|
4. What Are My Values?
To be able to manage yourself, you finally have to ask, What
are my values? This is not a question of ethics. With respect
to ethics, the rules are the same for everybody, and the test
is a simple one. 1 call it the "mirror test"
In the early years of this century, the most highly respected
diplomat of all the great powers was the German ambassador
in London. He was clearly destined for great things to become
his country's foreign minister, at least, if not its federal
chancellor. Yet in 1906 he abruptly resigned rather than preside over a dinner
given by the diplomatic corps for Edward VII. The king was a notorious womanizer
and made it clear what kind of dinner he wanted. The ambassador is reported to
have said, I refuse to see a pimp in the mirror in the morning when I shave."
That is the mirror test. Ethics requires that you ask yourself, What kind of
person do f want to see in the mirror in the morning? What is ethical behavior
in one kind of organization or situation is ethical behavior in another. But
ethics is only part of a value system especially of an organization's value
system.
To work in an organization whose value system is unacceptable or incompatible
with one's own condemns a person both to frustration and to nonperformance.
Consider the experience of a highly successful human resources executive whose
company was acquired by a bigger organization. After the acquisition, she was
promoted to do the kind of work she did best, which included selecting people
for important positions. The executive deeply believed that a company should
hire people for such positions from the outside only after exhausting all the
inside possibilities. But her new company believed in first looking outside "to
bring in fresh blood. There is something to be said for both approaches in my
experience, the proper one is to do some of both. They are, however,
fundamentally incompatible not as policies but as values. They bespeak different
views of the relationship between organizations and people; different views of
the responsibility of an organization to its people and their development; and
different views of a person's most important contribution to an enterprise.
After several years of frustration, the executive quit at cotirsiderable
financial loss. Her values and the values of the organization simply were not
compatible.
Similarly, whether a pharmaceutical company tries to obtain results by making
constant, small improvements or by achieving occasional, highly expensive, and
risky "breakthroughs" is not primarily an economic question. The results of
either strategy may be pretty much the same. At bottom, there is a conflict
between a value system that sees the company's contribution in terms of helping
physicians do better what they already do and a value system that is oriented
toward making scientific discoveries.
What one does well even very well and successfully may not fit with one's value
system,
Whether a business should be run for short term results or with a focus on the
long term is likewise a question of values. Financial analysts believe that
businesses can be run for both simultaneously. Successful businesspeople know
better. To be sure, every company has to produce short term results. But in any
conflict between short term results and long term growth, each company will
determine its own priority. This is not primarily a disagreement about
economics. It is fundamentally a value conflict regarding the function of a
business and the responsibility of management
Value conflicts are not limited to business organizations. One of the fastest
growing pastoral churches in the United States measures success by the number of
new parishioners. Its leadership believes that what matters is how many
newcomers join the congregation. The Good Lord will then minister to their
spiritual needs or at least to the needs of a sufficient percentage. Another
pastoral, evangelical church believes that what matters is people's spiritual
growth. The church eases out newcomers who join but do not enter into its
spiritual life.
Again, this is not a matter of numbers. At first glance, it appears that the
second church grows more slowly. But it retains a far larger proportion of
newcomers than the first one does its growth, in other words, is more solid.
This is also not a theological problem, or only secondarily so. It is a problem
about values. In a public debate, one pastor argued, "Unless you first come to
church, you will never find the gate to the Kingdom of Heaven." "No," answered
the other. "Until you first look for the gate to the Kingdom of Heaven, you
don't belong in church.
Organizations, like people, have values. To be effective in an organization, a
person's values must be compatible with the organization's values. They did not
need to be the same, but they must be close enough to coexist Otherwise, the
person will not only be frustrated but also will not produce results,
A person's strengths and the way that person performs rarely conflict; the two
are complementary. But there is sometimes a conflict between a person's values
and his or her strengths. What one does well even very well and successfully may
not fit with one's value system. In that case, the work may not appear to be
worth devoting one's life to (or even a substantial portion thereof)
If I may, allow me to interject a personal note. Many years ago, I too had to
decide between my values and what I was doing successfully I was doing very well
as a young investment banker in London in the mid 1930s, and the work clearly
fit my strengths. Yet I did not see myself making a contribution as an asset
manager. People, I realized, were what I valued, and I saw no point in being the
richest man in the cemetery. I had no money and no other job prospects. Despite
the continuing Depression, I quit and it was the right thing to do. Values, in
other words, are and should be the ultimate test.
© 2019 Sharing basuccess.org
digitalization conservation of what we have learned.
Educational Purpose only ~ All right reserved.
|
