The impact the communities you are in have on you is dramatic.
The impact you have on those communities is dramatic too.
I’ve been in a group for 3 years now where acceptance, okayness, consideration and acting responsibly are key values. I know the group owner’s values. I know how they think and feel and I’ve seen how they act in difficult situations. It is one of the most valuable communities I have. Or it was.
A single email challenged that for me.
An announcement was made. But it was done in a way that clashes with their values.
An email. That’s not their style, we have always spoken.
Reason given. They don’t align.
Platitudes expressed. Don’t hedge, say what you mean, like you always have.
The communication feels totally mis-aligned with all else I know and have experienced about them. It’s as if someone else decided that the way to send the news was an email and wrote it themselves.
I can rationalise why this has happened. I can forgive it to an extent.
But still. Damn.
It is not the action itself, but how out of alignment this is with all else I have experienced.
When someone – or an organisation – doesn’t know their values, nothing they do has a single focus. There is a sense of hollowness and a veneer around them. Insubstantial. People get used to that. So when they act in a seemingly random way it’s not unexpected.
But for an organisation or person who does know their values, we get used to those and we know what to expect. So when they are set aside suddenly, the shock is palpable. And it’s upsetting. You have an emotional reaction.
We’ve seen this around Tesla this past 5 months. Elon Musk is not a perfect man by any standards. He’s aggressive, arrogant, demanding, unreasonable, but somehow was still the boy engineer done good.
One gesture from the podium on TV and that all changed overnight.
Now people not only don’t buy Teslas, they are actually selling them to avoid being associated with the brand. People are vandalising their cars. The share price has slumped. The board are reportedly muttering. There has been talk of replacing the rockstar at the very top.
One public swing of the arm and the impact has altered the course of a global, multi-billion $ company.
If you don’t know your values then no one really knows what you stand for.
But if you do know your values, you’d better make darn sure you consistently behave according to those values.
I am truly curious what you think about this. Where do you see this around you? What experiences have you had that mirror or challenge mine?
How important are consistent values from others to you?
The truth is that knowing and acting in alignment with values is critical. When you do, motivation is easy, because the actions just feel right, even the hard ones. Your daily work takes on more of a purpose, a mission even. You move from laying bricks to building a cathedral.
Finding values and helping you align your work and your life is central to how I coach business owners and professionals. If you’d like to talk about how your values appear in your business – or begin to discover them – send me a message and let’s start right now.
