The emperor's Secret

Those that work with me are regularly encouraged to find time to write. They know that “Thinking without writing is daydreaming,” and that “we write to know what we think.” The strongest leaders I have ever known, worked with or read about had one thing in common: they knew themselves and their values. They had a solid “core” of truths that they held to no matter the challenge and they wrote those core truths out.

Marcus Aurelius was not just any leader—he was the emperor of Rome at the height of its power, commanding vast armies, presiding over one of history’s greatest empires, and holding authority that only a handful of humans have ever known. Yet, instead of devoting his energy solely to conquest, wealth, or fame, he turned inward. Quietly, in a private journal which only later became known as The Meditations, Marcus wrote neither speeches nor decrees, but personal reflections on virtue, humility, and how to live a meaningful life. These notes were never meant for the public; they were reminders to himself to remain steady amid chaos, moral amid temptation, and human amid unimaginable power. That a man who ruled the entirety of the western world spent his quiet hours wrestling with questions of character and purpose boggles the mind—especially in times like ours. While leading the known world, while fighting multiple wars, through plague, famine, a teetering economy, and the loss of many of his children, he still found time to write. In doing so, he reminded himself—and us—of brilliant truths like this:

"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way".

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”

Great leaders know their core truths. Marcus knew a book of them. Every week I see at least one article, podcast, blog post or interview encouraging leaders to write out their core values. This month’s HBR has a great article which suggests that our core values are “a powerful, underutilized guide for making decisions and executing them.” It reminds us that “Leaders who rely on their core values when making tough decisions will deliver better returns than shortcuts, spin, virtue signaling, and corporate platitudes ever could.”  Perhaps best of all, it shares that “focusing on your core values can foster trust that compounds over time, strengthening both your own conviction and the confidence others have in you.”

With exercise, a strong core powers a strong body. In leadership, a strong core powers an entire organization. Have you written out what really matters to you? The team members of leaders with written core values know those values as well as the leader. They do so because the leader models them every day. A strong set of core beliefs makes the whole organization stronger.

With exercise, a strong core powers a strong body. In leadership, a strong core powers an entire organization.

Here are some examples of core truths shared over the years:

• We show what's important by how we spend our time

• We are the stories we tell ourselves

• You can have anything you want but you can’t have everything you want

• Brilliant opportunities often come to us disguised as insurmountable barriers

Core truths sustain leaders and their organizations in hard times. What do you believe? Do you know it clearly? What sustains you in the hard moments of leadership?