Can you articulate your values in no more than three words? Think of France’s national motto: Liberté, égalité, fraternité. (Not to mention “holiday”, for their extensive summer vacations 🇫🇷).
Mine are “bravery, honesty, fun,” honed over many years of New Year’s resolutions.
This might sound easy but you’ll find you’re flummoxed quickly like Mark Twain, who said he could have written less, but it would have taken him longer.
Right now, for example, I want to say I’m anti-racist. But as a value, that falls under bravery and honesty for me, as well as fun. One’s overarching values inform everything one does, and they’re timeless. That’s one challenge.
Then there’s value leakage. I like the ten commandments. But would I lead my values list with “not being a killer” or “not coveting your wife”? I don’t think so. They’re more like specific instructions, and a little negative. Then there are the eight limbs of yoga, which also begin with non-violence. And my school motto was “he conquers who suffers,” in Latin. I’m still compartmentalizing that one.
Our local grocery store has its values on the wall, one of which is “relentlessness.” I love it, because the staff really are relentless and the value makes me want to shop there. On the other hand, I value rest and recuperation too much for relentlessness to qualify as one of my values. Come to think of it, “relentlessness” does make me wonder how the store is treating its staff.
Your values are separate and distinct from what you tell your audiences about what you do. The strapline on my communications website, for example, says, “You talk. I write. Everybody loves it. We win!”. That’s because the people who commission me for my highest value work generally want an expert to do that.
Then, there are one’s habits. My inbox is always empty, my MacBook Pro battery is always charged above 90%, my Creative Cloud apps are all the latest versions, and I keep my OSX operating system updated, too. All my key documents are accessible anywhere I go, and backed up twice. A friend joked that I should put such things on a mug or a T-shirt, but I don’t think it would count as showcasing my values as much as a cry for help with obsessive tendencies.
Most importantly, one has to consider whether one’s personal values and professional values align. In most cases I’ve found that it helps avoid…bad stuff…when they do. It’s why I loved Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” value, and why I was so disappointed when they removed it from their code of conduct in 2018.
Lawyers ruin everything. That could be my values in three words if it didn’t sound so bitter.
What are your values in three words? I’m intrigued. Please email them over using the big orange link below! Or if you fancy catching up on a video call, here’s a link to my calendar where you can book a 30-minute zoom.
