We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly.
—Aristotle
Not much has changed since Aristotle, Greek Philosopher and scientist, recognized strong values were required to achieve excellence. (And this was back in 384 B.C. – 322 B.C.!).
Since we all want to excel, we need to be clear about what we feel strongly about, and exhibit the behaviors and actions that support our values. We must be true to ourselves and have the ability to live our values.
Coupled with possessing strong values is the need to be perceived as trustworthy and authentic. To achieve excellence and be successful we need to:
- Be open about our personal beliefs and feelings
- Be receptive to the personal beliefs and feelings of others
- Be approachable and easy to get to know
- Admit mistakes and short-comings
- Share, and ask others to share, non-work information to build relationships
- Be open to feedback
- LISTEN!
We also recommend practicing PeopleTek’s 5 P’s for success: Passion, Persistence, Process (includes Planning), People, and Profit, and we must want to positively influence others.
Questions to reflect on:
- Do our actions support the ability to achieve our goals?
- Do we exhibit appropriate behaviors and address those that we view inappropriate?
- Are our behaviors consistent?
- Do we “practice what we preach” and “walk the talk”?
- Do we believe in and live the golden rule where we treat others as we want to be treated?
Living our values can take courage. Take the time to assess your ability to live your values in both your personal and professional life and let us know your success stories!