I’m so glad the election and all the campaigning are over. Aren’t you?

I thought it was especially brutal this year.  So much negative advertising.  So much vitriol.

One of the very few things I appreciated about the campaign was that each of candidates talked about their values.  During other times of the year, people may not be as open about what they deem important.

Does your organization regularly talk about their core values, the values that drive leadership and employee behaviors?  Or are they framed in your lobby in an ancient wooden frame, layered with an inch of dust?

Could you recite the values off the top of your head?  So how do you know if your actions support them?

Values should drive actions.  There should be consistency, conformity, congruency.  Company standards are born of them.  Policies should be rooted in them.  Every employees’ actions should reflect them.

Do they?

Take a moment today to read your corporate values statement.  (I hope you can easily find them!)  Ask yourself if your organization is living them.  Ask yourself if you, yourself, are upholding them.

Think about your own values for a few moments too.  Are they in alignment?  Are there any deeply held values that you would need to sacrifice in order to follow the corporate values?  Will you be able to live with that…or yourself?

Consider this great quote from Mahatma Gandhi.
<blockquote>“Your beliefs become your thoughts,

Your thoughts become your words,

Your words become your actions,

Your actions become your habits,

Your habits become your values,

Your values become your destiny.”</blockquote>
<strong><em>What’s in your destiny?</em></strong>