The value of values
This week I reluctantly parted ways with a long-term client; a NFP who’s work and purpose I genuinely admire. If you’re interested I posted a short video about it here.
What this sparked was several interesting conversations about personal and company values – and how they play into decision making.
A common thread between the comments section and the DMs emerged. Your self-worth and self-respect are measured by how you live your values.
Some of the anecdotes covered how people felt their life was enriched by taking a stand guided by their values; and others the life-long lessons from the guilt of bending values due to pressure and circumstance. Thank you to everyone who reached out.
In the video I posited that you couldn’t go wrong with a values-based decision. However, the more I think about it perhaps that’s not entirely true. What if the decision you make based on your values has a material impact on someone with differing values? Is it still right? By way of example, there are lawmakers in many countries who, guided by their often-religious values, create laws that make life unbelievably painful for others. That can’t be right.
I also asked the question about how one responds when they feel compelled to act against their values; possibly for fear of consequences. Consider then the current lawsuit filed by three ex-Google employees who were fired for what they claim was retribution for actions that they were contractually obligated to take. Their employment contracts required them to comply to a code of conduct which in turn required them to abide by the motto “don’t be evil”. The employees in question drew attention to and rallied fellow employees against projects that they believed were “evil” and at odds with the code of conduct. Who Is right here? I guess time will tell. More on that here.
Endre Bihari challenged my thinking (as he always does) by asking “How can one determine that a value is "valuable", or in general positive or negative?” which led me to wonder if the lesson in this is actually to be critically minded and deliberate about our personal values. Specifically, he got me thinking about classes of values; i.e. are some immutable but others mailable. Have you ever been swayed to reconsider your values? Do you think they change as we mature, or our circumstances change?
Anyway, enough of my rambling - let’s get practical. When was the last time you sat down and thought about your personal, team or organisational values? Here’s an article on MindTools that might be useful for identifying your personal values. Perhaps share it with your team.