Every year, Gallup produces a poll revealing that 80% of employees dread returning to work on Monday mornings. Medical research shows that heart attacks and strokes occur most often at 9 a.m. on Mondays.

Something strange is going on in our workplaces.

Our current managerial bankruptcy is the result of our infatuation with quick-fix solutions. We are convinced by charismatic seminar leaders, who shed more heat than light, that there are ready cures in the modern mantras of downsizing, reorganizing, re-engineering, empowerment, TQM, corporate slogans, frequent-user points, merging, and refinancing. The fad-flitter's list is never-ending. The reality is different.

What is needed is not more re-engineering, but regeneration, which is achieved through truthfulness, courage, grace, collaboration, creativity, community, and honor. What is needed is to bring values back to business.

I have developed a strategic process called Values-centered Leadership, which is being implemented at organizations throughout North America and which permits individuals and their organizations to concentrate on the most important things we must do in our work and personal lives every day. At work, there are only two: inspire and motivate employees; and find and keep customers—for life. It looks simple, and it is, but it isn't easy!

Here is how it works: Think of an organization as a bicycle. The back wheel is the values that provide personal and organizational power. These values help us to kick-start personal growth and change corporate culture. They are: Mastery, Chemistry, and Delivery. Simply put, Mastery means performing any activity to the highest standards of which you are capable. Chemistry means relating so well with others that they seek to associate themselves with you. And Delivery means assiduously identifying the needs of others and meeting them.

We must adopt three accelerators that drive these skills. The first, Learning, is a state of mind that leads to Mastery. The second, Empathizing, leads to Chemistry. The third, genuine and nonjudgmental Listening, leads to Delivery.

Most of us practice the back-wheel skills every day; we simply need to practice them more. But the bicycle also has a front wheel, which provides direction. With the front wheel, we need to shift from old values to new ones. The new ones are:

YOU BEFORE ME. Old management theory is self-centered; Values-centered Leadership is other-centered, seeking win/win combinations. It assumes that when we help customers and employees to win, we all win. It recognizes that a customer is more than a walking credit card. The new definition of customer is "anyone who comes to us with a need." If we meet those needs brilliantly, all the time, we will be rewarded with growing legions of customers who become our fans. We will also have teams of dedicated, loyal employees who no longer dread work but celebrate its rewards and fun.

PEOPLE BEFORE THINGS. The genius of Western management has been our unsurpassed ability to acquire, measure, analyze, and count things. In doing so, we have forgotten that organizations are the sum of people, not of things. Now, we must catch up by developing the soft technologies of Values-centered Leadership. The "things" approach obeys politics, procedures, policies, manuals, formal systems, and salary levels. It assumes that you can't trust people and that systems must be established to defend against the inherent dishonesty of people. The "people" approach recognizes the universal desire of people to be trusted, respected, and loved.

KAIZEN AND BREAKTHROUGH. The heroes of management gurus are breakthrough specialists: great inventors, entrepreneurs, promoters, and marketers. They are the hares who turn their innovative breakthroughs into personal fortunes. But we need to be just as passionate in our celebration of tortoises, too. The capacity to do the same thing a little better every day may not look spectacular in the short run, but it is in the long run. The Japanese call this kaizen: continuous improvement in personal life, home life, social life, and work life, involving everyone. There are two ways to grow: through innovation (finding a different way) and kaizen (finding a better way). Working on both propels outstanding organizations into a class of their own.

STRENGTHS BEFORE WEAKNESSES. Researchers say that, during an average business meeting, each idea proposed receives nine criticisms. By criticizing, judging, and jeering, we suck the self-esteem from the souls of individuals and, therefore, organizations. When we get the financial statements, we immediately hunt for the red ink, the brackets, the negative performance data. Too seldom do we celebrate our strengths or study and perfect our successes. Mary Kay Ash built a cosmetics empire on a simple principle: "Praise people to success."

LOVE BEFORE COMPETITION, HOSTILITY, AND FEAR. Our vocabulary is laced with the metaphors of war and competition. We read titles such as The Art of War and Marketing Warfare. Life has become an endless competition, in which we are all gladiators, seeking to destroy our opponents. In truth, they are our neighbors and colleagues. Life is not a battleground—it is a playground.

War, or the fear of losing, does not motivate people. Virtuoso performances are romanced from people, not beaten out of them. People are inspired to do what they do well by the love they feel for what they do (Mastery), by the people they do it with (Chemistry), and by their reasons for doing it (Delivery). Values-centered Leadership assumes that work is not war, but love.

The penny is just beginning to drop for a lot of people. They are realizing that, despite the self-aggrandizing focus on our organizations, we are on the customer's payroll; the company is just a convenient way for the customer to get the money to us. People are also realizing that work doesn't stand apart from the rest of our lives; work is simply a part of life that should be governed by our core values. Most people do not wake up saying, "I will tell the truth until I get to work, and then I will start lying."

If we persist in trying to "kill" the competition, we may find that we are successful, and then be required to carry our brothers and sisters. Worse, another organization may "kill" us.

Greatness is about being on purpose and being guided by strong values, not goals. The beautiful paradox is: This is how we all nourish our souls and become rich. We can have it all.

Lance Secretan coaches organizations to inspire and motivate employees and to find and keep customers—for life. He is the author of the international best-seller Reclaiming Higher Ground: Creating Organizations that Inspire the Soul. He can be reached at lance@secretan.com or through his Web site at www.secretan.com.