Core Leadership Values: The Hidden Driver Behind Every Million-Dollar Decision

Your values determine your decisions. Your decisions determine your growth. Yet 79% of CEOs are operating from values they’ve never consciously identified.

Two months ago, I watched a founder turn down a $3M contract. His company needed the revenue. His team needed the stability. His board was pressuring him to say yes.

But the client wanted exclusivity that would prevent him from serving smaller businesses. His stated company value was “growth at all costs.” His actual value revealed in that moment was “accessible innovation for all.”

That decision cost him $3M in immediate revenue. It made him $12M within eighteen months.

Here’s what most leadership frameworks miss: Your values aren’t inspirational posters on the wall. They’re the unconscious operating system that drives every significant decision. And until you make them conscious, they’re either accidentally helping you or silently sabotaging you.

February 14, 2018. While my family was having dinner, I was in the office facing the hardest decision of my CEO journey. A private equity firm offered to buy Arcules at a valuation that would set my family up for generations.

The terms were excellent. The multiple was generous. My board was enthusiastic. Every logical analysis said “sell.”​

But something felt wrong. Not financially or strategically. Deeper than that.​

It took me three days to realize what was happening: The deal violated a core value I didn’t even know I had. The PE firm’s approach to “human capital optimization” (their euphemism for aggressive layoffs) conflicted with my unnamed but deeply held value around building leaders, not just companies.​

I passed on the deal. Eighteen months later, we sold to Canon at a better valuation to buyers who shared our values. The difference? Those eighteen months of aligned growth versus immediate but misaligned exit.​​

That’s when I learned: Your real values reveal themselves in your hardest decisions. And most leaders discover them accidentally, expensively, often too late.

After analyzing hundreds of executive decisions, from hiring to firing, from pivots to partnerships, I’ve discovered something profound: Every CEO makes decisions through one of four values hierarchies. But here’s what’s shocking—most are using the wrong hierarchy for their business model.​

The Four Values Hierarchies

Hierarchy 1: Growth Above All
Primary filter: Will this increase revenue/scale? Secondary filter: Is the risk manageable? Blind spot: Sustainability and team health. Success pattern: Rockets to $10M, often crashes at $15M Hidden cost: [Specific to your leadership type.]​

Hierarchy 2: People First
Primary filter: How does this impact our team? Secondary filter: Can we maintain culture? Blind spot: Hard decisions and competitive reality. Success pattern: Incredible retention, slow growth. Breaking point: [Depends on market dynamics.]​

Hierarchy 3: Innovation Imperative
Primary filter: Is this new/better/different? Secondary filter: Does this advance our field? Blind spot: Operational excellence and consistency. Success pattern: Breakthrough products, operational chaos. The paradox: [Revealed based on your type.]​

Hierarchy 4: Excellence Standard
Primary filter: Can we do this exceptionally? Secondary filter: Will this enhance reputation? Blind spot: Speed and market timing. Success pattern: Premium positioning, limited scale. The trap: [Varies by revenue stage.]

The Actual vs. Stated Values Gap That’s Killing Your Growth

Every CEO has two sets of stated values and actual values. Stated Values: What you tell employees, investors, and yourself. Actual Values: What your decisions reveal under pressure.​

The gap between these two creates friction that compounds into failure.​

The Values Audit That Doesn’t Lie

Pull up your calendar from last month. Your actual values are hidden in plain sight:​

• Where you spent time = What you actually value​

• Where you spent money = What you actually prioritize​

• Which meetings you never miss = What actually matters​

• Which decisions you make quickly = What aligns with values​

• Which decisions you delay = What conflicts with values​

I did this exercise and discovered something humiliating: My stated value was “innovation,” but I’d spent zero hours on new product development and forty hours optimizing existing operations. My actual value was “efficiency“, not innovation.​

No wonder our growth had stalled. I was optimizing when we needed to be innovating.​

Look at your last five hard decisions. Not easy choices the ones that kept you awake. For each decision, answer:

1. What were you optimizing for?
2. What were you protecting?
3. What were you willing to sacrifice?
4. What was non-negotiable?
5. What pattern emerges?

The pattern IS your actual values hierarchy. And if it doesn’t match your business model’s requirements, you’re fighting yourself every day.

Your values must evolve with revenue, or they become the ceiling on your growth. But here’s what nobody tells you: The evolution pattern is predictable based on your leadership type.​

$0-1M: The Survival Values

Required values: Speed, resourcefulness, persistence. Dangerous values: Perfection, consensus, work-life balance. The truth: These values must be primary to survive the startup phase. The transition: [Specific to your type]​

$1-5M: The Building Values

Required values: People development, systematic thinking, and quality. Dangerous values: Pure speed, solo heroics, perfectionism. The shift: What got you to $1M now prevents reaching $5M The trap: [Varies by leadership type]​

$5-10M: The Scaling Values

Required values: Delegation, strategic focus, calculated risk. Dangerous values: Control, consensus, incremental thinking. The identity crisis: Your founding values now limit growth. The breakthrough: [Depends on your type-values alignment]​

$10M+: The Leadership Values

Required values: Vision, culture, strategic patience. Dangerous values: Operational involvement, tactical thinking. The paradox: The values that built the company now threaten it. The solution: [Revealed through assessment]

Certain value combinations are incompatible with specific business models. Having these conflicts guarantees struggle:

B2B SaaS + “Perfection” = Product never ships Professional Services + “Innovation Only” = Clients want consistency E-commerce + “Relationship First” = Can’t scale personal touch Marketplace + “Control Everything” = Can’t enable network effects

But here’s the deeper insight: Your leadership type predicts which values conflicts you’ll face.

Visionaries struggle with [specific operational values]. Coaches struggle with [specific performance values]. Strategists struggle with [specific human values]. Executors struggle with [specific patience values]

After studying thousands of executive decisions, I’ve identified the formula that predicts choice accuracy: Values Clarity × Alignment Check × Courage to Choose = Decision Quality. But each variable has hidden complexity.​

Values Clarity: Most leaders are 40% clear on their actual values. The assessment reveals the other 60%.​

Alignment Check

Does this decision align with:​

• Your personal values (unchangeable)​

• Your company values (must match for sustainability)​

• Your market’s values (must respect for success)​

• Your season’s values (must adapt for growth)​

Courage to Choose

Knowing your values is worthless without the courage to honor them when it costs you something. This shows up in hardest decisions.

Stated values are worthless until they’re tested by sacrifice. Here’s how to verify if a value is real:

The Cost Test

Has this value ever cost you something significant?

• Lost revenue?
• Lost opportunity?
• Lost relationship?
• Lost comfort?

If you’ve never paid for it, it’s an aspiration, not a value.

The Energy Test

When you honor this value, how do you feel?

• Energized → Real value aligned with type
• Relieved → Real value but possibly misaligned
• Exhausted → Forced value fighting your nature
• Nothing → Not actually a value

The Consistency Test

Track your next ten decisions. How many align with each stated value?

• 8-10: Core value
• 5-7: Conditional value
• 2-4: Aspirational value
• 0-1: Fake value

Your values don’t operate in isolation. They interact with three other dimensions to create your leadership effectiveness.​

Values × Type = Authenticity When values align with your natural type, you get 10x energy and impact. When they conflict, you get burnout.​

Values × Style = Influence

Your values determine which leadership styles feel authentic versus forced. Servant leadership from someone who values results over relationships feels fake.​

Values × Skills = Excellence

You naturally develop skills that align with values. You resist developing skills that conflict with values.​

But there’s a fourth interaction that multiplies everything: [Revealed when you know your complete values profile]

You don’t need all values equal all the time. Different seasons require different primary values. The breakthrough is consciously choosing which value leads.​

Crisis Mode

Primary: Speed, survival, focus.​

Growth Mode

Primary: Innovation, opportunity, expansion.​

Scale Mode

Primary: Systems, delegation, leverage.​

Transformation Mode

Primary: Depends on your specific situation.​

Example: During COVID, I shifted from “Strategic Excellence” as primary to “Team Survival.” Every decision filtered through keeping people employed and safe. Revenue dropped initially but team loyalty and eventual recovery exceeded all competitors who chose differently.

• Next 10 Minutes: Take the Core Values Finder assessment. Discover your actual values versus stated values.
• Next 24 Hours: Audit your last five hard decisions. Map them against your assessment results. Notice the patterns.
• Next 7 Days: Choose ONE primary value for this quarter. Make three decisions through that filter. Feel the clarity.
• Next 30 Days: Share your values hierarchy with your team. Watch how decision-making accelerates when everyone knows the filter.

Most CEOs choose values that sound good rather than values that are true. They pick “innovation” when they actually value “stability.” They claim “transparency” when they actually value “control”. They state “growth” when they actually value “comfort.”​

This misalignment creates invisible friction that compounds into visible failure.​

The Solution

The solution isn’t to change your values. It’s to:​

• Discover what they actually are​

• Align your business model with them​

• Build a team that complements them​

• Make decisions that honor them

“If I could only honor three values, and honoring them meant sacrificing everything else, which three would I choose?”

Your answer determines:

• Which opportunities you should pursue
• Which people you should hire
• Which strategies will work
• Which growth path fits

But most importantly, it determines whether you’ll build a company that energizes or exhausts you.

You have two paths: Continue making decisions through unconscious values, wondering why some choices feel wrong despite looking right. Discover your actual values hierarchy, align your decisions accordingly, and watch how clarity accelerates everything.​

The Core Values Finder takes 10 minutes. It reveals your actual values, not just your aspirations. More importantly, it shows you how to align them with your leadership type for maximum impact.​

Because the difference between a founder who plateaus and a CEO who scales isn’t talent or luck, it’s the clarity to make values-driven decisions quickly and confidently.​

Your values are already driving your decisions. The question is whether you’ll make them conscious and strategic, or let them remain hidden and accidental.​

Take the Core Values Finder Now – 10 Minutes to Decision Clarity

YOUR JOURNEY STARTS TODAY

Isn’t it time you had an advisory team that truly elevates you!