It’s a 2-way street (value)
Our top values not only guide us towards a fulfilling business, we also share them with those we are meant to serve (our niche).
It’s why we start with values in the humanity inc. Accelerator.
Those amazing top values are the biggest clues to uncovering all the ‘why’s’, ‘how’s’, and ‘what’s’ in our business and they continue to be a guiding lens throughout our business journey and in life.
One mistake I see when it comes to identifying values is a focus only on asking the self-reflector what’s most IMPORTANT to them. This leaves way too much room for confusion around what values really are.
There are a number of strategies for getting at our real top values, but the thing I see neglected most often is understanding that our most powerful values, especially when it comes to building an impactful and fulfilling business, are actually 2-way streets.
A 2-way street value, unlike a 1-way street value, is an outward expectation of the world.
We hold other people accountable to our values. In fact, we often hold other people MORE accountable to those top 2-way street values than we hold ourselves accountable to them!
I trust, like, and respect people who share my top 2-way street values and I dislike, distrust, and disrespect others who behave in opposition to my top values. (note: this is also where bias and prejudice can show up too)
One reason it’s helpful to look at others instead of ourselves 1st is that we can only observe lived values in other people. They either behave in a way that shows the shared value with us, or they don’t.
When we only look internally (“what’s important to me”), we have a mixture of lived and aspired values to content with and it gets confusing.
2-way street values offer a lot more tangible evidence for us to work with. When we can look at our relationships, to public figures, to politics, we see tangible evidence of our values all over the place.
The stronger the feelings on either side of the pendulum are important clues to our values.
So embrace those feelings as you explore your values. That disgust towards a politician may be something you’re working to overcome (because you’re evolved human, damnit), but it’s also a big clue about what values you don’t see showing up in their behavior.
And your business will be all the better for it. Remember, your niche shares those top values too!