In this series, every so often I’m going to take an idea from my book, Joy and Success at Work – Building Organizations That Don’t Suck (the Life Out of People), and unpack it a bit. For this article, I’ll tackle the counterintuitive idea I proposed in the book that, for most of us, Values should take a primary place over Vision in how we think and lead.

Now, I’ll bet that you’ve always heard that organizations must first define a Mission (overarching reason for being), then a Vision (a description of the glorious future in which they dominate the universe in their chosen arena), and finally, a set of Values (the things that will guide them as the pursue the achievement of their goals). And, in truth, there are some phenomenally successful organizations which focus relentlessly on achieving their goals. They rely on a set of values to do so, even if we might not consider those values “admirable”.  However, my contention is that if you place values at the back of the line, you may be tempted to make them malleable in order to achieve your mission and/or vision, which I don’t find admirable at all. In fact, many would agree that such practice is common in the world of politics. But I digress…

My contention, though, is that if you spend time wrestling with questions like, “How do I think people should be treated?” or “What am I willing to do to capitalize on opportunities?” or “How will I define success?” and other such “big” questions, you’re far more likely to build an organization that stays true to those things, even if your mission, vision, market and products may change over time. The very modern concept of a pivot usually means that a company changed at least its product offering on the way to achieving market success. Beyond that, in many cases, it involved the more radical concept of completely transforming the business mission of vision. (Note: My favorite example is Nokia, a once dominant cell phone manufacturer that got started in forestry). And that’s my point. If you get overly focused on mission/vision and forget to put serious thought and time into solidifying a core set of values, then you may find yourself a bit rudderless when you need to tap into those values on the often-meandering path of business success.

In fact, I’d push this a bit further in your mind and challenge you to first wrestle with your “personal” values, which usually involves some serious introspection, in order to determine what constitutes for you not just a successful business, but a successful life. If you start there, then you have the appropriate context in which to wrestle with the values of the organization you want to build and/or lead. The evidence that failing to do this is painful is, unfortunately, very clear. I know many fantastic business leaders who, while they built impressive organizations, often left a bit of a personal mess in their wake. If you get clear on your values regarding family, friendships, fitness, finances and even faith, you can build on that foundation as you think about defining the values of the business or organization you lead. And, when you do it that way, your mission and/or vision may change, but at least you’ll be clear on how you’re going to get there.