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108 PART 3: THE PERSONAL SIDE OF LEADERSHIP
At the Columbus Circle store in Manhattan, long-time employees and leaders
IN THE LEAD such as Steinberg provided the “starter culture” to instill the Whole Foods values

into new workers. Many of the store’s newcomers were “used to being trod on”
by previous employers, says Barry Keenan, who works on the seafood team. “They
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have a lot more respect for you as a person here.”

To some, Whole Foods unwritten management rules seem eccentric. Certainly,
a leader who highly values personal ambition, authoritarianism, status and power,
and obedience would not feel comfortable working in an environment like that at
Whole Foods. Recognizing value differences can help leaders find compatible job

situations, as well as help them better understand and work with varied followers.
A third way in which values affect leadership is that they guide a leader’s
choices and actions. A leader who places high value on being courageous and
standing up for what one believes in, for example, is much more likely to make
decisions that may not be popular but which he believes are right. Values deter-
mine how leaders acquire and use power, how they handle confl ict,
Action Memo
and how they make decisions. A leader who values competitiveness
and ambition will behave differently from one who places a high
value on cooperativeness and forgiveness. Ethical values help guide
As a leader, you can clarify your values
choices concerning what is morally right or wrong. Values concern-
so you know what you stand for and how
ing end goals also help determine a leader’s actions and choices in the
your values may confl ict with others in the
workplace. Leaders can be more effective when they clarify their own
organization. You can cultivate positive
values and understand how values guide their actions and affect their
attitudes toward yourself and others, and
organizations. In addition, for many organizations today, clarifying
learn to expect the best from followers.
and stating their corporate values, including ethical values, has become
an important part of defi ning how the organization operates.
How Attitudes Affect Leadership
Values help determine the attitudes leaders have about themselves and about their
AttitudeAttitude followers. An attitude is an evaluation—either positive or negative—about people,
an evaluation (either positive or
an evaluation (either positive or events, or things. As we discussed in Chapter 2, an optimistic attitude or positive
negative) about people, events, negative) about people, events,
or things outlook on life is often considered a key to successful and effective leadership.
or things
Behavioral scientists consider attitudes to have three components: cogni-
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tions (thoughts), affect (feelings), and behavior. The cognitive component
includes the ideas and knowledge a person has about the object of an attitude, such
as a leader’s knowledge and ideas about a specifi c employee’s performance and
abilities. The affective component concerns how an individual feels about the
object of an attitude. Perhaps the leader resents having to routinely answer ques-
tions or help the employee perform certain tasks. The behavioral component of
an attitude predisposes a person to act in a certain way. For example, the leader
might avoid the employee or fail to include him or her in certain activities of the
group. Although attitudes change more easily than values, they typically refl ect
a person’s fundamental values as well as a person’s background and life experi-
ences. A leader who highly values forgiveness, compassion toward others, and
helping others would have different attitudes and behave very differently toward
the above-mentioned subordinate than one who highly values personal ambition
and capability.
Self-concept
Self-concept
the collection of attitudes we
the collection of attitudes we One consideration is a leader’s attitudes about himself or herself. Self-concept
have about ourselves; includes
have about ourselves; includes refers to the collection of attitudes we have about ourselves and includes the ele-
self-esteem and whether a
self-esteem and whether a ment of self-esteem, whether a person generally has positive or negative feelings
person generally has a positive
person generally has a positive
or negative feeling about
or negative feeling about about himself. A person with an overall positive self-concept has high self-esteem,
him/herself
him/herself whereas one with a negative self-concept has low self-esteem. In general, leaders