I have come to believe that as leaders we need to make promises to ourselves and to those we lead. Earlier this year as I was working on a project, I thought to myself, “What are the promises I make as a leader?” I have always had ideals and ways of doing things, but I had never written them out as promises and made them official. I thought about this for quite some time and after a while I came up with this list of 64 promises that leaders should make.

I believe it is fairly encompassing; although probably not a complete list, nor is it in order of importance, per se. You might ask where “64” came from, that’s just where I ended.  This list may not be perfectly suited to you, if not start your own list, and see where you end up.

I hope you enjoy this and it gives you a lot to think about. Here it goes:

1. I promise to serve others.
2. I promise to manage issues head-on.
3. I promise to be a great teacher.
4. I promise to hold effective meetings.
5. I promise to find and create efficiencies.
6. I promise to have and help others have an innovation mindset.
7. I promise to be crystal clear about expectations.
8. I promise to provide consistent coaching and feedback.
9. I promise to never stop asking questions.
10. I promise to build teamwork and leadership acumen among everyone under my stewardship.
11. I promise to never stop learning.
12. I promise to commit myself to excellence.
13. I promise to be ethical and honest.
14. I promise to inspire others.
15. I promise to listen.
16. I promise to acknowledge and celebrate successes.
17. I promise to create some fun.
18. I promise to be transparent and self-aware.
19. I promise to own-up to my responsibilities and failures.
20. I promise that I will make mistakes; but I will own up to them, and learn from them.
21. I promise to lead by example.
22. I promise to learn what really motivates the individuals under my stewardship.
23. I promise to make culture, a priority.
24. I promise to not offload responsibility
25. I promise to delegate effectively.
26. I promise to build trust.
27. I promise to be authentic and vulnerable.
28. I promise to plan for success.
29. I promise to manage my time effectively and teach that skill to others.
30. I promise to tell good stories to illustrate and inspire.
31. I promise to really care for the people under my stewardship.
32. I promise to defend the company’s values.
33. I promise to always speak well of company leadership.
34. I promise to anticipate problems and find solutions.
35. I promise to find efficiency through better processes development.
36. I promise to be organized.
37. I promise to be detail oriented.
38. I promise to communicate the company vision, goals, and key messages.
39. I promise to be realistic about deliverables.
40. I promise to support and push those under my stewardship to achieve more.
41. I promise to manage the consequences of poor performance.
42. I promise to be humble.
43. I promise to not only lead, but also to follow.
44. I promise to give credit to those that have done good things.
45. I promise to simplify the complicated.
46. I promise to be personable and approachable.
47. I promise to say no when appropriate in order to not create burdens.
48. I promise to say yes most of the time and then empower and lead my teams to create success.
49. I promise to grow others.
50. I promise to build cohesiveness among cross-functional teams.
51. I promise to communicate, communicate, and communicate some more.
52. I promise to be a change agent to displace inefficiencies.
53. I promise to encourage creativity.
54. I promise to be passionate about what we are doing.
55. I promise to have a positive attitude.
56. I promise to take everything in stride.
57. I promise to try new things.
58. I promise to reward results.
59. I promise to create “structures” that create confidence.
60. I promise to create career paths and opportunities for those under my stewardship.
61. I promise to “take one for the team” if that is what it takes.
62. I promise to get my hands dirty.
63. I promise to be goal oriented.
64. I promise to keep my promises.

Well there it is. What do you think? Is there anything that you would add? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.