ONE YEAR LATER:
Posted by Rick Feldman at 2/17/2008 8:42 PM and is filed under uncategorized 
A YEAR OF TESTING VALUES
I spent the past year purposefully exploring action and opportunities. I wasn't merely seeking insights in the basic existential questions we all face —— am I doing what I need to do? am I doing it well? am on a track I want to and need to be on, or am accepting whatever comes along? —- although these are important, daily questions. More importantly, I wanted to test my choices and actions against my principals and values; I wanted to reflect on every choice and outcome, and determine if I was in fact making choices deeply connected to my sense of the world and my values in it.
My point here is to demonstrate the link between purposeful action —- acting on purpose, acting with purpose —- and values. Achieving anything like "success on purpose" is more likely if one's notions of success are based on honest reflection of one's values and principals. And the key question is this: can I find success in an arena that accounts for and includes my strongest values? We tend to believe that we have to abandon our values and compromise our principals in order to achieve success on purpose. In fact, success on purpose all but requires that we continually test our choices against our principals, to ensure that we haven't ignored our own values.
I discovered that I had compromised some of my values and principals in making past choices, believing them to be in the way of my goals. My solution has been to change my goals, re-define success, and eliminate the dissonance between choices and values. For me, the consequences have been almost immediate: new contracts, engagement in work and projects that I can dedicate myself to and therefor perform at on very high levels, and some early taste of success in critically important work.
Aligning choices, every day decisions, and the pursuit of particular outcomes to one's values and core principals is itself a core principal of achieving success on purpose. My values include doing things that benefit others and that contribute to the world around me in significant ways —- successfully confronting major challenges, removing social and economic barriers holding others from success, improving the range of possibilities for all, solving the problems that surrounded me when I was young and living in the lowest income neighborhoods of Philadelphia and now continue to plague others around the world. I work in a financial services and advising business because it's people-business, designed to use financial options to help reduce the worries and impacts of an imperfect economy. I work to help create Greendustry Park because it will bring and retain wealth in an urban center and so contribute to a new urban economy while addressing environmental and renewable energy needs. I work with Rotary because it's an international organization that purposefully improves childhood health and well-being around the world, furthers peaceful collaborations that benefit local communities, and works to eliminate poverty in over 190 countries. In fact, every choice I made is based on (a) how much it contributes to well-being in the world and (b) how much I can learn and do in the process. My key picks for purposeful action are (in no particular order):
Chamber of Commerce
Rotary
Northampton Center for the Arts
E2M.ORG
Hidden-Tech
Commonwealth Center for Change
Greendustry Park Inc.
Ostberg and Associates
Community Leadership Development
Community Colleges
University of Massachusetts
And, frankly, they all come after family, friends, writing, reading, music and exercise.
I spent the past year purposefully exploring action and opportunities. I wasn't merely seeking insights in the basic existential questions we all face —— am I doing what I need to do? am I doing it well? am on a track I want to and need to be on, or am accepting whatever comes along? —- although these are important, daily questions. More importantly, I wanted to test my choices and actions against my principals and values; I wanted to reflect on every choice and outcome, and determine if I was in fact making choices deeply connected to my sense of the world and my values in it.
My point here is to demonstrate the link between purposeful action —- acting on purpose, acting with purpose —- and values. Achieving anything like "success on purpose" is more likely if one's notions of success are based on honest reflection of one's values and principals. And the key question is this: can I find success in an arena that accounts for and includes my strongest values? We tend to believe that we have to abandon our values and compromise our principals in order to achieve success on purpose. In fact, success on purpose all but requires that we continually test our choices against our principals, to ensure that we haven't ignored our own values.
I discovered that I had compromised some of my values and principals in making past choices, believing them to be in the way of my goals. My solution has been to change my goals, re-define success, and eliminate the dissonance between choices and values. For me, the consequences have been almost immediate: new contracts, engagement in work and projects that I can dedicate myself to and therefor perform at on very high levels, and some early taste of success in critically important work.
Aligning choices, every day decisions, and the pursuit of particular outcomes to one's values and core principals is itself a core principal of achieving success on purpose. My values include doing things that benefit others and that contribute to the world around me in significant ways —- successfully confronting major challenges, removing social and economic barriers holding others from success, improving the range of possibilities for all, solving the problems that surrounded me when I was young and living in the lowest income neighborhoods of Philadelphia and now continue to plague others around the world. I work in a financial services and advising business because it's people-business, designed to use financial options to help reduce the worries and impacts of an imperfect economy. I work to help create Greendustry Park because it will bring and retain wealth in an urban center and so contribute to a new urban economy while addressing environmental and renewable energy needs. I work with Rotary because it's an international organization that purposefully improves childhood health and well-being around the world, furthers peaceful collaborations that benefit local communities, and works to eliminate poverty in over 190 countries. In fact, every choice I made is based on (a) how much it contributes to well-being in the world and (b) how much I can learn and do in the process. My key picks for purposeful action are (in no particular order):
Chamber of Commerce
Rotary
Northampton Center for the Arts
E2M.ORG
Hidden-Tech
Commonwealth Center for Change
Greendustry Park Inc.
Ostberg and Associates
Community Leadership Development
Community Colleges
University of Massachusetts
And, frankly, they all come after family, friends, writing, reading, music and exercise.
After reading this article, I started to think - really think - about things I've accomplished or not accomplished based on value oriented decisions. Often times, I evaluate why I make a certain decision and the value it brings to the table, either to my clients, family, or friends. It's hard to admit that some decisions made are not to the benefit of all involved. It seems that "slips" occur when you - meaning each of us - make a decision or take action based on our mental self talk of "only this one time", or, "I'll evaluate this later'. These past few years I have tried hard to maee decisions and take actions that do not affect others in a negative manner. I give time to the Chamber in the hopes that my experiences can help guide new business owners to the right actions, and Rotary because of it's contribution to all peoples everywhere, and to other organizations that help the people who cannot help themselves. How do I feel? More wonderful than words can express. Thank you Rick for bringing to the forefront issues that all of us struggle with.
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