What Are Your Personal Core Values?

Hi! Kathryn here. This month we discuss how creating a set of core values can help your business (and you!) on your road to success.

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Core values are your own personal truths—the things you hold dear that are fundamental to you as a person. They’re your North Star that help you define partnerships, make decisions about hiring and funding, and check yourself to make sure you’re achieving your goals. For example, one of my core values is integrity. Along with integrity, I have three more core personal values (I discuss these in detail on page 54 of Build the Damn Thing).

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Creating Your Core Values…

Creating a set of core values is a fairly straightforward process: 

1. Just list all the actions, words, attributes that are important to you. For example my core value of integrity is because honesty, ethics, and honor are all things that are very important to me. I try to model leadership by practicing integrity in my thoughts, my words, and my actions. 

2. Take these actions, words and attributes and refine them into a set of principles for you to follow. 

   Here’s how I present my core value of “Integrity”:

   Integrity

   I model leadership by practicing integrity in my thoughts, my words, and my actions. 

   I strive to: 

   • Do what I say and say what I do 

   • Come prepared, be on time, and stay engaged. 

   • Live in my truth 

Because of this core value, I strive to do what I say and say what I do; to come prepared, be on time, and stay engaged; and to live in my truth.

Okay, so how does this impact my business?

Once you have your own personal core values down, you can start thinking about how they intersect with the bigger goals you have for your business. When I started my investment firm, Genius Guild, I knew that I wanted to expand my own core values into a set of company-wide core values that were good for both my business and my team. At Genius Guild, the most important core value we put into practice was being human. Being human meant that everyone in the workspace was allowed to be human and make mistakes. Creating that core value together with the Genius Guild team meant that we started the company from a place of trust.

In next month’s newsletter, we’ll discuss how to use your personal core values to create your business core values.

Get Build the Damn Thing Podcast in Your Ears Now! 

Build The Damn Thing podcast, based on my bestselling book, is on Apple Podcasts, Audible, and Spotify! Season 3 is available now. Check out the Season 1 episode The Question of U: What it Takes to Be a Successful Entrepreneur for more tips on how to build a creative life that you control.

Keep Building the Damn Thing!

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