While station hopping I recently stumbled upon an unusually serene voice on 5FM. More unusual still was that this voice, which I later discovered to be that of Dr John Demartini, was in the middle of a conversation about values.
The gist of it was this: Everybody has a set of priorities they live their life by, from moment to moment, arranged from the most important to the least. These priorities represent our real values and they exist in a hierarchy whether we are fully conscious of it or not.
If all that seems obvious enough, it might be because the topic has been so thoroughly talked to death, sometimes by the most unscrupulous individuals and organisations, that any discussion about values, no matter how genuine or robust, can sound trite and indistinguishable from lip service.
A closer reading of Demartini’s position on values applies as much to brands and organisations as it does to individuals. When quizzed about their personal values, people tend to respond in highly generalised terms and in line with the real or imagined expectations of what they believe the questioner and society at large would most like to hear.
The problem is that a complete incongruence between values and actions will eventually become all too apparent. For individuals and businesses alike, the consequences of being caught in a contradiction, intentional or otherwise, can be disastrous.
In our current digital and social media age trust is a precious but conditional currency. Today’s audiences are more skilled than ever at telling the difference between a piece of communication that is authentic and sincere from messaging that is contrived and disingenuous.
If values really are the sum total of measurable actions then what and how we communicate reflects those values – whether we are fully conscious of it or not . Instead of parroting the same script as everyone else, values (like great content) should dare to be original, creative, and accountable.
