Are core values current conditions or future aspirations?
I get this question a lot. Can’t you just know someone’s core values (or our own) by looking at current behaviors? A number of leadership books would affirmatively confirm this by suggesting that all you have to do is look at someone’s checkbook and calendar to know their values.
Maybe. But, not so fast! We have no idea if the evidence of how someone spends their time and/or their resources is a reflection of their core values…or if it is a reflection of how they have drifted from their truth. When digging for core values…you are not looking for what is currently here or aspirational longings for there. You are looking for the truth of the values at your core.
Share your insights below!
Here and there are both relative and fluid. Checkbook balances and aspirational longings are prey to circumstance and possibly just reflect a season one might be in. The truth of the values at the core are constants. They don’t change with circumstance. My behaviors should reflect who I am at the core and regardless if I won the lottery or were homeless my behavior should be congruent to my core. To answer the title question, they are neither and both. They are not boxed by either and both current conditions and future aspirations are just by-products of good consistent core value behavior.
Sam … great thoughts! Thanks for sharing!
‘What’s in your wallet,’ is an interesting contemporary check on where you are but it may not be where you should be or even really want to be. Drifting away from core values can be like a soft spring breeze. It feels good but may distract us from where we are going. Could that be a good thing? We don’t really know unless our core values are known to us.
Vince … great closing line! “We don’t really know unless our core values are known to us.”