Work in progress (as, indeed, is all Halcyon's work)
Why we need core values and identifying core values.
Value pluralism (Isaiah Berlin) is linked to fallibility since there is no way to avoid conflict between different values and aspirations - George Soros, The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered - p157
There is a crucial need for society and the world's political leaders to strengthen the role of values - such as love, respect, tolerance and creativity - and finance organisations that teach them. That could prevent or perhaps reverse the spread of hatred and violence originating from neglect and alienation - Ildi Trencsenyi, Budapest, letter to Time, 28/11/05
According to a study conducted by Valuegraphics, a research firm that identifies values that influence human behavior, the following are the top 10 values that are shared across cultures 1:
- Family
- Relationships
- Belonging
- Health
- Security
- Loyalty
- Religion/Spirituality
- Creativity
- Financial Security
- Employment Security
Another study conducted by World Values Day identified the following as the top 10 values of humanity 2:
- Love
- Freedom
- Respect
- Honesty
- Fairness
- Helping others
- Responsibility
- Compassion
- Friendship
- Tolerance
Values form the core of any individual. Application of these values results in development of ideas, formation of opinions and establishment of beliefs, influencing relationships with surroundings and one’s kind. These values inspire an individual to be virtuous as well as to be imaginative and inventive in his or her approach, leading to advancement.
Values Management (VM) is a term coined by Halcyon. More and more people are beginning to understand the value of personal, organisational and societal values. Halcyon closely follows the latest developments in VM and is able to translate them into practical consulting and educational solutions for you and your organisation.
What values can we choose to live by, and what issues will adopting certain values help us address? Our world is very diverse. People come with different needs, different agendas, and different cultural backgrounds that colour their understanding of others. We need to find shared values. There is too much at stake if we don't: concerns that affect everyone, from damage to the environment to economic issues between the haves and the have nots, and to wilful misunderstandings around religion and race.
Halcyon believes that these are among the urgent issues of our time. Unless we each, individually and together, adopt a consistent set of values, our actions will be determined by expediency, and we can't continue to sustain either personal or professional integrity.
The West has traditionally focused on breaking external boundaries - in space, biology, computing. Eastern thought has looked inside, through meditation, metaphysics and lucid dreams. Future values frameworks must combine both approaches. This consensus of the Axial Age is an eloquent testimony to the unanimity of the spiritual quest of the human race; it tells us something about the structure of our humanity. Today, in our torn, conflicted world, in our global village, we can no longer afford a parochial or exclusive vision. We must learn to live and behave as though people in countries remote from our own or who seem to be our enemies are as important as ourselves.
For the 75th anniversary issue of the Harvard Business School alumni(ae) magazine, 817 MBAs and executive education participants were asked: What should we teach our future business leaders? The top five responses were (in reverse order): leadership, technology, entrepreneurship, globalisation, and - the most cited lesson for tomorrow's business leaders by a wide margin -- morals, ethics, and values. Business author Jim Collins said in his best-selling book Built to Last that "here is a growing legion of business people who are hungry to build something of enduring character on a set of values they can be proud of." If you're one of these people, then this site is for you.
Values serve the advancement of societies by connecting us as individuals with the larger communities around us. This connection was traditionally made via mediating institutions such as the family, church, and schools. However, when these institutions break down, as is happening for many people today, the values they support can be compromised and one has to be willing to reappraise and rebuild one's values from scratch.
Much work has been done on values at the personal, organisational, and societal level - see
- At the personal level, research, inspired by psychologist Abraham Maslow in terms of a hierarchy of needs, points to ascending levels of values from survival, safety and belonging through to self-actualisation.
- At the organisational level we find an interesting mix of "global" values that could apply across all organisations as well as unique business values -- values around meeting goals, increasing operational and financial success or excellence, customer satisfaction and market penetration, and product innovation or leadership. - see ,
- At the societal level, shared values might include: fair trade and decent livelihoods; respect for life, health and environmental sustainability; true democracy – not "corporatocracy; freedom, security and equal opportunity for all; zero tolerance for terror of all kinds – state terror and domestic tyranny included; unity in diversity among peoples, nations and cultures; an end to weapons of mass destruction and to war itself as an obsolete means of conflict resolution
Halcyon's values include:
- being authentic http://www.authenticbusiness.co.uk/archive/AC/
- being an idealist http://theobvious.typepad.com/blog/2005/03/im_an_idealist.html
- identifying global issues, and helping people find local solutions to them, or at least local ways of coping with them
- remaining open-minded all my life, always learning and increasingly, applying that learning for the good of others
- innovating, where necessary by myself, but where possible with others and for others
- forming rich connections with interesting people and helping others build their networks
- helping cure organisational disconnectedness and dysfunctionality
- being inspired by others' quotes and good practices
- trying and pass these values on to our and, where appropriate, others' children
- i.e. teaching people a range of different ways of being and living
- work with artists etc. to exhibit values good practices http://www.theforgivenessproject.com/exhibition/
- link the small and the many, to counterbalance the large and the few
- work towards a convergence of worthwhile social movements - e.g. - http://www.social-movements.org/en/node/view/285?PHPSESSID=c5fe288a800ef05d6241eb702a3fe600
We will spot emerging trends in values - see e.g. or http://www.valuesbasedbusiness.org/ - and connect the dots, to help others minimise the time and pain for themselves. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/90/open_ashoka.html. We will synthesise the good practices, share them and allow anyone to come at them from the way they feel most comfortable with - e.g. at the personal, organisational and/or societal levels.
Most important to me is that these are seen as faith-independent values, though I respect and will always try and learn from strong faith-based value systems and good practices too, whether they be based on my own Catholic/Christian upbringing, or on less traditional faiths, e.g. http://www.bahai.org/dir/vision.
I do not believe that morality needs religion, but accept that many people have a need - possible genetic - to believe in something.
We need to redefine success and failure in an ethical, non-material way. We need to break the cycle of too many of our own values depending overly upon the value system operating in our immediate environment, on the kind of people we mix with socially and on what we read or listen to.
My work in all these areas is dedicated to all peoples of the world who - with boldness and courage - think for themselves and question their actions and move humanity toward mutual respect, dignity, and peace.
There seems to be a split between introverts and extroverts, between those who believe solutions are to be found primarily by meditation, refocusing perception, and changing the inner world and those who believe we must be more active in changing our cultural institutions-schools, armies, corporations, professions, governments. Increasingly, like Sartre, I feel I have to be an extrovert.
I don't feel comfortable with absolutes, so will deliberately avoid issues (such as "evil") and values (such as
Further reading
- National differences in values e.g. US - http://www.ouramericanvalues.org/ ; UK http://www.oxfordmuse.com/museideas/futurework.htm
- Other attempts at values http://www.valuetrue.com/home/default.cfmhttp://www.valuetrue.com/home/default.cfm
- Taking a values-drivne approach http://www.ebfonline.com/main_feat/view_top/view_top.asp?id=609
We will give you:
- Foresight: Halcyon's perspective on global issues that will be important in the future. How this would position Halcyon: as a global network aligned around a set of key themes; as a provider of ‘Thought Fellowship’, enabling a reflection on important business issues and shaping the debate; aid relationship building at senior levels. What it means in practice: Halcyon experts and an advisory group of opinion leaders to contribute to selection of themes; Halcyon seeks to develop research programmes in collaboration with business schools, clients and other stakeholders.
- Insight: Halcyon's take on current issues and trends. How this would position Halcyon: a company with relevant insights based on an in-depth knowledge of a value, idea or issue. What does this mean in practice: surveys, white papers and trend analysis linked to specific value, idea or issue.
The Values Debate
Starting on halcyonfuture.com and by reputation eventually moving into other media, lead and spark major public debate on values and society. Organise values lessons/debates in schools - http://www.knowledgeboard.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=137268 http://www.oxfordmuse.com/
Values in 2025
Mock-up e.g. newspapers from 2020, showing headlines with or without following values-based path
Values to 2050
Write long-term focused thought paper (BRICs-style) on what people will value most, and where, in 5, 10, 25, 44 years time
Values Workers
Write Drucker-style thought piece on the rise of the values worker (more important than the knowledge worker)
Values Polls - This Month's Top 10
create a values "Top 30 chart", with people voting online (e.g. "freedom is highest value")
Values Polls - Who Values What?
carry out online polls to find out what different groups of society (by age, gender, job etc.) rate as being the highest values
Cultural Dynamics developed N evolving values alphabet.
Acquiescence Adaptable Adventure
Aspiration Bender Be Satisfied
Big Business Bodily Ease Budget Bedlam
Creativity Deference Discipline
Functional Spender Global Good Time
Hetero Love Independent Inquisitive
Material Wealth National Pride Patriarchy
Revenge Self-choice Self-efficacy
Shangri-La Tao Traditional Family
Two Classes Unobliged Unplanned
this quote formed part of Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson’s speech on creative integrity back in 1990, but remains as - or perhaps even more - valid today.
Baroness Warnock in her Royal Society of Arts lecture on the foundations of global morality said that global values have been identified by leading ethicists: these include respect, compassion, honesty etc. Do we agree? What do we think are or should be universal values?
Halcyon's own current and emerging values portfolio includes:
- Monitoring and analysing emerging developments for almost 60 values
- Primary research about values-driven business and personal conduct
- Under development - training in values good practices for companies, public sector/educators and individuals, plus values-driven publications, guidelines, events, tutorials and prizes.
Please contact us if you would like (a) further information, (b) to buy values services from, or (c) to co-develop future values services with Halcyon.
"What we must decide is perhaps how we are valuable, rather than how valuable we are" - Edgar Z Friedenberg
Values form the core of any individual. Application of these values results in development of ideas, formation of opinions and establishment of beliefs, influencing relationships with surroundings and one’s kind. These values inspire an individual to be virtuous as well as to be imaginative and inventive in his or her approach, leading to advancement. http://summitforthefuture.blogspot.com/2006/04/values-and-spirituality.html
Our world is very diverse. People come with different needs, different agendas, and different cultural backgrounds that colour their understanding of others. We need to find shared values. There is too much at stake if we don't: concerns that affect everyone, from damage to the environment to economic issues between the haves and the have nots, and to willful misunderstandings around religion and race.
Halcyon believes that these are the urgent issues of our time. Unless we each, individually and together, adopt a consistent set of values, our actions will be determined by expediency, and we can't continue to sustain either personal or professional integrity.
The West has traditionally focused on breaking external boundaries — in space, biology, computing. Eastern thought has looked inside, through meditation, metaphysics and lucid dreams. Future values frameworks must combine both approaches. This consensus of the Axial Age is an eloquent testimony to the unanimity of the spiritual quest of the human race; it tells us something about the structure of our humanity. Today, in our torn, conflicted world, in our global village, we can no longer afford a parochial or exclusive vision. We must learn to live and behave as though people in countries remote from our own or who seem to be our enemies are as important as ourselves.
For the 75th anniversary issue of the Harvard Business School alumni(ae) magazine, 817 MBAs and executive education participants were asked: What should we teach our future business leaders? The top five responses were (in reverse order): leadership, technology, entrepreneurship, globalisation, and -- the most cited lesson for tomorrow's business leaders by a wide margin -- morals, ethics, and values. Business author Jim Collins said in his best-selling book Built to Last that "here is a growing legion of business people who are hungry to build something of enduring character on a set of values they can be proud of." If you're one of these people, then this site is for you.
Values thinkers include Alain de Botton , Stephen Covey ; George Soros , Theodore Zeldin. There are lots of values thought pieces .
About values
Values serve the advancement of societies by connecting us as individuals with the larger communities around us. This connection was traditionally made via mediating institutions such as the family, church, and schools. However, when these institutions break down, as is happening for many people today, the values they support can be compromised and one has to be willing to reappraise and rebuild one's values from scratch.
Much work has been done on values at the personal, organisational, and societal level - see http://www.qedconsulting.com/news/vddv.html
At the personal level, research, inspired by psychologist Abraham Maslow in terms of a hierarchy of needs, points to ascending levels of values from survival, safety and belonging through to self-actualisation.
At the organisational level we find an interesting mix of "global" values that could apply across all organisations as well as unique business values -- values around meeting goals, increasing operational and financial success or excellence, customer satisfaction and market penetration, and product innovation or leadership. - see , http://www.pwc.com/extweb/newcoatwork.nsf/docid/C55EBF5DF81A57E480256C2A... ; developing values-based strategies http://www.harrisinteractive.com/services/valuesbased.asp
At the societal level, shared values might include:
fair trade and decent livelihoods
respect for life, health and environmental sustainability
true democracy – not "corporatocracy"
freedom, security and equal opportunity for all
zero tolerance for terror of all kinds – state terror and domestic tyranny included
unity in diversity among peoples, nations and cultures
an end to weapons of mass destruction and to war itself as an obsolete means of conflict resolution http://www.simpol.org/dossiers/dossier-UK/html-UK/interface-UK.html
As interesting as the variations are in how people prioritise global values, they represent something more. Global values may be seen as key "portals" for categorising or framing diversity work today. I submit that a "values portal approach" allows diversity to address what it means in the deepest sense: to be inclusive of and to accept multiple perspectives, on a global scale.
This means that we can expect to see different, though related and sometimes overlapping work being done, depending on the value portal entered. For example, coming through the Respect portal, we typically see diversity work along the lines of understanding and valuing differences, sexual harassment prevention, understanding stereotypes, biases and assumptions, and understanding and reconciling differences. Which differences are addressed (e.g., gender, sexual orientation, race, language, religion, etc.) will vary across the world.
Coming through the Fairness/Justice portal, we typically see work along the lines of Affirmative Action, Employment Equity, breaking the glass ceiling, the digital divide, etc. And coming through the Truth/Integrity/Honesty portal, we typically see 1) at the individual level, personal diversity work, and work around values and personal transformation; 2) at the organizational level, work on business ethics, and performance management; and 3) at the societal level, truth and reconciliation work.
To provide an example of a business value through the "Customer Intimacy" portal, we typically see diversity work along the lines of cultural sensitivity training, niche marketing and global market research, civic philanthropy, and government and public sector service to diverse constituencies.
For me, the values portal approach opens the door to the fundamental nature of diversity work: encompassing differing values. This eclectic framework encourages us to more fully develop and refine diversity work across a broad spectrum. By keeping all value portals open wide, we invite practitioners worldwide to further explore the positive influence of diversity work in the 21st century.
So do not defer, do not postpone your values - your hopes, your dreams, your ideals, your ideas. Write them down and work for them right away and constantly. Here are some further thoughts on values and on how people live them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Values
relating values to work - http://flickr.com/photos/herbert-spencer/100131440/
http://www.lucistrust.org/epamphlets/values.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/category/values/
Kidder, Rushworth. Shared Values for a Troubled World, Jossey-Bass, 1994 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1555426034/sr=8-1/qid=1139496374/ref=pd...
http://www.qedconsulting.com/Services/section1b.html
http://www.earthcharter.org/innerpg.cfm?id_menu=19
Organisational values are increasingly common in companies and in the public sector, and it is rare not to be greeted by a number of value statements when entering an organisation. However, many of the implementations of values are unsuccessful and may increase divisions within an organisation.
Issues
the plethora of issues we may face, at the personal, organisational and/or societal levels, epitomise a hell on earth, which is already here or fast emerging. For example, the Arlington Institute’s now dormant The World’s Biggest Problems portal claimed to have a simple, clear mission: educating people all around the world about the biggest problems facing humanity. The five mega-issues they identified have two criteria; they must be global in scope, and have the potential to rapidly escalate into severe crises.
- Economic Collapse: Fragilities in the current global economy could tip the developed world into conditions not seen since the 1920s.
- Peak Oil: Petroleum has powered the modern world for almost 100 years; today, many industry insiders say that we may be reaching a permanent peak in oil production.
- Global Water Crisis: Over the last 50 years the human population has nearly tripled, while industrial pollution, unsustainable agriculture, and poor civic planning have decreased the overall water supply.
- Species Extinction: Certain species that human beings depend upon for our food supply are going extinct; if their numbers fall too low we may face extinction ourselves.
- Rapid Climate Change: While the debate rages on about the causes of climate change, global warming is an empirical fact.[i]