After reading the title, what emotions does it elicit, if any? Are you incredulous at the audacity of the asking of such an obvious question? Does it challenge you? Do you feel joy at having core values, regret at not?
Stu and I have spent hours developing our business core values. We started with multiple value possibilities, refining and distilling them until we landed on four words we felt best expressed our priorities and business aims. Next, we more fully developed the core values of Service, Giving, Integrity, and Laughter, emphasizing at a high level what those words meant to us. Finally, we dove even deeper to provide specifics to complement and clarify the high-level definitions we established. The final product is below:
SERVICE: God, Family, Team, Customers, Self.
- Serve God first and in everything.
- Serve family over self.
- Serve our team, they make our dream a reality.
- Serve our customers’ interests above our own.
GIVING: External focus to intentionally do good.
- The first check written is the tithe.
- Through focused giving demonstrate God’s love and will in the lives of those less fortunate in practical and meaningful ways.
- Intentionally seek and find causes to support and empower.
- Teach others and give of your abundance.
INTEGRITY: In everything, always; no compromise.
- Be honest in everything, always.
- Be comfortable with uncomfortable truths; bad news doesn’t get better with time!
- Integrity has no price tag.
- Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and always respectful.
LAUGHTER: “A happy heart makes the face cheerful…” (Proverbs 15:13)
- Don’t take yourself too seriously, this is FUN!
- Enjoy the company of your business partners/customers. Relationships should be meaningful and authentic.
BE A CHANGE AGENT, NEVER SETTLE, ALWAYS SERVE.
Stu and I were pretty proud of our core values…until recently. We are currently in the Core Value Development part of the Storehouse Mastermind curriculum. As we started discussing family core values, Stu and I quickly realized we had not even broached the subject with our families. With the importance we attached to establishing core values, and the significance we placed on the process, we realized we had not even discussed our core values within our home.
While I love Stu and value our relationship dearly, my wife and kids are the most important humans in my life. So why haven’t I discussed such a fundamental part of who I am with my precious family?
Do we have values in our house? Of course!
Do we preach the importance of our faith? Yes!
Do we constantly address the no-compromise way we treat other people, emphasizing kindness, dignity, and respect in all our interactions? You bet!
But I have never intentionally sat down with my family and talked about my core values, and why I hold them dear. I have not taken the opportunity to ask them what they value, and grown in love, respect, admiration, and understanding in hearing their answers.
The Kinetic Men of the Storehouse Mastermind again humbled me and drove me towards action in going through this critical process, not at work, but at home.
Do you prioritize core value development? Why do we do it in our businesses, and not our families? These are just two more questions in a journey to a fuller, richer, more intentional life.
Written by David Gutierrez
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