Personal values in business

Brad Sugars

CAN YOU AFFORD to build your business on your own set of personal values? Maybe a better question would be, “Can you afford not to?”

When I first started in business, I adopted a personal credo for how I would approach business.

In my current company, we use our “14 Points of Culture” as our guiding principles for how we interact with our customers, and with each other in our teams.

Does having these guiding points help me run a better business? I believe so because in the constant push, pull and whip-saw of daily business, it’s easy to get pulled around and to get off course. It’s like the example of the rocket that drifts just a degree off its planned trajectory. Soon, the rocket isn’t in the air – it’s in the ocean!

Values-based business

So how do you start to develop a “values­based” business for yourself? First, you have to define the values that are important to you and the type of company legacy you want your work to create.

Even Google’s “Don’t be evil” mantra (its informal corporate motto) sets a standard for the company to pursue. Does this mean Google will always live up to its ideal? No.

It is an ideal, after all. But it does give the company a standard and a guideline of behaviour to measure and judge its activities – and a benchmark to which behaviour can be held accountable.

You see, accountability in business is one of the main factors I see that determines whether or not a company or an owner will succeed in business. Not only do you have to be accountable to the numbers, to your customers and to your employees, you should also be accountable to a set of principles that define the vision, mission and culture of your company.

One of the more interesting CEOs who talks about this in a lot of detail is John Mackey, who heads the US-based Whole Foods Market, a natural and organic market that has experienced tremendous growth over the past decade.

Mackey makes a compelling case that many organisations have either forgotten why they exist or what their higher vision is for their operations. In contrast, those organisations or companies that have identified their values and use them to guide operations are better off in the long-run, and also have a very unique and distinct competitive advantage in the marketplace.

He calls certain higher values our common ‘timeless ideals’ – shared values to which we can all aspire, and appreciate when we see or experience them:

1) The Good: Service to others to improve health, education, communication and the quality of life.

2) The True: Discovery and furthering human knowledge. (Google and Wikipedia would be examples.)

3) The Beautiful: Excellence and the creation of beauty. (Mackey cites Apple here.)

4) The Heroic: Courage to do what is right to change and improve the world.

Do any of those apply to your business right now? Could they? Or, what if you could organise your existing operations around the higher values we all aspire to, as well as your own personal values?

I know a lot of my friends and associates looked at me in a funny way when I first touted my company’s vision of ‘world abundance through business re-education’. But I know that showing owners how to run better businesses improves not only the quality of their lives, and also the quality of life in their communities.

Having a set of values for your company and building a culture around those values isn’t easy. Some people may even snicker at your attempts or mock the idea you could actually build a profitable business this way.

But in time, and over time, you, your company, your employees and your customers will benefit from having a set of values and principles to which you can aspire – and to which you and your operations can be held accountable.

I like to think the success of my company and companies has been assisted by a clear vision of serving others in an extremely profitable way, and my own set of entrepreneurial “beliefs”.

While I suggest you work on your own list of ideals, values and beliefs to guide your efforts, here’s my ‘Entrepreneurial Credo’ I’ve used for more than two decades:

• Be Organised.
• Be Dedicated.
• Be Confident.
• Be Appreciative.
• Be Optimistic.
• Get Educated.
• Be Thrifty.
• Be Sociable.
• Be Alert.
• Be Dependable.
• Be Decisive.
• Be Human.
• Be Tough.
• Give and You Shall Receive.

And I’m not ashamed to say this list has worked pretty well for me.

Brad Sugars is Founder and Chairman of ActionCOACH, the world’s number one business coaching firm. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ActionCOACHCEO and Facebook at facebook.com/bradleysugars