“To talk about values is to distinguish what is important, what leads us to say this is worthwhile. These are qualities that achieve the rank of values at the moment they are put into practice. If they are not put into practice through habits, they are not values, they are just words.
In addition to having to be transformed into action to exist, courage must be a constant exercise in our reflections. Courage must, in some conscious way, guide our future actions. A country, a company, a family, a person… is built from a declaration of values, something like a statement of intent, which may or may not be conscious. Nowadays, however, we tend to put the cart before the horse. On an economic or business level, we first build what can be profitable or beneficial in the short term and then, through practice, we generate the rules or values to regulate this new economy.
When we set up a company or defined a policy in the past, were we aware of the impact we were going to generate on the system of values? Did we know how far our actions would impact people's behaviours? And today, do we give a logical and coherent meaning to what we have already built?
We live in an era of dizzying change and the belief that we don't have time for reflection. New companies and new business models are emerging; politics and the economy are constantly in flux. There is no clear economic regulation for businesses or policies, let alone ethical, moral, or value-based regulation.
We are becoming increasingly doers. We leave thinking for when we have time. Due to acceleration and how things rush forward, we realise too late what we have already created. We navigate in murky waters, with no fixed course, taking the helm, without knowing for certain where our ship is leading us, where the only certainty is change and acceleration. What can values contribute at times like these?
Values make us understand that today, whether we like it or not, it is companies that are the protagonists of change and that transmit values, which cascade and spread to the rest of the community. Hence, more and more, we proclaim that companies must be conscious and that capitalism must be conscious. But conscious of what? Conscious, for example, that profit, for a company, is like oxygen for people; it is necessary but should not be its sole purpose, as experts say. The company must become aware of its values and the role it plays in the community. The company is, in itself, a provider of values, much like stories are in childhood.
Leaders who design strategies in companies, as well as the coaches who work with them, must have a clear awareness of our responsibility. Specifically, what should we coaches working with leaders be aware of? We must know how to converse with our client, not only about how to obtain a result, but also about the value it transmits to the people with whom they interact, so that they appreciate the impact the organisation has on education and the sustainability of the values that community generates. And we must be aware that values can be activated and that there are key moments when this activation of values occurs. Moments of crisis or change are special for putting our hierarchy of values in order, because, even if we walk blindly, at a given moment, life places before us the question that makes us question the meaning of what we do. If we know how to stop, pause, and listen, we will know what it is trying to tell us.
In these critical and changing times, we must design a new strategy. And we have to ask ourselves: what is truly important? What is irreducible? What is non-negotiable? What is it that I will not do or demand of others, no matter what happens, because it compromises my dignity or my values?
What I propose is that we do not abandon reflection and analysis, that we take advantage of the changes to design our future standing on our values, being what we preach. I insist that this moment of crisis can be the opportunity we need to think about the situations we face and to carry out deep reflection in relation to our values:
To what extent am I living my values? Are my values represented in the way I am behaving? Which value should be the priority in my system? Which value should I rely on in a given conflict situation to feel that I am still being consistent with my values?
Let's have the courage to be courageous. Let's design our business model by drawing on our values. The key is to constantly review whether our actions are in line with what we have declared and, if not, to correct our behaviour as many times as necessary, until we are satisfied with the outcome.
"To have courage to have courage" are words that summarise my objective with this article and it is a slogan created by students from a Team Coaching programme that we teach in Bogotá.
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I am finishing writing this article spurred on by world news of a highly dramatic nature. Only one quote comes to mind from the politician and philosopher Hannah Arendt: “The good can only be conscious and radical.”.
