January 31, 2011

Dear Attendees,

It was a pleasure to have you join Unbound Ideas for a conversation about values with Camille Smith. Thank you for participating in the dialogue.

Camille’s discussion encompassed three major topics: The relationship between values and performance; the types of values; and the values of top performers.

To start, she asked us whether we had ever worked for an organization where the stated values and the actual values were different. This misalignment leads to dispirited, cynical employees who are not engaged. The implications are profound. Some research notes that as many as 25% of employees may not be actively engaged with their organizations, costing American businesses $250 billion a year.

On a personal level, we can feel this lack of alignment almost physically. The wrongness of a decision that contradicts our values is like a twist in our stomach. This also stresses the importance of being aware of our own values. If we don’t “have values, our values have us.”

Values are drivers of performance because they express what matters to us. When the drivers of performance are aligned between an individual and a group or or corporation, that’s the key to leveraging that group’s intangible resources.

Camille then went on to discuss three distinct types of values: Core Values, Hot Buttons and Blind Spots. Core values are what we know matters to us. Hot buttons are triggered by specific circumstances. Blind Spots don’t even show up on the radar. Understanding these distinctions allows us to have more influence over performance.

Next, Camille described the Core Values, Hot Buttons, and Blind Spots of high achievers. She pointed out that millenials and boomers share the same value sets, despite differences in how those values are sometimes expressed.

Her conversation was rich with hard-hitting examples, and evidence of organizational and personal impact.

Camille cited a number of great research papers and books during her talk.

They included:

• Make Your Values Mean Something, Patrick Lencioni, Harvard Business Review, 7/01/2002
• Burned Out, Scientific American MIND, May 31, 2006
• Leadership Run Amok, Harvard Business Review, June 2006
• Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates you by Daniel Pink
• Fired Up or Burned out by Michael Lee Stallard

She also encouraged us to read a number of her blog articles, including the following two (which can be found at her website, http://www.wipcoaching.com):

• Mid-Air Diaster Avoided: Values win over litigation
• Boomers and GenYers Share the same bed … of Values

And she encourages each participant to take a Values Survey (offer ending March 30, 2011) to determine what they do and do not value.

Simply visit http://www.wipcoaching.com/assessment and enter the code: unbound

We’re including a paper that Camille has written on high performers. In addition, in the post-script to this note you can find written answers to questions that came in during the event.

On behalf of Camille Smith, we thank you again for joining us, and look forward to the next occasion.

Warm Regards,
Unbound Ideas