many stakeholders as possible.

The ripple effect 

In my book ‘Empowered, a new generation of leaders’, I write about the far-reaching ripple effect in society, when we work with our team to extend our responsibility to response ability, the ability to respond. In 2011 our family founded the Cambodia Rural Students Trust NGO (CRST) in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Our vision was to break countless cycles of poverty in rural Cambodia, by educating disadvantaged rural youth to become Cambodia’s future social leaders. In addition to supporting our students’ high school and university education, we mentor them that as Cambodia’s future leaders, it’s their response ability to share their knowledge, passion and energy with other rural students. We teach our students that there is no magic moment in life to start empowering and inspiring others; the moment is now and response ability is a life-value.

CRST has created an ecosystem of response ability as every year our students lead the distribution and repair of thousands of bicycles for other impoverished rural students, plant thousands of trees to support a better environment, distribute thousands of reusable menstruation kits to rural high school girls and distribute thousands of solar study lights to rural students living in energy poverty. Our team of 100 students impacts over 20,000 rural students every year – that is the power of response ability.

Where to start 

1. Start with a clean canvas – challenge yourself to wipe your ‘programmed’ values; if you had a clean canvas, what core values would you list? What’s the essence of your humanity?
2. List the benefits of your values – whose lives will you impact and enhance?
3. List the shortcomings of your values – whose lives will you impact and limit?
4. Refine your values so that there are only benefits for all – that is the essence of our response ability as leaders; finding the balance of value and impact as we enhance the lives of all our stakeholders.
5. Lead your people with shared values for the benefit of all – ‘we, not me’.
6. Create sustainable impact within the organization – lead the team to embrace our collective response ability to enhance the lives of others.

As leaders, our core values lead to countless responsibilities, but our legacy will be our response ability to leave a legacy of empowerment and inspiration, creating life-enriching experiences for our teams and communities.

Written by Aviv Palti.
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