Wearing Our Values on Our Sleeves (and Everywhere Else)

I remember hearing a story about an old man who’s wife was in tears. He reluctantly asked what was wrong and she replied that he clearly didn’t love her any more because it had been years since he told her so. He scoffed and said, “I told you that I loved you when we got married. I’ll let you know if anything changes…” I can assure you that won’t work in a marriage or any other relationship we care about. And we definitely won’t be able to take that old man’s approach if we ever want to be known for the values we have listed in our handbooks or on our walls; there’s no such thing as talking about them too often.

But here’s a word of caution: empty talk won’t make the grade. If we’re not willing to put our heart and soul into every message we share around our core values, our team members aren’t likely to buy in - and we shouldn’t expect them to! Think about it, how often will you or I rally around some half-baked speech that the person delivering it clearly doesn’t believe? To that end, should we even refer to something as a “core value” if we can confidently talk about the specifics involved in exemplifying it at the drop of a hat?

I realize this will likely put some crusty executives on edge; too many of them have the (mistaken) idea that they need to maintain an image of strength at all cost. This reminds me of a story John Maxwell shared years ago about some work he did with the senior managers in a multi-billion dollar organization. Just prior to a break, John emphasized the importance of being open about their weaknesses. The head dude in charge pulled John aside during the break to tell him that while he had a tremendous amount of respect for him, he disagreed with that statement and that he simply couldn’t afford to do that with his immediate team or allow them to do it with their teams. John chuckled, then explained that his team members were already very aware of his weaknesses. Acknowledging his weaknesses would only set the at ease and allow them to support him in those areas.

The same idea holds true for how we share our message detailing our core values. We absolutely must wear our hearts on our sleeves. To that end, maybe we should consider wearing our values on our sleeves - and anywhere else we can put them… Before expecting our team members to model those values in all they do, we need to be completely committed to providing the most genuine example we’re capable of; in our words, our deed, and any other way we can share that message.

Since starting our business, I’ve been fanatical about representing our brand constantly. I rarely go out in public without something that openly displays our logo, the logo of one of our programs, our signature colors, or a combination of all those things. Hell, I even had a paid of Jordan 1’s made with our logo on the side. As intentional as I’ve been, Craig and Kim took it one step further: they had a design created for their company t-shirts that built their core organizational values into an image that directly corresponds with the field they’re in. Their team members wear those shirts daily, at work and in their personal lives, and it’s one of the few shirts I wear that doesn’t have my own logo…

While listing your values on the back of a t-shirt may not fit your business model, I’ll challenge you to identify what you can do to wear your values on your sleeve - and anywhere else you can possibly think of. When our values are truly a part of who we are, this shouldn’t be too difficult and it starts the process of weaving those values into everything we do, internally and externally, and that’s where we’ll pick up next time.