Values Should Be at the Core of Your Business Decisions

The following is adapted from Discernment.

When I started growing my business, I asked myself, “What’s important to me?” 

My answer was simple: family. At the time, I spent many days away from home traveling between two cities, and I knew those conditions didn’t fit the vision I had for my life. Instead of further splitting my time, I decided to franchise the business, which allowed me to spend more time at home. 

Your values—whether you value family, generosity, honesty, punctuality, hard work, or anything else—should be at the core of your business decisions. If they aren’t, you risk building a business that puts you at odds with the way you want to live your life. 

But before you can live your values, you must define the things that are most important to you.

Identifying and Shaping Your Values

First, think about what you value in life. Your values are what you must have and what you will not tolerate. They aren’t always the things you say but the things you do. If you tell me you value hard work but I see you slacking off, I know you value ease over effort. Integrity means walking your talk, but you’ll do both in circles if you don’t know what you truly value. 

Because they show up in the things you do, your values are observable. You can see what you value by looking at how you live. Take a look at what you do with your time and money. If you spend hours reading and many dollars on books or other kinds of training, you can be pretty sure you value learning. 

If you don’t like what you see, you have to get deliberate. Here, it can help to come at your values from the other direction: from aspiration instead of observation.

What kind of person do you want to be? Bring your actions into alignment with your ideals. If you aren’t maniacally conscientious about running your decisions through your values filter, you’re going to make the easy choice instead of the right one. 

Define Your Values Before Making Decisions

Do the work of defining your values before making major business decisions. 

When I chose to franchise my business, it was a relatively easy decision because I already knew I valued time with my family. If you identify and commit to your values, you can’t go too wrong when faced with your next major business decision. You may not make the best decision, but you’ll make a better one. 

Do this values-defining work for yourself, but also do it with every group you lead. Step up and make this conversation happen. Not only will it get the rules and expectations out where everyone can see them, but it’s also a great way to build strong relationships. Good agreements upfront head off bad disagreements down the road. 

Even when I coached young kids, I’d get everyone together to create this kind of agreement. Once we had our values spelled out, we were clear about how we did things, and we became the people who did things that way. We became an instant tribe. 

When you establish values upfront, everyone knows how you’re going to make decisions, and it takes big swaths of behavior possibilities off the table from the start. 

Run Every Decision Through Your Value Filter

For me, putting my values at the core of my business decisions meant choosing to franchise because it allowed me to spend more time with my family. For you, it might mean something different depending on what’s important to you. 

 Remember, to keep your business aligned with your life vision, establish your values before making major business decisions. Your values form the first filtering pass of all possible actions and outcomes. You screen all your options through your values to exclude the unacceptable. 

It’s the step that asks, “What are the deal breakers? What matters to me most?”

If you can get everyone involved in the decision on the same page regarding values, and then ask yourself this question, you’ll ensure that your answer aligns with the vision you have for your life. You’ll see your family at dinner every night, have time to spend on your hobbies, or set aside enough money to give to charity—whatever matters most to you.

For more advice on running a business, you can find Discernment on Amazon.

Jeff Dudan is a seasoned business builder, Undercover Boss, and former college football player. He went to Florida to paint in the wake of Hurricane Andrew and two years later launched AdvantaClean, a national restoration franchise that had 240 locations in 37 states when Jeff exited the company in 2019. He’s since joined up with his brother, Mike, to start Dudan Partners, a catalyst for enterprise growth in the franchise industry. Jeff recently retired from coaching his kids’ sports teams—thirty combined seasons in the past twelve years—and is a top Forbes contributor.