A thought by John Townsend from his
book, Leading From Your Gut (p. 24). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click
on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
They really and they really make a
difference. They really do!
John says, “That is, they are true and
absolute for you, whether or not you think about them. Your values are simply
aspects of reality that are guides for you. That is what discovering your
values is all about, thinking through the process of determining what
guidelines and principles will order our steps. Values are about what is right
and what matters.
“Your inside life is the repository of
your values, so we begin with values because most of your life springs from
them. Your values are the bedrock of your identity. And your leadership, as
well as your life, will reflect your values, for good or for bad. Some people
are in prison right now because their values guided them to that end. And
others are succeeding beyond their wildest dreams for the same reason.”
He goes on, “The word value basically
means ‘worth.’ A value is something that you determine has a great deal of
worth. Jesus said, ‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’
(Matthew 6:21), which is about values. What you value as your treasure is connected
to what is inside your very heart.
“So your values are those realities
you believe in at the deepest level, so much so that they dictate your
decisions and your leadership—for good or for not-so-good. Whether they be
about the company or about your life, research has shown that values are
foundational in staying true and focused on the right things, using them as ‘north
stars’ to make the best decisions.”
Later he says, “Here’s a recent
example. I was working with a pastor who had a rocky relationship with one of
his colleagues. He had disagreed with a decision his colleague had made, and in
response, the other pastor had accused him of mistreating him and began an
underground campaign against the first pastor. The conflict was threatening to
tear the church apart. People were taking sides. After carefully listening to
information from both men, I believed the first pastor was in the right and the
second one was clearly wrong. I went to the first one and said, ‘I believe you
in this situation. But I think you should call the other pastor and offer to
reconcile somehow. I know he should call you first, but because he feels like
you’ve treated him wrong, he won’t. If you want to solve this problem, I think
it’s your move.’
“I knew that this pastor had a high
value on ownership—that is, taking responsibility for his life and his
outcomes. The man didn’t hesitate. He immediately picked up the phone and made
the call. He humbled himself to being the one who owned the problem and reached
out to the other pastor even though he had been wronged. The second man
eventually left, but his exit was not nearly as traumatic to the church as it
could have been.
John continues, “I want to focus on the immediate part
of the first pastor’s response. I had expected him to say something like, ‘It’s
his problem; why doesn’t he come to me?’ He could have, except that he was
living out the ownership value from his core. He did not have to pull out an
index card with his list of values and review what he should do. There was no
need to. His internal world was so transformed by his ownership value that it
became his default mode, even in a difficult situation. He didn’t grit his
teeth and try hard to go the extra mile with ownership, he simply responded
from who he authentically is—as a person and as a leader. That’s a big part of
what it means to lead with intuition, with all of yourself.”
Your values do control you, don’t
they?
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