Business Core Values: How to Pinpoint What Really Matters
I’m a firm believer that core values are the navigation system of your life and your business. There are core values for your business, and core values for yourself in your personal life. While there will most likely be some overlap, you should have separate for both.
I believe that both personal and business core values are the fundamental beliefs and guiding principles that ultimately dictate your behavior and help you understand the difference between right and wrong. They also serve to help companies determine if they’re on the right path and fulfilling goals by creating an unwavering guide.
You should be living your core values daily. And they should be obvious within your business culture daily as well. If you aren’t living them daily, and they aren’t present in your business culture daily, then they aren’t business core values. For example, when my business partner, Jimmy, and I were determining the core values for Top Class, we were working with our business coach, Dean Mercado, and one of the core values we wanted to have in our business was timeliness. However, Dean told us right up front that we couldn’t have that as one of them. He said, “It’s really cool that you want to have that as a core value in your business. However, every time you two idiots show up to my place here, you’re late…”
That really struck a chord with me in particular. I understood then that if you’re going to implement a core value in your life or your business you have to already be living that value. It can’t be a want, or a someday, or a “we hope” kind of thing. It has to be what you’re doing RIGHT NOW.
That seems to be something a lot of people get wrong when coming up with and implementing their business core values. Your core values need to be non-negotiable, and they need to be what you are living in your life right now. You have to walk the talk. Every day.
There’s a method to this madness…
I’ve created a step-by-step process that anyone can use, whether in their business or personal life, and I go into great detail on how to figure out and then implement those core values in my book, Unf*ck Your Business. I can’t stress to you enough how important having your core values laid out is. If you go through these steps I outline in my book and get super clear on your core values, your life is going to change. The way you make your decisions will change. The way that you hire your employees, the way you allow your vendors, and your customers into your life changes.
It is also important to keep in mind that core values are one of the three pillars that are required to properly establish a vision within a company.
The three pillars of a company are as follows:
- Purpose: This is the core of why you’re in business. And don’t tell me it’s to make money because that’s a fucking cop-out.
- Your mission: Who are you serving? What are you serving them? And by when?
- Core Values: it is imperative to have core values implemented in your business so that the vision and mission are clear to your employees, and your customers.
Once you have all 3 pillars in place, and you’re living your core values daily, you will start to see drastic and sustainable changes happen in your business and in your life. It’s not easy, but it’s pretty simple, once you know what you’re doing.
Again, if you’d like to see the hybrid version I created for Top Class, and that I use with all my high level coaching clients , you can head over to Amazon and order a copy of my book.
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
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