ThemeIdentity & Self
CardCard 63 of 66
Questions5 to explore

Values

Core principles that guide you

Values are what you actually choose when something costs you something.

Everyone has a list of values they would name if asked. Honesty, creativity, family, freedom, fairness: these words come easily. But the real question is what shows up in your behavior when something is at stake, when saying what you think might damage a relationship, when taking a principled position costs you money, when doing the right thing is slower and harder than the convenient thing.

In a working life, values do not announce themselves as values. They show up as decisions: which projects you take on, which you decline, how you respond when a colleague is treated badly, what you are willing to do for a promotion and what you are not. Understanding your actual values requires looking at these patterns, not just the list you would write down.

Values also evolve. What mattered most to you at 24 may not be what matters most to you at 44. Regularly checking whether your stated values match your actual behavior, and whether both are still a good fit for who you are becoming, is part of staying oriented in a working life.

How to work on it

Practical ways to reflect on and develop this dimension of your working life. How it tends to look at different stages of a career, and where to put your attention.

Early in your career

This is when you discover your values under pressure for the first time. The moments when you feel a strong pull in a direction, or strong resistance to something being asked of you, are worth paying attention to.

Mid-career

By now you have made enough choices to see patterns. Look at the decisions you are proudest of and the ones that still bother you: both sets tell you something about what you actually value.

Later in your career

Values alignment becomes more important, not less, as you have more power to shape your work environment. What you visibly stand for or do not stand for sends a message to everyone around you.

Questions to explore

Use these on your own or in a group. There are no right answers, only better conversations.

When have you made a decision that cost you something but still felt like the right thing to do?
Are there values you hold that consistently put you in tension with the environment you work in?
If you looked at how you actually spent your time and made decisions last month, what values would an outside observer conclude you hold?
Are there things you say you value but find you consistently deprioritize when they compete with something else?
What would you be unwilling to do professionally, regardless of the reward?

Things to notice

Values stated but not acted on are not really values: they are aspirations, which is fine, but the distinction matters.
Values can be in genuine conflict with each other (loyalty and honesty, for example), and pretending they are not is how people get into trouble.
Be cautious about aligning your stated values too neatly with what you think others want to hear.