Top Value

Provoking truth about values and how they affect your actions 

‘All I got from my marriage was two kids and a fridge.’ Those were the words of a disgruntled drinker I overheard recently as he described his divorce woes to anyone who would listen. ‘It was a good fridge, mind you; top of the range’, he added without offering any opinion on his offspring.

Each of us attaches value to something. When push comes to shove, these are the things we fight for, sometimes to the exclusion of all else. Strong attachments to things or people or ideas can focus the mind on what’s truly important but can also close off our openness to other possibilities or things that are equally or more important (like children in the above example, perhaps, although the honesty was refreshing).

Values are important, valuable, even, as implied by the name. Most companies try to articulate their corporate values as a way of branding themselves to customers. The magic number seems to be five and the list is nearly always pretty much indistinguishable from every other company. They’ve become wise to what customers want: honesty, service, sustainability, reliability, quality. But what do they really care about, and what will they sacrifice to get it? Most probably just want to keep the fridge or what it represents, profit. Anything else is nice to have in the pursuit of mammon.

Recently I wrote about the plethora of waste bins provided by my local council and how some people were up in arms about it. Maybe, whilst they publicly value the environment and recycling initiatives, they privately (or not so privately in many cases) value simplicity even more. Sorting waste into multiple receptacles challenges their desire for a simpler life. Simplicity knocks the Environment off top spot.

Knowing what you care about and being honest about it is important.  Most of us value more than one thing and experience a constant interplay between each of them., but there is a hierarchy of values which ultimately forces one of them to the top. Do you know which one? And how far will you go to protect it?