April 2, 11:53 am
Know Thyself: How values and ethics affect your decisions
Values and ethics. According to Ron Price of Price Associates, these two words are synonymous. “The values that a person holds will be the ethics by which he operates.”
Since Mr. Price and I are both certified Values Analysts (yes, such a certification exists), how could I disagree with him, right? Well, the truth is I heard Ron speak on this a few months ago, and that was the first time I heard this comparison. But after chewing on the idea, it makes a whole lot of sense.
Further digging around on the subject validated Ron’s perspective. For example, the class on Strategic Leadership and Decision-Making at the National Defense University says it this way:
Values are what we, as a profession, judge to be right. Individually or organizationally, values determine what is right and what is wrong, and doing what is right or wrong is what we mean by ethics.
Frankly, this is a nice breath of fresh air. About ten years ago, an ethics professor wanted to work for my company and teach ethics to corporations. During his first (and only) interview we asked him how he defined ethics. Here’s the best way to describe his response:
stumble . . . stumble . . . stumble.
In other words, this guy could not clearly define ethics for us – even though he taught it at a local university!
Alright, maybe you’re asking “So what? Why do I need to know my values or my ethics anyway? I make good money—that’s what counts.”
Fair question. The answer is because values drive our behavior, and if we’re aware of our values, we’ll make even better decisions regarding what we do and how we choose to do it.
And that can save your bacon.
For those who are interested, you can get a personal values / workplace motivators assessment (sample) from organizations like Price Associates as well as through my Leadership Development website.
But the bottom line is this: However you do it, know thyself. It’s not only at the root of emotional intelligence, it’s also an integral part of many leadership and management programs out there. And it’s a fundamental tenet of workplace excellence.
Filed in Work, Business, Motivation, Management, Sales, Leadership, Selling
Addendum to above:
The March 12, 2007 edition of Workforce Magazine has a feature on the skyrocketing need for management and leadership development in China. In the article “IN CHINA, YOUNG MANAGERS SPEED ALONG THE TOO-FAST CAREER TRACK,” Ed Frauenheim points out that self-reflection has become a focus of the executive coaching occuring in that country. He explains how introspection is a necessary quality for good leadership, but that Chinese managers don’t usually “look within” because of their structured societal norms.
The article quotes Helen Chen, an industrial psychologist and the deputy general manager of the consulting firm Personnel Decisions International in Shanghai. Chen says “[The managers] need to develop insight about their own strengths and weaknesses, and they need to be able to develop themselves.”
The fundamentals of workplace excellence are indeed universal.