Self-Guided

Core Values Assessment

Introduction

The Center for Ethical Leadership believes that an ethical leader is a person who acts
with integrity. We define ethical leadership as: knowing your core values and having the
courage to act on them on behalf of the common good.

This exercise will help you clarify your core values. It is a challenging exercise, and it
will be more meaningful if you do it silently and on your own.

During the process you will highlight the values most important to you. To do that, you’ll
remove some from the list. This does not mean that you are throwing values away.
The ones you identify as important will always be important. The narrowing process
helps you determine your CORE Values. Pay attention to your inner dialogue as you
make choices. Your process will reveal interesting truths about yourself.

Thank you for your interest in values and ethical leadership.

Instructions
1. Review the values on the assessment worksheet. At the bottom notice there are a
few blank lines. Use these lines to add any values that are important to you, but are
not listed.

2. Put a star next to all of the value words that are very important to you, including any
you may have added. This will become your personal set of values.

3. Narrow the list to your top eight values by crossing off less important ones or circling
more important ones. Take two to three minutes to do this.

4. Now narrow the list to five, using the same process.

5. Now narrow the list to three.

6. And finally, choose your top two core values.

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Core Values Exercise
Peace Integrity

Wealth Joy

Happiness Love

Success Recognition

Friendship Family

Fame Truth

Authenticity Wisdom

Power Status

Influence _____________

Justice _____________

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Making Sense of Your Core Values
You have just discovered, or re-discovered, your core values. Ethical leadership is knowing
your core values and having the courage to integrate them with your actions, being mindful
of the common good.

Your value words are packed with meaning. You likely went through a process of
“bundling:” embedding one value in another and counting two or more values as one.
This is not cheating - it’s natural. This is why you have not really thrown values away;
you have clarified what you mean by these words.

Why two? We ask you to choose two because we believe you can remember two!
Imagine putting them in your pockets when you leave each day. Your core values
represent your larger set of values.

How can you use them? Your core values can help you make difficult decisions,
choose particular lifestyle, select employment, raise a child - the possibilities are
endless. They can even help you find common ground with someone you disagree
with. The most important thing is that you integrate them into your life as much as you
can.

Going beyond the individual

If you do this exercise with your family or another group, try the following task: ask each
person to stand and say their core values. Having the courage to stand up for what you
believe in is a trait of an ethical leader. Appreciate the diversity, and acknowledge that the
results shed light on the values of the group as a whole.

Discuss how you chose your values, what they mean to you, and how you express them.
Then reflect on what more you can do to make your core values a part of your daily life.
Striving to integrate your values with your actions is another trait of ethical leadership. It’s
about persistence, not perfection.

It can be as simple as thinking about your values more often. Write your values on a sticky
note and post it in prominent places – the refrigerator, your computer, the dashboard, a
mirror. Seeing these reminders will encourage you to draw on your core values more often.

Application Opportunities
The core values exercise can be used with an intact group to build common ground,
develop a mission statement, resolve conflicts, and improve work relationships. Contact the
Center for information on working with a consultant to explore group applications of core
values.

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Background Thinking on the Core Values Exercise

1. The list of core values is a deliberate mixture of popular values and virtues. Words
like influence, success, status, recognition, and wealth are valued by popular culture.
Their portrayal in the media is prevalent and tempting. Words like peace, love, integrity,
and justice are not often reflected in popular culture, yet are understood to be virtues
that sustain a healthy and kind community.

A virtue is a value that is elemental, a noble habit that directs us toward the good. It is
created through the practice of the virtue itself. In other words, in order to achieve
justice, you must act in a just manner. In order to become a person of integrity, you
have to act with integrity on a daily basis. There are no short cuts!

The mixed list was created to give participants an opportunity to reflect on the choices
available to them. We are bombarded with messages that encourage us to value
possessions and status. Yet, when asked to make conscious choices about which
values they cherish most, people choose values of a deeper, more meaningful nature.
They may wish for comfort and good fortune. These are not bad things, but their “best
stuff” usually reflects spirituality, courage, family, love, etc.

This is important for participants to reflect upon. Identifying their core values gives them
the personal power to resist passive conformity to society’s more superficial goals. They
can use their own core values to build a life of integrity and to create a vision and a
lifestyle more embedded with virtuous behavior.

2. In some situations, words that reflect popular culture have been chosen as core
values by participants in this exercise. It is a matter of personal interpretation, and the
facilitator needs to encourage the class to inquire into the person’s motivation, rather
than to assume this is a shallow, materialistic choice.

As you facilitate this exercise, a participant will occasionally choose “wealth” as a core
value. When asked what “wealth” means to them, they may reply that they want a rich
life, defined as being full of good relationships, happiness, health, family and meaningful
work, not focusing on the monetary aspect of the word. Some choose the word
“success” with a similar definition, as in, “A successful life equates to a life of integrity
and meaning.”

Once, visiting Russians chose wealth and power as core values because both were
something they had lacked for so long. Faced with overcoming decades of oppressive
rule, they recognized wealth and power as the means to a better life – one where people
weren’t living in poverty, drowning in alcoholism or poor health, with no hope for the
future. Wealth and power were the way out for them.

Other participants have chosen power as a core value, because they believe it is the
path to justice. Communities that have suffered from of poverty and discrimination often
feel that equity and power are vital to ending the cycles that keep their people down.

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 When a participant chooses a word that seems to be a popular value, encourage inquiry
and curiosity. By the time a person has sifted and sorted through the exercise, there is
more to their core values than meets the eye.

3. The list is limited yet allows for expansion. There are 18 values provided in the Core
Values exercise. We do not offer a more extensive list in order to focus attention. The
list can be expanded, however, by filling the additional lines at the bottom of the
exercise. We encourage participants to add value words that are important to them, but
do not appear on the page. Participants often add words such as faith/spirituality,
courage, community or health.

We believe that the limited nature of the list does not necessarily limit the choices
available to participants. Instead, they are likely to reflect on this list, and on the empty
lines, long after the activity. They will become aware of values they express through
their behavior and choices, and continue the prioritization process on their own.

4. The Center’s approach to core values is progressive and choice-based. This

means that we believe in an individual’s ability to choose for him or herself what is most
meaningful in the context of the common good. We believe (and studies have shown)
that when a person chooses their own values after careful reflection, he or she is far
more likely to act on these values over time.

This approach differs from many groups that prescribe a set of values. The Boy Scouts
are a good example. The values the Scouts espouse are meaningful and worthy, but
they are still assigned. While a person can come to “own” values that are assigned over
time, most do not connect with the entire list, instead, choosing two or three that
resonate most deeply.

The progressive, choice-based approach to core values also reflects the Center’s faith
that there is such a thing as universal values. Time and time again, we have observed
that, when given the choice, people choose very similar values, or choose different
words that mean the same thing.

When people do this on their own with no external prompting, their own belief in the
commonality of humanity is strengthened, and they leave the seminar pondering the
values that are universal in nature.

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