What are core values ACTUALLY?

Whether that’s for a business, or the defining characteristics of an individual, they seem to attempt a succinct articulation of what someone (or something) stands for and how you, on the receiving end, can expect them to behave or respond in a given situation.

I usually articulate my personal core values as integrity, gratitude, and grace; in that order. I don’t know where or when I was originally introduced to the concept of “show, don’t tell”, but that phrase became commonplace during college when I was in a media writing class and our instructor was more or less begging us to be better, more impactful writers. People close to me now often tell me I’m too humble, or don’t give myself enough credit. I guess I took the concept of “show, don’t tell” a bit too seriously.

Many of you know my love for connecting personal and business concepts together and that’s EXACTLY where I’m going with this.

What if as businesses we stopped touting our book of core values to prospects, customers, investors, and competitors. What if we lived them out? What if we measured ourselves and everything we do against a simple set of guiding principles? What if we stopped leading with words and led with action instead?

I pondered stopping my narrative here, with that long line of questioning, and I decided against it. Here’s why.

In order to act something out, whether that’s for yourself, or for the business you’re leading, you have to be damn sure you understand what it is you’re committing to living by at any given moment…and what you’re asking others to commit to when they lock arms with you.

For example, I lead with integrity as my number one personal core value when I’m talking about who I am and how I approach… well life. I’ve worked with other folks who claim that for themselves too, and just based on that, you’d think that would be a great pairing.

It wasn’t. Not at all actually.

Integrity sounds good. The idea of doing what’s right even when it’s not easy is something that most people can get behind. The practice of it is hard. When integrity is a core value, it means that person (OR BUSINESS) places a high level of importance on honesty, ethics, and moral principles. They strive to act in ways consistent with their values and principles, even when it’s inconvenient, or makes them “difficult”.

That’s all well and good, but when someone claims integrity as a core value and doesn’t align with the same definition or fails to consistently demonstrate integrity in their actions, it erodes trust, damages the relationship, and reduces the credibility or influence that person has.

[I’ll acknowledge that maybe my perception of core values in practice is that I place such a high importance on doing what I say and saying what I do.]

Whether or not you place something like integrity on your list of values or guiding principles, those values are what you’re saying others can expect from you – especially if you’re a business using them as part of your sales pitch for recruitment strategy.

Are those at the center of everything you do? Are you evaluating them when you make decisions, when you handle less-than-ideal situations, and when you don’t have gut instincts on what to do next?