Establishing a consistent core set of principles from which your actions flow is the single most important thing you can do to drive clarity of intent and action across all phases of professional and personal life.

Clear articulation of principles is most valuable in ambiguous and new situations, providing a starting point from which to respond.  It also has the value of being consistent with your prior set of actions, making it more readily processed by your stakeholders.

This applies to:

• Organizational: This is the core strength of an explicit principled approach, especially for organizations and initiatives that span multiple functional or management groups.  It drives internal alignment, agility and the ability to speak with one voice.
• Professional: This is the core of your Personal Brand and should never be compromised.  It drives signal consistency and is the foundation of your message when interviewing for jobs.
• Personal:  This is often the hardest to define.  Personal principles are typically so polished by years of experience and nuance that they are hard to distinguish.  However, it can be an enlightening exercise to explore your core principles and what they imply.  I like StrengthsFinder, amongst the host of self-help systems.