Be Clear About Your Core Values

This is from my good friend and brother David Spiegel. I like how he's able to find a new perspective in surprising places. He's done much to turn his life into a model of his values, and I truly admire that. Here's Dave:

In his daily blog my friend and mentor wrote the following the other day:

"It's as important to be clear about what you won't do as it is about what you will do."

He was discussing the need to prioritize. We can't accomplish every single task every single day. We must therefore prioritize. Ultimately there are those things we accomplish and then there are those that we just will not do.

..."what I will not do!"

I kept staring at this line. I had a completely different PERSPECTIVE on the words he used. To me they struck a chord not based on priorities but on values. Often times I find myself staring at a moral line in the sand that I just will not cross. It always comes down to what are my core values and beliefs. In most cases there may be more than one way to view a task or situation. In each of those cases I assess my participation and make sure that it is in alignment with who I am and how I live my life.

There are on occasions situations where that little voice in my head says something is not kosher.It starts with being uneasy, grows into uncomfortable and eventually becomes unbearable. When it hits unbearable is when the big red stop sign appears. The line in the sand becomes a divide as big as the Grand Canyon and there is no way for me to cross it. It is at this point when I know that I have come across that which I will not do. Not out of anger, not for pleasure, not for amusement and certainly not for money.

Core values mean just that.hey are essential to who I am and how I live. They are uncompromising,non- negotiable and immutable. They are the code that I live by. The code like my genetic code that makes me who I am.

It is important to be clear about what I won't do!

Thanks for reminding me Doug!

David Spiegel

Comments

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Lead with Compassion

Does your team know that you care about them? How do they know? Is it from your flexibility? Is it from your discipline? Is it from the time that you take to talk with each and every one of them on a regular basis? Times are tough for many team members. They are wrestling with issues that we don't even know about, plus some issues that we DO know about. How leaders respond makes the difference between a functional team and a dysfunctional one. Go for the functional, fully moving forward team that delivers on performance. Build trust, build relationships, spend time getting to know your team and letting them get to know you. The payoff is immense. Lead with clarity, courage, compassion, and creativity. If you don't know where to start, start with compassion. Leading with compassion builds trust. And trust propels high performance teams to success. Go for that success. You can do it. You're the boss! -- doug smith

Character Is In The Actions

Some days it's easier to preach than perform. Resist that temptation. Telling people what to do works for a little while, but eventually they are going to watch to see what YOU do. Character, no matter how it is presented verbally, is revealed in action. Kindness is shown by helping. Courage is demonstrated by standing down an evil force or intention. Creativity is demonstrated in the art created, not the art criticized. I've sometimes fallen into the temptation to preach. It comes easy. Opinions just roll off my tongue. But, I'm working on that. Preaching is easy. Performing takes work. Practice build character. Do the practice. -- doug smith

It's More Than Talk

Every conversation is an opportunity to make someone's life better. Take the chance. -- doug smith

Try Not Lying

High performance leaders communicate without lying. That's harder than it sounds. So hard, that hardly anyone ever does it. -- doug smith

Something Other Than Games?

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Show Integrity

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Start With Kindness

When you start with kindness you don't have to stay there, but you probably will. It works better for others. It works better for you. If you're human, you'll probably relapse. It does take practice to stay the course. The course starts by starting. When you start with kindness, it becomes more naturally the way. High performance leadership develops from the core leadership strengths of clarity, creativity, courage, and compassion. Build one of those strengths today thru some act of kindness and the others will get stronger as well. -- doug smith

Win The Game

It would be nice to win the game. But, do you ever feel like you're in a game that keeps shifting the rules and making it easy to make progress but impossible to win? You've probably noticed lots of game elements creeping into service. Points, incentives, expiring coupons followed by new expiring coupons, leader-boards...on an on a relentless attack on service comes from playing a game designed -- you guessed it -- to maximize profit. If the customer is happy, fine, but the point is to make money. Not to put too fine a point on it but that's a lousy point. What if there could be something better? What if customer service excellence became playing a game where the customer always wins and that makes you happy? You don't have to. "give away the store" to achieve a winning game for all of the players. Just stop stacking the rules against customers and watch how much more they will want to do business with you. -- doug smith

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