Fortunately, as I work with professionals in continuing education on ethics, I find that the stories that have been capturing the headlines in the last year are not reflecting a majority of the population's view on values and integrity.
While many people in the workshops do not have a purposefully and consciously chosen values statement for their personal or professional lives, most are constantly striving to be in integrity and live according to the values they hold. These values are usually acquired throughout life - starting with the teachings of our parents and significant caregivers and then developed and reinforced by our interactions with our peers, in our schooling and religious/spiritual education, and our personal experiences.
The challenge that we are facing daily is that societal values are becoming more and more diverse as the demographics of our society become more diverse. People bring with them their cultural, religious and ethnic values when they immigrate to the U.S.
We are a country faced with television, the internet and other media that constantly offer us more choices, getting the desires going for immediate gratification and accumulation of things. You could say that there was a time when we wanted less because we couldn't want what we didn't know we could have. Now, we are being told we can have it all, everything, no holds barred. And some are going for more than the American Dream, they want it ALL! This results in dissatisfaction, greed and distortion in our thinking and actions.
What saves most of the population is that we value the core things in life - family, food to eat, shelter, transportation and a Higher Power. Family and Higher Power values tend to help keep the shelter and accumulation of things in perspective and make us grateful for what we do have and reasonable in our desires for more.
In the business world, the recognition that integrity and trust are absolute necessities for long term, profitable business relationships is what tends to keep most professionals on course. These values tend to be the "true north" of the professional compass for our behaviors. It is these values that move most whistle-blowers to action. The values of trust and integrity guide the professional decisions most of us make, most of the time.
Do you know what key values guide your life, your professional decisions, the company you work for (or want to work with)?? Following are three values lists to spark your thought process. I suggest that you determine your top three core values that will guide all of your personal and professional decisions so that you will have a compass that can provide you "true north" so that you never lose your way in the forest of the media and pressures of life!
15 Values Shared by all Major World Religions and Cultures
(The Message, Eugene H. Peterson. Navpress: Colorado 1995)
- Courage
- Conviction
- Generosity
- Kindness
- Helpfulness
- Honesty
- Honor
- Justice
- Tolerance
- Use of time and talents
- Freedom of choice
- Freedom of speech
- Citizenship
- The right to be an individual
- The right to equal opportunity and economic security
AMERICAN VALUES (Psychology Today -11/84)
- Family security
- A world at peace
- Freedom
- Self respect
- Happiness
- Wisdom
- A sense of accomplishment
- A comfortable life
- True friendship
- Salvation
- Inner harmony
- Equity
- National security
- Mature love
- A world of beauty
- Pleasure
- An exciting life
- Social recognition
Abraham Maslow's Values
Information on Maslow
- Truth- fairness, reality
- Goodness - benevolence
- Beauty - "everything is beautiful in its own way
- Wholeness - unity, interconnectedness (Dichotomy, Transcendence:
resolution; integration, synergy) - Aliveness - expressing one self
- Uniqueness - individuality, novelty
- Perfection - nothing lacking (necessity: inevitability)
- Completion - ending, finality, fulfillment
- Justice - fairness (order - perfectly arranged)
- Simplicity - essentiality
- Richness - totality - just "as is"
- Effortlessness - perfect and beautiful functioning
- Playfulness - humor, exuberance
- Self sufficing - self determining, autonomy
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"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost, that is where they should be. Now put the foundation under them."
--Henry David Thoreau
Build strong foundations under YOUR castles with a personal Coach!
Patricia Clason, RCC, owner of Accountability Coaching Associates and Director of Center for Creative Learning, was the first to receive the "Registered Corporate Coach" designation from the National Association of Business Coaches.
Patricia is also a professional speaker, author and trainer in human resource development with over twenty-five years of experience!
Visit online at www.lightly.com where you will find helpful articles, a calendar of events for the Center for Creative Learning, and much more! Or call (414) 374-5433 - (800) 236-4692
Check out her NEW program on Ethics - the hot topic of the 21st century!
And in the meantime - Take It Lightly!!!!!!!!