Fair Weather Values

4 months ago, I co-founded a networking group for professional women called Lady Boss Virtual. Our first meeting was in January and the rest have been virtual since March. I have been reflecting on the change in tone now 7 weeks into a national lock down.

In the first couple of weeks of the lock down, the reflections of the women on the Lady Boss calls held a lot of fear, shock, sadness, and overwhelm. Those are still present, but there is a lot more introspection, resilience and thoughtfulness about life. A pretty universal observation with these professionals is that they have been running around a track with little clarity of what a finish line looks like. Do they even want to be in this race?

There is personal inquiry around what really matters. What serves someone and what does not serve someone? An ironic reminder that we can choose what’s next.

The behavior of the companies people work for - or companies they would like to work for - are increasingly more important. One leader in transition said, “My values are shifting. What worked before is not going to work for me anymore. I am looking at potential employers differently.”

Brands, both personal and consumer, are revealing themselves right now. Revealing their commitment to their values. Are their values real or just fair weather values?

Values are principles or standards of behavior. They reflect what a company or a person considers important.

Think of a person who is a strong brand in your life. Bring that image to the front of your mind. Why are they a strong brand?

Strong brands deliver value. They would not be strong or influential if we did not receive any value from them. But they also REFLECT our values.

You know what’s easy? Coming up with a list of values. You know what takes courage? Living into them.

Bring back that person to the front of your mind who is a strong brand for you. Do you know what their values are? How do you experience their living into them?

This is the perfect time - if not a critical time - to take stock of what you stand for, both individually and as organizations. How do you want to be described? Are you someone people can count on? Are you building trust in the eyes of your customers?

What do you consider to be important? 

What is the behavior associated with that value? If you say a value of yours is integrity, how does someone experience your integrity through your actions and behaviors?

Do you live into your values? Consistently? Or only when it feels comfortable?

What is the impact of not living into your values?

How are you leveraging this moment? Are you paying attention to how the world and people are getting clearer on what matters? Are you expecting to go back to business as usual, or are you considering how to be most relevant to your customer? What evolves and what stays the same?

“Money should never be separated from values. Detached from values it may indeed be the root of all evil. Linked effectively to social purpose it can be the root of opportunity.” — Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School

If you are a professional woman interested in networking, check out Lady Boss Virtual! Next meetup, Friday, May 8th.

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