Why Values Are Critical in the Middle of the Storm
How and Why Values Can Be Your North Star
I’ve been working with a fair number of Founders lately who feel like they’re navigating particularly rough seas. Not that navigating uncertainty is anything new for startup Founders, but the added insecurity stemming from myriad world events is seemingly making the startup seas quite a bit choppier (read: many Founders have expressed they can’t even see land any longer). It’s during these times — the particularly uncertain ones — that values become even more critical to an organization.
In my work, I’ve found two types of organizations; the first goes through the motions of codifying their corporate values by finding some words that sound good, puts them up on the wall, and never thinks about them again — or they haven’t even gotten that far. On the other hand, there are companies that have created their values through a well-thought-out process — usually with their team in the room with them — and they work to live their values on a consistent basis. They regularly discuss their values as a team, they use their values as a lens through which to make decisions, and the values are baked into corporate culture. The difference between these two types of organizations is stark, and one of the most common differences I see is that the leadership at each respective company operates very differently.
In organizations where values aren’t lived by, leadership often feels like they are flailing when times get tough. When leadership has to make hard decisions, they seem to struggle and often just fall back on the numbers, but they still feel relatively untethered as to how to make the decision. In organizations where values are lived by, leadership seems steadier when they hit a rough patch. And there is a clear reason why — values provide a company with its North Star when it hits rough seas. When you have clear values, you know how and why you’re making decisions, especially the really hard ones. So, while we’re all collectively navigating the rough seas of our current reality, you have to ask yourself: do you know what your values are and are you living by them? If not, you might lose sight of land for quite some time.