This I believe
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In the final stretch of planning the manuscript for my first book, Throttle Back: How to Lead When Work and Life Peak at Once (coming January 2027), I had to settle a question I’d put off. Who is this book for?
Male leaders or female leaders?
I decided it was mostly for women leaders. Male leaders will take a lot from it, and I hope plenty of them read it but when I picture the person turning the pages, she’s a CEO.
I could make that call because I’d already written down the belief behind it. It sits in a list I rewrite every year, and the line reads: I believe history will show that women make better leaders.
Eight in ten of the CEOs I coach are women, and the evidence keeps building. Jack Zenger, CEO, and Joseph Folkman, President, of leadership consultancy Zenger Folkman analysed thousands of 360-degree reviews. Women were rated more effective in 84% of the competencies most often measured by the bosses, peers, and direct reports who work alongside them.
In any case, writing a book forces you to take positions.
So does leading a company. Every week someone in your business asks what you think about a hire, a client, a strategy, or a person, and they expect an answer they can act on.
What do you believe?
It’s a big question, and it turns out it should have more than one answer. Underneath those answers sit your values: the principles that guide how you show up, how you contribute, and who you choose to spend your life with.
When you haven’t put words to them, decisions tend to follow whoever is loudest or most urgent. When you find that language, you can answer from somewhere solid.
The exercise I use to find those words is older than most of the people I coach.
In 1951, the American broadcaster Edward R. Murrow launched a CBS radio series called This I Believe. In his introduction he told listeners they were “living in an age of confusion”. Sound familiar? He invited people from every walk of life to write a short statement of the beliefs that guided them. Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, Helen Keller, and Harry Truman took part, alongside cab drivers and secretaries. The series reached an estimated 39 million listeners, and NPR revived it in 2005.
My friend Ryan Hawk, host of The Learning Leader Show, shared the exercise with his audience years ago. I’ve come back to it every year since, and any time I’ve caught myself thinking, ‘I don’t think I have a position on this’, when the moment called for one.
I find it most useful when cracks in the world appear. Murrow built his series for one of those moments, and the exercise still does that job.
My most recent list, which I posted on LinkedIn, reads like this.
An unconventional journey after enlisting in the Army has led me to coach CEOs and this, I believe.
I believe that making the choice to lead is a daily decision.
I believe experience matters, and that having walked in the shoes of those you serve is essential to creating value.
I believe in seeing leaders as whole people, with all their ambition and all their imperfections.
I believe history will show that women make better leaders. Eight in ten of the CEOs I coach are women, and the evidence keeps building.
I believe that being available when the people you serve need you is an entry requirement, not a favour.
I believe in curiosity. In asking questions, and then asking the follow-up question.
I believe in offering encouragement when it’s least expected.
I believe that being clear and kind, even when the message is difficult, is where growth happens.
I believe in pursuing excellence.
I believe in leaving people better than I found them.
I believe in leading with trust, because trust attracts the kind of people I want to be around.
I believe it’s a blessing to be a blessing.
I believe relationships matter before, during and long after the titles are gone.
I believe coaching creates a space for thinking, for relief, and for the rediscovery of purpose and self belief.
And when leaders call, I am there. With hard won experience, advice and a desire to see them become the leader who already lives within them.
The list has organised my thinking as a writer. It has shaped how I show up for clients and friends who are doing it tough. And it has given me language for decisions about relationships, business opportunities, and conversations that will have a bearing on the future.
Take availability.
When I was a CEO, I went looking for a coach and interviewed several. A number of them worked to a rigid schedule. We would meet at agreed times, and if I needed them in between, I could contact their assistant to book an appointment.
I discounted them immediately.
The hard calls in a business owner or CEO’s week rarely arrive at an agreed time. A coach who needs an appointment to hear about one has told you where you sit on their list. That interview process is where the line about availability came from, and it’s the reason I answer when clients call.
What do you believe?
While you might not be writing a book (although I hope you do), if you’re reading this there’s a good chance you’re building something, leading people, or both. Because of the choice you’ve made to be a leader, I wholeheartedly recommend you undertake this exercise.
Write the heading. Take 20 minutes this Sunday morning with a piece of paper and a pen. At the top of the page, write ‘This I Believe’.
Be exhaustive. Write as many lines as you can, each beginning with ‘I believe’. Leadership, people, work, the kind of rooms you want to be in. Keep going past the point where it feels finished.
Leave it messy. The language can be imprecise. You can refine it later. The point is to become reacquainted with yourself and reconnect with what matters to you.
This list won’t make decisions for you. It states what you intend, and your behaviour is the test of whether you mean it. Some lines will hold for decades and some won’t survive the year, which is why I rewrite mine every year.
Before you pick up the pen, consider this: If your leadership team wrote your list for you, based on what they saw you do this week, how many of your lines would make it?
See you next Wednesday.
Phil Hayes-St Clair
CEO Coach
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