Are you honoring your values?
There’s so much going on in the world right now, it can be hard to focus on your business values.
You may be going through some financial challenges due to the pandemic, and even if that’s not the case, it can be hard to consider one more thing as you twist and adjust.
I have had to make conscious and sometimes difficult decisions in my own settings to stay aligned with my values and those of my business. It is a permanent commitment that I can choose or not choose every day.
Or you just see opportunities, good opportunities, that don’t exactly align with your values, but always look good!
I regularly receive requests from organizations that I am not prepared to work with because our values do not align.
Or, like me, you may face decisions about your participation in organizations when your calls for equity are not met.
As I learn more about racism on my partnership journey, I am making decisions outside and within my business about how best to serve the value of equity.
Outside of my business, do I stay and keep trying to change things, or do I go and put my energy elsewhere, where I can do more good? Even if it breaks my heart to go, not belong to this group anymore, not contribute more in that particular way?
Within my business, how can I make my business a safe space for people of color? How can I get honest feedback on what I’m doing? How will I choose to listen to criticism? What wrong steps am I willing to take while finding my way? Am I doing enough?
I struggle with these questions as much as you. I want to do the right thing.
And yet their values are not really about moral authority. are about yours personal authority.
Personal authority is sovereignty in your choices. You have the opportunity to decide what is important to you. You have the opportunity to decide how you act, how you present yourself. You get to decide what you stand for.
What are you willing to defend? What inconveniences, difficulties and obstacles are you willing to face to stay aligned with your values not only in word, but also in deed?
These are important questions. They determine your character. They determine their impact.
Your actions say a lot about what you value. That’s why it’s so important to make your core values conscious. When you are clear about your values, you can make a decision about whether to act on them.
The implications extend beyond personal choices. Your impact is based on your values.
To stay aligned with your values, here are 3 things that make it easier:
- Know clearly what your values are. That is why this is an important part of the Impact Breakthrough program that I guide my clients through. Dig deep and find out what you are willing to stand for.
- find allies. People who know you and your values are valuable allies in keeping you aligned. True allies will call you out when you fail and give you the thumbs up when you succeed.
- Understand how critical your values are to your impact. Then, your Impact Purpose will guide you more than ever in your decisions.
When things are stressful, or opportunities that look good present themselves, or you wonder how you can best contribute, your values are more important now than ever. Will you stay aligned with your sovereign choices about what you and your company stand for?
