Let me start by saying that this was both challenging and fascinating. I know that I have done “values assessments” at different points in my leadership journey. I found the results of 2 previous assessments: one dated in 2013 comprised of 12 values, another dated in 2021 comprised of 10 values. While these 2 lists were not derived from the same assessment vehicle, there were some shared words resulting from both assessments. I would expect that to be the result since our “core values” should be fairly settled by a certain point in life. I was curious to take a new assessment at this point to see the results. And while the values themselves were not different, the challenge came from getting it down to the “top 5”. Identifying 10 was easy, cutting it down to 5 felt a bit like losing parts of myself! Ultimately, I am claiming these 6 which are: integrity, humility, generosity, family, justice, learning.
I appreciated that our blog prompt was phrased with the statement “When you violate them…”, to acknowledge that we will and we do. In reflection, I have not come to a settled conclusion about what regularly trips me up with regard to violating these values. I think just the awareness of this question will be something to be observing now going forward in order to come to some conclusions. But, generally speaking, I think the fast and pressured pace of daily living can cause me to be less conscientious about holding to these when I am in hurry mode or task accomplishment mode.
What I am taking note of through this reflection is that of these 6, I seem to be less consistent with the value of humility than with these others. For me, practicing humility encompasses other values including: kindness, thoughtfulness, empathy, sincerity and openness. Maintaining humility at all times, in all situations, with all people feels more challenging to me than maintaining my other core values. I suspect that humility is the most challenging for me because it incorporates interaction with and response to others, whereas the other core values of integrity, generosity, justice and learning, are more internally oriented. I feel certain there is more insight and understanding to come from this reflection on my core values and developing consistency in the practice of them. A great reminder that I am yet still a work in progress!
1 comment
Thank you, Kassandra for this beautiful sharing. I love your fleshing out of humility. I think you’re right, it’s such a multi-faceted one and is a deep and wide challenge. It is relevant for me living cross culturally, so I appreciate the meditation, thank you!