Your Core Values

You’ve heard of core values! Most organizations have them, but do you have your own?

Let’s talk about defining your list of individual core values. This is a set of words or phrases that speak to your tenets, your personality, and the traits most important to you. If you already have established them, it might be a good time to review them for continued accuracy and relevancy. After all, we are evolving creatures!

Don’t get down on yourself if you haven’t set them yet! Many people have not, and it’s typically simply that we haven’t been presented with the idea of them. This won’t take too much time. You can have them ironed out in 10 – 15 minutes!

First, review the prompts below. Some of them will resonate more with you than others. These are your prompts to focus on. You’ll be prepped and ready to develop your core values by taking a few minutes to think deeply about them.

• Who are you? What is important to you?
• What do you believe in?
• What value makes you angry or frustrated if absent in a person?
• What do you want your impact to be? On the world? On others?
• What do you want to be remembered for?

After considering your responses to these prompts, look at a list of values. A quick web search will yield several samples. One that I like is available here: https://brenebrown.com/resources/dare-to-lead-list-of-values/

Identify your top ten from this list, and don’t forget those prompts you just reviewed! From your top ten, concentrate on the four to six that best represent what makes you, you.

A word of advice here, select those which make you unique and characterize how you stand out from your peers. For example, if you’re an Accountant, you may be tempted to select Ethical. While that is a great core value and certainly aligned with your profession, it is more like a cover charge; you’re not getting in without it.

Once you have those unique core values drafted, there are several ways that you can put them to work:

• ?When someone asks you about yourself,
• In your website bio, resume, or your LinkedIn About section,
• To identify alignment with organizations, work assignments, or consulting gigs,
• Finding commonality with others in both your personal and professional relationships.

If you want to challenge yourself to create a sentence or value proposition, go for it!

Here’s an example. My core values are authenticity, leadership, collaboration, confidence, learning, strategy, and mentoring.

• I am a confident, authentic leader who supports lifetime learning and mentorship.
• I am a confident, authentic leader who values a collaborative, strategic environment.

Identifying your core values and creating your statement is a meaningful exercise and can be fun! Try not to overanalyze the individual words; go with your initial instinct or gut reaction.

As always, please let me know if I can help you.

Cheers!