“Vision and mission are the head and heart of people. But values are their soul." -- John C. Maxwell
Values are the guiding principles of your life and business -- they direct your attitude, choices, and behaviors. And when they are good values, draw others to you because your life and work demonstrate your commitment to benefit rather than harm.
As John Maxwell often says, "Everything rises and falls on leadership," If you want your leadership (and everything else along with it) to rise, you need two things: competence and values. The good news about both of these attributes is that they can be learned.
If you're unsure if you're a competent leader, I would encourage you to ask someone who knows you, cares about you, and has experienced or observed your leadership. If you're not satisfied with your level of competence, you can visit my website to schedule a chat with me to discover your options to improve your leadership effectiveness.
We often take our values for granted, but we shouldn't just think that putting some nice words in a list means we have good values. We also take the values of others for granted, thinking that they will naturally learn and live good values.
Experiencing the value of values means that you need to not only know your values but also be intentional to live your values.
"Nothing impacts your life every day more than your values."
Good Values Make Positive Change Possible
There are a lot of things about our world, even ourselves, that we cannot change, but "no matter where or when you were born, no matter how much or how little talent or intelligence you possess, no matter the circumstance of your upbringing, you can learn, embrace, and practice good values." Values are a choice; when you choose to have good values, you make positive change possible.
Good Values always value People
When you choose good values, you choose to value others. When you live good values, you have the power to see those who may otherwise be invisible, to lift up those who maybe be broken, to heal those who have been devalued, and to empower those who want to bring about their own positive transformation. Valuing people is one of the most important things you can ever do to bring about change in your world and demonstrate good values.
Good Values Must be Personal
"If you want to change your world, you must internalize good values yourself before you will be able to change anything outside of you." No one can choose good values for you. No one can live good values for you. Your values need to be deeply personal if they are going to have any impact on your life or the lives of others.
"If we want to change our world, we can't just climb the ladder of success. We need to climb the ladder of good values." -- John C Maxwell
Good Values Create Stability
Good values give your world structure and support for long-term resilience and sustainability. "Positive transformation comes from living out what never changes in a time when everything around you seems to be changing" because good values help you stay on track when things get difficult. They are like a compass that will always point you north.
Good values Establish Trust
For people to thrive together -- whether a family, a team, a workforce, a community, etc. -- they must learn to trust one another. Rob Hoskins identifies generosity (giving up resources for the benefit of more than just me), humility (giving up my status, importance, or power to lift others up), and integrity (doing the right thing even when no one is watching) as the three foundational values that you need to consistently demonstrate to build trust. "These are the characteristics that form the bedrock of who we work with, where we work together, and how we get things done."
Good Values are Better Lived Than Spoken
Saying you have good values is not the same as living good values. If you genuinely want to change your world, you must "walk the walk, not just talk the talk." "When our words are backed up with consistency in our actions, we gain credibility."
Good Values Make You More Valuable
When you live good values, you change your thinking, perception, feelings, attitude, words, and actions. All of this will help you create positive change in your world. And when you live good values, you will attract others to come alongside you to do as you do.
This week, consider the following questions:
Which of the following values would you like to see most within your culture and communities?
Attitude Gratitude Listening Responsibility
Commitment Hope Communication Love
Self-Regulation Humility Perseverance Self-Worth
Courage Initiative Personal Growth Servanthood
Fairness Integrity Priorities Teachability
Forgiveness Kindness Relationships Teamwork
Generosity Leadership Respect Work Ethic
How can you internalize and model these values to make positive change possible, add value to others, create stability, establish trust, or draw others to you?