The Harvard Business Review digital article by Paul Ingram (April 22 2026) presents a practical framework for leaders to discover, articulate, and apply their core personal values. It opens with the real‑world story of Captain Matt Feely, who, during the 2011 Japan earthquake relief effort, consulted a wallet card listing his values—humanity, equity, service, love—to decide to continue aid despite legal uncertainty, illustrating how values act as a compass and engine for decisive action. Ingram argues that in today’s volatile environment, clarifying values is essential for clarity, motivation, and ethical leadership. He introduces two systematic approaches: (1) Reflection, which prompts individuals to recall vivid negative and positive work experiences, extract missing or present qualities, and generate a preliminary list of up to eight values; and (2) Laddering, a structured “triad” exercise that moves from concrete preferences to abstract core values through iterative “why” questioning, typically yielding three to eight distilled values. A subsequent “sharpening” step advises comparing synonyms (e.g., accomplishment vs. excellence) to select the most potent expression of each value. The article concludes with actionable advice: keep the final list visible (e.g., on a phone or wallet card) to boost confidence, ethics, and motivation when faced with rapid, high‑stakes decisions. The piece also includes a brief author bio, noting Ingram’s role as Kravis Professor at Columbia Business School and his consulting work with thousands of leaders.
Topics
Matt Feely’s Values‑Driven Decision During Operation Tomodachi
Narrative of a Navy logistics leader who consulted a personal values card (humanity, equity, service, love) to continue humanitarian aid despite legal risk.
Values as a Compass and Engine for Leadership
Conceptual framing that values guide goal selection (compass) and provide motivation to pursue those goals (engine).
Reflection Method: Mining Past Experiences for Value Identification
Step‑by‑step guide to recall negative and positive work events, extract missing or present qualities, and compile up to eight candidate values.
Laddering Exercise: From Concrete Choices to Abstract Core Values
Structured triad‑based process that iteratively asks “why” to move from specific preferences to distilled core values, typically yielding three‑to‑eight values.
Sharpening Values: Synonym Comparison to Distill the Most Potent Expression
Technique for refining each identified value by generating synonyms and selecting the strongest term through pairwise comparison.
Embedding Values into Daily Leadership Practice
Advice on keeping the final values list accessible (phone, wallet card) to boost confidence, ethics, and motivation during high‑stakes decisions.
Author Credibility and Scope of Impact
Brief bio of Paul Ingram, his academic position, consulting reach (10,000+ leaders), and the book underpinning the article.