Why the values-driven conversation is so important...

The importance of this conversation became clear to me while I was attending a large international conference for trainers a few weeks ago. While I gained a great deal of insight about what's happening in the world employee development and training, I was struck by what I thought was missing - a more pronounced outlet for developing socially conscious professionals and leaders. I'd say 90% of the exhibitors were focused on how to get the most of our your employees, how to create better leaders, and how to engage your employees more effectively. In other words, a lot of buzzwords and a lot of the same ole same ole. It wasn't until I walked to the fringes of the expo floor that I found more of the vendors speaking to the values-driven conversation. I started hearing words that I was often use like Corporate Social Responsibility, non-profit, mission-driven, etc. However, these words were being spoken at say 5 of about 300 booths. When I looked at the entire program, I found 3 - 4 educational sessions of about 250 that spoke to these topics. For as much hype as we've heard about CSR, sustainability, cross-sector alliances, etc, I was at a loss as to why there were so few conversations happening among the people charged with educating our organizations.

At a certain point, I began to second guess my own convictions, have I missed something? Should I just let this values-driven/mission-driven, CSR, sustainability conversation go? Should I get with the program and morph back into a business as usual conversation where it's all about the business of business. As I thought about it, I realized, no. This is where we have an opportunity. When I would engage folks in a conversation about core values and making a difference, I would see eyes light up and folks start to get excited. The opportunity is to help folks reconnect with their values and find ways to express those values in their professional lives. The other reason that got me to think I might be onto something, i could see a lot of unhappiness in the rooms where I was attending educational sessions. Granted the economy has taken the wind out of a lot of folks, but I saw something deeper. There was something definitely missing. While I'm not quite certain of what that missing is, i know that it is the basis for an exploration. I'm going to use this blog as a chronicle of my own exploration that I hope will help others to begin to engage in figuring out how we can all have more meaning, happiness and purpose in our professional lives connected back to core values.