This YouTube video explains the idea of personal values using a real-life example and story:

The Importance of Personal Values or Principles

The word ‘value’ denotes a degree of worth. For example, in monetary terms, we set a value on something by how much we are willing to pay for a product or service.

In moral terms, a value is a concept to which we give a high level of importance. Values are the moral code that guides us, and the priorities that motivate us. They are the principles we uphold, the ethics and tenets that we believe in and ascribe to. These ideals are our rules of conduct and standards of behaviour.

If you do not know what your most important values are, then it is very likely that you are living your life – whether you know it or not – according to other people’s principles or priorities. If you are not careful, this can quickly lead to dissatisfaction. 

My expedition to the jungle helped me find out mine and you can read more by following the link to the full article:

How I Discovered My Personal Values Deep in the Jungle

Fear lurking in the dark

It was dark. I was lying in my hammock and couldn’t see a thing beyond my mosquito net, but I could hear something rustling in the bushes nearby, which I hoped was small and non-lethal, even if not overtly friendly. It was hard to be sure amid the more distant but louder roars of howler monkeys, carried through the dense jungle canopy. 

The air was pungent with the smell of wet earth and dripping leaves, recently soaked by a rainforest downpour. All that water reminded me that I needed to go to the toilet. This was a bit of a challenge, as the hole in the ground that was our ‘restroom’ was some distance away, yet I knew that within an arm’s length of where I was, there would likely be a poisonous snake, spider or scorpion lurking in the shadows. To access the toilet, I would have to navigate a narrow forest path, where, when you shone a torch at night, you could see the reflection of a thousand tiny eyes looking back at you on either side. It was disconcerting to say the least.

What was worse was that I knew that if anything bad did happen to me, it would be a real problem, as I was about a day’s travel from the nearest civilisation.

So, guess how I felt?

Well, actually, I felt more content than I could ever remember!

Surprised by happiness

Surprising right? I too was slightly shocked by that deep feeling of happiness in that moment (despite needing to go to the loo). I had never felt anything quite like it before (the contentment, I mean, not the growing urgency to pee!)

In that moment I was thinking that if someone said I could do the same thing every day for the rest of my life, I would sign up right there and then, but I could not quite explain why.

How about you? Have you ever felt that level of amazing contentment? 

Well, today I am going to explain the secret that I discovered, which explained why I felt so good in that moment. It turns out it was all about personal values. Learning this truth has helped inform my decisions from that point and steer my life into other places where I could flourish and be happy.

But let me explain what I mean by personal values.

What are personal values?

The word ‘value’ denotes a degree of worth. For example, in monetary terms, we set a value on something by how much we are willing to pay for a product or service.

In moral terms, a value is a concept to which we give a high level of importance. Values are the moral code that guides us, and the priorities that motivate us. They are the principles we uphold, the ethics and tenets that we believe in and ascribe to. These ideals are our rules of conduct and standards of behaviour.

If you do not know what your most important values are, then it is very likely that you are living your life – whether you know it or not – according to other people’s principles or priorities. If you are not careful, this can quickly lead to dissatisfaction. 

What is the difference between personal and corporate values?

There are values we hold personally, as an individual, and those we share corporately, be that with friends or family, a team or organisation, a community or society. They are often similar but expressed in subtly different ways. 

For example, a common personal value might be expressed as kindness, but a team might talk about respect. A person may value honesty, whereas an organisation might express that as transparency.

Also, each word we use for a principle, such as integrity, excellence or creativity, might mean something slightly different to a given individual or context, so it is important to define exactly what we mean by a value, and most importantly, what the related behaviours are linked to that word.

How do values affect our decisions?

Positive values, or virtues, are inherently good, so we might agree that a whole list of such ideals are things we agree with, but when pushed, we will hold some principles higher than others. 

This is important to understand as it is linked to how we make many decisions.

For example, when you go shopping, what you choose can reflect certain principles. You might pick an item because that is all you can afford, but usually, there is some level of choice. For instance, you might pick something because you are loyal to that brand. You might choose something expensive because you prioritise quality above price, or want something ethically sourced because you value sustainability or fairness for the producers.

Therefore, as you can see, values impact our everyday choices, no matter how big or small. The jobs we choose, the friends we make, and the ways we use our time all reflect our values. 

What is the right number of values?

There is no exact number for how many personal values are too few or too many; too few, and it is unlikely to be truly reflective of your character, too many, and it becomes hard to discern the real priorities. So, a good rule of thumb is to identify three to five top virtues. 

For me, my top three personal values are:

1. Adventure
2. Service and
3. Leadership.

So, let’s get back to the story to explain how, deep in the rainforest, I worked out what these were and what they mean to me.

Adventure: embracing challenge

I was in the jungle, and I was happy. Therefore, you might not be surprised that one of my personal values is adventure. And this principle was the easiest for me to work out, as I had long had a passion for adventure.

I grew up reading, watching and dreaming of adventure. At that time, my favourite movie character was Indiana Jones. I watched those films more times than I can count, and I loved the stories so much that I owned a Dr Jones wide-brimmed hat and satchel that I took when exploring. My friend and I even learned how to use a bullwhip, just to be more like Indy!

Indiana Jones also intersected with my love of studying the past, and while at university, I took courses in ancient history and archaeology. One day, my flatmate showed me some information about an expedition to map archaeological remains in the jungles of Central America. She had been invited but could not go, so she offered to introduce me to the expedition organisers.

I wasted no time in contacting them. For me, this was literally a dream come true. I had the opportunity to be a real-life Indiana Jones!

Suffice to say, I passed the selection criteria and was invited to join the trip. That is how, some months later, I found myself in my hammock (and yes, I did have my Indy hat with me!)

So, the principle of adventure is not surprising, but what about my other values?

Service: helping others

My next value is service. And although not as obvious as adventure, when I now look back at my old school reports, I can see comments from various teachers that highlighted that I obviously liked assisting people – be that classmates, staff or visitors. 

This virtue also reflected the example set by my parents, who were both committed to serving their family and community. I had obviously caught some of their passion for supporting others.

In time, this grew into a larger desire, one to serve my country, which I realised through serving as an officer in the military (I became a bomb-disposal officer), something I had already committed to when I went to college. 

When in the jungle, my commitment to service was often expressed in little ways. I would get up before anyone else to start the fire for breakfast. I had spent a lot of time outdoors, camping and hiking, so I shared that experience with people who were less comfortable living in the woods. Every day we had to walk for hours in the heat, and it was natural for me to check up on people, making sure they were ok and seeing what I could do to help anyone who might be struggling. 

It wasn’t really anything I had to consciously think about; these were mostly natural behaviours and ways of being. It was only when I stopped to reflect on the patterns that I realised that these actions stemmed from the value that I call service.

Leadership: positive influence

So, I was happy being on an adventure and serving my colleagues on the expedition. Then, the overall leader surprised me. He asked me to help lead. There were two official leaders, but the overall group needed to be split into three teams, so he asked me to lead the third team.

I hadn’t thought about it until then, but my experience of adventure and love of the environment gave me confidence. My desire to help and serve people had built trust. Now, the expedition leader was pointing out something that was already happening: I was being looked at as a leader.

This was a surprise as I have never thought of myself as a natural leader. I am more introverted than extroverted, self-conscious and easily embarrassed. I was skinny, gawky and gangly in my early teenage years, with spots and braces to boot. None of this, funnily enough, helped my self-confidence!

What is leadership?

Thus, I was often quiet in a group context and did not generally push for attention or power. But, it turned out that the idea of me not being a leader was based on some false assumptions of what a leader is or isn’t. The biggest thing that helped me change how I thought about this is the definition given by leadership guru John C. Maxwell. He said that:

“Leadership is influence; nothing more and nothing less.”

In other words, leadership is not just an official role or natural charisma. There are leadership positions, but we are all leaders, as we all display leadership every time we influence a person or situation, even if we are just influencing and leading ourselves.

In the jungle, I discovered that in that adventurous context, where it was easy for me to serve people, I realised what leadership truly is, and why it is important. I embraced it, I loved the challenge and satisfaction it brought, and I have ever since. 

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How to find and embrace your values

So, there we have it. That is why my top personal values are adventure, service and leadership. Those principles continue to guide me today, informing my decisions and helping me find contentment in what I do. 

I have not always made the right choices, and there have been times when I have been unhappy since, but understanding my values has helped me better recorrect my course in those situations, as you can read about in:

Analysing Values and How to Re-Find Happiness

And, you are probably glad to hear, that you don’t need to go to the depths of the jungle to find out your principles! There are some simple things you can do to reveal them. If you would like to find these out, check out my post on:

How to Discover Your Top 3 Personal Values

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

For more than 2,000 years, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics has shaped how people think about the good life, happiness, and what it means to live well. Yet this ancient text isn’t just for academics in dusty libraries—it’s a practical guide for anyone who wants to build better habits, improve relationships, and understand what really matters.

To understand why Aristotle’s ideas remain so powerful, it helps to see how he built on—and broke from—the two giants who came before him: Socrates and Plato. Their conversations laid the foundation for one of history’s most influential visions of human flourishing.

Let’s walk through the key themes of the Nicomachean Ethics, how Aristotle developed the philosophical ideas of his teachers, and why this 4th-century BCE book still speaks directly to our 21st-century lives.

From Socrates to Plato to Aristotle: A Lineage of Big Questions

Aristotle didn’t invent moral philosophy from scratch. He inherited a tradition of questioning that began with Socrates, the famously curious Athenian (creator of the Socratic Method), who went around asking people things like “What is courage?” and “Can anyone knowingly do wrong?” Socrates believed one big idea:

“Virtue is knowledge. If you truly know what is good, you will naturally do it.”

Plato, Socrates’ student, took this even further. Plato refined the idea of the Cardinal Virtues, and in his view, moral truth exists in a higher, eternal realm of Forms. If you want to live well, you must align your soul with the perfect, unchanging Form of the Good.

But Aristotle had a different perspective. He agreed with his teachers that the good life was the ultimate human goal—but he wasn’t convinced that abstract knowledge or contemplation of ideals was enough. After all, plenty of people know what they should do but don’t do it.

So, Aristotle grounded ethics in the real world. For him:

Ethics is about action, habit, and daily practice—not just ideas.

1. Eudaimonia: The Real Meaning of Happiness

One of the most important themes in the Nicomachean Ethics is eudaimonia, usually translated as “happiness,” although “flourishing” or “living well” captures the meaning better.

For Aristotle, happiness isn’t a feeling, a mood, or a lucky break. It’s not the pleasure of a great meal or the thrill of achievement. Instead:

Eudaimonia is the long-term result of living a life of virtue, purpose, and fulfilment.

You don’t “get” happiness—you build it through your choices and habits.

Dr Martin Seligman, often referred to as the “father of positive psychology,” is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and has conducted extensive research on happiness. He agrees with Aristotle’s premise and that pursuing certain activities, through conscious choices, is central to building lasting happiness. He identified five key elements for well-being, captured in the PERMA model (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishments). 

2. Virtue as a Habit: You Become What You Repeatedly Do

One of Aristotle’s most famous insights is that virtue is a habit. You’re not born generous, brave, patient, or wise. You become these things by practising them—over and over—until they become part of who you are.

“We are what we repeatedly do.”

For Aristotle, moral excellence is like learning an instrument. You don’t read about guitar—you play it. The same goes for courage, kindness, honesty, and self-control.

We develop these habits in the same way as any other. As Charles Duhigg demonstrates in The Power of Habit, and James Clear builds on in Atomic Habits, we improve our actions by influencing the Habit Loop, and adjusting the cues, routines and rewards linked to our activities. 

3. The Golden Mean: Finding Balance Between Extremes

Another core idea of the Nicomachean Ethics is the Doctrine of the Mean.

Aristotle argues that every virtue lies between two vices. For example:

• Courage lies between rashness and cowardice.
• Generosity is a balance between wastefulness and stinginess.
• Confidence sits between arrogance and timidity.

The “mean” isn’t a perfect mathematical centre—it’s the balanced spot that depends on the situation. 

Virtue is the art of acting appropriately, at the right time, in the right way, for the right reasons. So, it takes wisdom to assess where that balance lies at any one time.

4. Practical Wisdom: The Key to Making Good Decisions

Aristotle introduced the concept of phronēsis, often translated as practical wisdom. It’s about reading a situation, understanding what the moment requires, and making the right choice.

It’s the inner compass that helps you find the “mean” between extremes.

This practical wisdom emphasises and expands the value of wisdom, one of Plato’s four cardinal virtues. 

5. Friendship: The Highest Form of Human Connection

Aristotle dedicates two entire books to friendship. He outlines three types:

• Friendships of pleasure  
• Friendships of usefulness  
• Friendships of virtue  

The last is the deepest and most enduring, rooted in mutual respect and shared values. 

Therefore, choosing the right friends is important. As C.S. Lewis notes in his book The Four Loves:

“Friendship (as the ancients saw) can be a school of virtue; but also (as they did not see) a school of vice. It is ambivalent. It makes good men better and bad men worse.”

6. Responsibility and Choice: You Are the Author of Your Life

Aristotle argues that we are responsible for our actions, our habits, and ultimately our character. Your repeated choices shape who you become. This is empowering—your life can be directed through intentional action.

This tallies with Eastern Philosophy as well. For example, Lao Tzu (Laozi) said,

“Watch your thoughts, for they become your words; watch your words, for they become your actions; watch your actions, for they become your habits; watch your habits, for they become your character.”

In modern psychology, Carl Jung showed that our personality type informs our preferences for how we interact with the world. But our personal values and moral choices shape our character. 

As David Brooks points out in The Road to Character, rather than just Resume Values and a list of empty accomplishments, we need to focus on Eulogy Values – the things we want to be remembered for.

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Why Aristotle Still Matters

Aristotle’s ideas connect easily to modern life. His thinking is foundational to:

• Self-development and habit-building  
• Ethical Living and Values-Centred Leadership  
• Mental health and well-being  
• Healthy relationships  

His message remains timeless:

Happiness is not something we feel—it’s something we cultivate.

So, what positive first step can you take today to flourish more and live a happier life? Take a few minutes now to reflect and commit to one small action. That’s all you need to start creating a better habit and put you on the path to a more fulfilling life.

And if you would like any help thinking through what good looks like for you or assistance in developing your new routines, please do drop me a note via the Contact Page.

Plato’s Enduring Legacy in Moral Philosophy

Few thinkers have shaped Western philosophy as profoundly as Plato, the Athenian philosopher and student of Socrates. His ideas about knowledge, virtue, and justice underpin much of our moral and political thought today. Central to Plato’s philosophy are the four cardinal values — wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice — which he believed to be essential for both personal excellence and the harmony of society.

Understanding these Platonic virtues not only reveals the structure of Plato’s moral theory but also offers guidance for ethical living, justice, and flourishing in the modern world. For leaders, Plato created the first blueprint for values-based leadership and highlighted the importance of personal values.

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What Are the Cardinal Values According to Plato?

In The Republic, Plato presents four virtues that define the moral character of both individuals and societies:

1. Wisdom (Sophia)
2. Courage (Andreia)
3. Temperance (Sophrosyne)
4. Justice (Dikaiosyne)

These virtues correspond to the three parts of the soul — reason, spirit, and appetite — and their harmonious cooperation leads to justice, the ultimate expression of moral order.

Wisdom (Sophia): The Light of the Rational Soul

For Plato, wisdom arises from the rational part of the soul — the faculty concerned with truth and understanding. It allows individuals to discern what is truly good and to act accordingly. The wise person governs their life through knowledge, reflection, and rational deliberation.

In The Republic, philosopher-kings embody this virtue. Their wisdom equips them to govern justly and to make decisions guided by reason rather than desire.

Modern significance:

Today, wisdom represents ethical intelligence — the ability to make sound moral judgements in complex situations, essential for leaders, educators, and citizens alike. This ability is more important than ever, particularly in the face of the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and complex problems such as climate change.

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Courage (Andreia): The Strength of the Spirited Soul

Courage, for Plato, is not blind bravery but the steadfastness to uphold one’s moral convictions despite fear or hardship. It belongs to the spirited part of the soul — the seat of resolve and honour.

In Plato’s ideal state, the guardians or defenders embody this virtue. Their courage lies in their unwavering commitment to truth and justice, even in the face of danger.

Modern significance:

Courage today can be seen in those who stand up for ethical principles, challenge corruption, or speak truth to power. It’s the integrity and moral strength to act rightly when it’s most difficult. Courage is also related to resilience and the ability to endure and even thrive through challenges.

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Temperance (Sophrosyne): The Virtue of Self-Control

Temperance represents moderation, self-restraint, and harmony among the soul’s desires. It ensures that reason remains in control and that the appetites do not dominate behaviour.

For Plato, temperance is the glue that binds society together — the collective recognition that order and balance are essential for peace and unity.

Modern significance:

Temperance is not a word that is heard much today, especially as it goes against the prevailing messages of consumer advertising. In today’s fast-paced, consumption-driven world, temperance speaks to the need for self-discipline and balance. It promotes mindfulness, patience, and ethical restraint in the pursuit of happiness.

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Justice (Dikaiosyne): The Supreme Harmony of Virtue

Plato considered justice the highest virtue because it arises from the harmonious functioning of the soul’s three parts. When reason governs, spirit supports, and appetite obeys, the individual is just. Similarly, in the state, justice prevails when each class performs its proper role for the common good.

Justice, therefore, is not only social fairness but also inner harmony — the right ordering of the self.

Modern significance:

Justice remains central to political philosophy, ethics, and law. Plato’s view teaches that true justice begins with the individual and radiates outward into the community.

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The Interconnection of the Cardinal Virtues

Plato’s four virtues form a unified moral system. Wisdom provides moral direction, courage ensures perseverance, temperance maintains self-control, and justice harmonises them all. Each virtue relies on the others; one cannot be fully virtuous without all four.

This holistic view of virtue shows Plato’s belief that morality is not a collection of separate traits but a balanced state of being.

How Plato’s Ethics Link to Socrates and Aristotle

Plato’s ethical theory stands as a bridge between Socrates and Aristotle, forming the foundation of classical moral philosophy.

Socrates’ Influence

Plato’s teacher, Socrates, was the first to argue that virtue is a form of knowledge — that to know the good is to do the good. Socrates sought to attain this through dialogue (the Socratic Method). Plato inherited this belief and expanded it through his theory of the Forms, suggesting that wisdom allows one to perceive eternal truths such as justice and goodness.

In this way, Plato preserved Socrates’ moral intellectualism but gave it a metaphysical structure, grounding ethics in a universal reality beyond mere opinion.

Aristotle’s Development

Plato’s student, Aristotle, agreed that virtue is essential for a good life but diverged in his approach. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics turned Plato’s abstract ideals into a practical system of virtue ethics, focusing on habits and the “golden mean” — the balance between excess and deficiency.

Thus, where Plato sought harmony through reason and metaphysical truth, Aristotle sought it through practical wisdom (phronesis) and moral character developed by experience.

Together, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle represent three stages of ethical evolution:

• Socrates: Virtue as knowledge.
• Plato: Virtue as harmony guided by reason.
• Aristotle: Virtue as practice and balance.

Plato’s Cardinal Virtues in Modern Life

Though written in the 4th century BCE, Plato’s virtues still provide guidance in education, business ethics, leadership, and personal development.

• Wisdom informs ethical leadership.
• Courage drives moral activism.
• Temperance promotes well-being and balance.
• Justice ensures fairness and harmony.

In contemporary terms, Plato’s ethics echo in movements for social justice, environmental responsibility, and ethical governance. They call us to cultivate character before change.

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Critiques and Continuing Influence

Critics have argued that Plato’s system, particularly his “philosopher-king” ideal, risks elitism. However, the enduring influence of his ideas on Christian theology, Renaissance humanism, and modern virtue ethics shows their adaptability and depth.

Philosophers such as Aquinas, Kant, and Rawls have drawn from Plato’s moral framework, ensuring that his concept of virtue remains central to discussions about justice, morality, and the good society.

Living the Cardinal Values Today

Plato’s four cardinal virtues — wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice — are as relevant today as they were in ancient Athens. They offer a model for cultivating moral integrity and societal harmony, encouraging individuals to act thoughtfully, bravely, and fairly.

By integrating Plato’s ethics with the insights of Socrates and Aristotle, we find a comprehensive vision of human excellence: to know the good, to practise it courageously, and to live harmoniously with reason and virtue.

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Aristotle, Hermagoras, and The Seven Circumstances

What value can humans bring when AI can answer things so quickly? How can thinkers such as Aristotle, who lived on the planet thousands of years before computers, contribute to how we navigate our technological age? Well, the truth is that it is just this ancient wisdom that we need if we are going to succeed. As Ginni Rommetty, the former Executive Chairman of IBM, said,

“The key to success with AI is not just having the right data, but also asking the right questions.”

Engineering my way into philosophy

I majored in Civil Engineering at Edinburgh University for my four years there. But when I arrived, due to my grades, I was offered direct entry into the second year. These grades were much more of a reflection upon my excellent teachers than upon me (especially when it came to my Maths grade, which was frankly miraculous!) But I saw an opportunity presented by this offer and therefore immediately leapt at it.

I went into the office of my Director of Studies and duly proposed that instead of starting directly in the second year of engineering, I should study Ancient History and Archaeology instead. After all, if I did not need to do the first year of engineering, surely I was free to study other things? It was not a question that he was expecting. My request was so unusual that he did not really know what to say. The moment of confusion created by my question was just enough for me to persuade him that this subject swap was not just possible, but was actually a really good idea to broaden my education.

I have always loved history, and at that time, I was getting increasingly interested in philosophy too. Therefore, I was excited about getting the chance to delve into the thinking arising from the ancient world, and Greece in particular. After all, the system of thought born in Greece was foundational to the development of culture in Europe and the West.

Socrates: The Grandaddy of philosophy

When studying European ancient history there are some larger than life characters that you cannot get around. Visionaries such as Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar reshaped the physical and political landscape. Others, such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, redefined the conceptual and intellectual environment.

Socrates was immortalised in the idealistic writings of Plato (The Dialogues) and has become the hero and father of Western Philosophy.  His thinking contributed to the fields of ethics, logic, and pedagogy (teaching), to name but a few. I quickly fell in love with Socrates’ simple yet profound approach to life, and particularly his predilection for questions.

“I know you won’t believe me, but the highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others.” – Socrates

The Socratic Method

Socrates was most famous for being inquisitive.  Most notably, he developed the elenchus, the Socratic method, a technique that focuses on stimulating critical thinking. Central to the methodology is the idea of refining ideas to get closer to the absolute truth. This involves working towards stating an idea (thesis) clearly, challenging assumptions, and clarifying terminology. 

The method is now primarily linked with rhetoric and for use in debates between individuals holding opposing viewpoints.  But it was not just about setting out an argument; learning to ask the right questionswas key to its effectiveness.

The Socratic method is often used as a ‘negative’ question technique. In other words, it seeks to undermine or disprove an opposing hypothesis.  When the person being questioned has to admit their thinking is flawed, it exposes their wrong assumption and can often embarrass them.  Big-shot lawyers in Hollywood courtroom dramas demonstrate the extreme of this when played out dramatically (think A Few Good Men or 12 Angry Men).

Socrates happily asked questions of just about anything and anybody. Socrates’ subtle yet ironic questions often revealed other people’s ignorance.  This was helpful in unpicking wrong assumptions, but he became known as the ‘Gadfly’ for his persistent interrogation.  Unfortunately, his questions eventually goaded so many prominent Athenians that he was sentenced to death.

Thus, he proved that asking effective questions does not necessarily make you popular. One must be careful not to make people feel or appear stupid. Remember also, people hold dearly to certain assumptions or beliefs. Therefore, it is important to apply emotional intelligence when using this methodology.

Aristotle, Hermagoras, and the Seven Circumstances

The Socratic method is a powerful technique, but there are situations where one does not start with a hypothesis. Later philosophers can help us here. Others looked into more open methods of asking questions that went beyond debate and rather explored more general inquiry.

Aristotle is attributed with being the first person to define the Septem Circumstantiae. These “Seven Circumstances” are in Book 3 of his Nicomachean Ethics. These are the core seven questions that are necessary to understand and explain a situation. 

Hermagoras of Temnos (as mentioned by Cicero) clarified these seven circumstances for use in rhetoric and storytelling.  He listed them as: quis, quid, quando, ubi, cur, quem ad modum, quibus adminiculis.  These translate as who, what, when, where, why, in what way, and by what means. Cicero went on to use a similar system, which is the basis of what we know today as ‘the 5Ws’ of what, where, when, who, why (and how).

More recently, journalist and poet Rudyard Kipling immortalised the concept of the 5Ws when he wrote,

“I keep six honest serving-men, (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who.”

The Five Ws (and an H)

Journalists in the twentieth century adopted the Five Ws as an interrogative style. It is an approach that is useful for getting the facts of a story. Police officers, researchers, crisis and incident managers, and others have used the same technique. For example, I was taught to use this method when I trained as a Bomb Disposal Officer. In this context, the 5Ws became more specifically:

• Who is it about (who is involved)?
• What happened (what’s the story)?
• When did it take place?
• Where did it take place?
• How did it happen?
• Why did it happen?

The idea behind this interrogative technique is to ask open questions. Therefore, as far as possible, one can build up an unbiased or uninfluenced statement of the facts. The principle of using open questions, like those captured in the 5Ws, is that you cannot answer any of them with just a “yes” or a “no”. An open question invites elaboration and the divulgence of more facts.

When you are trying to look at something holistically and understand a situation, it is important to get information (not just the answers you want). Therefore, a framework such as the 5Ws can help to give a framework to our thinking, improve our planning, problem-solving and decision-making.

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Beyond the 5Ws question technique

The 5Ws approach is specifically tailored towards information gathering about a past event. It is good at gaining situational awareness in the now.

But if we are trying to think forward, to plan and make decisions, we need to go further. My experience has shown that by adding another common interrogative word, that of which, to the 5Ws and an H. The “Which?” question helps us to consider the concept of ‘selection’.  This helps us to think about options and risks.

Seven questions to unlock understanding of the world

So, we find that we go almost full circle and end up with seven basic questions that reflect those asked by Aristotle and Hermagoras over 2000 years ago; a list comprised of the seven most used interrogatives of the English language: what, where, when, who, why, how, and which. 

Therefore, if you want a simple way to improve your understanding of a situation or to think through a decision, you cannot do much better than coming back to these fundamental philosophical questions. Use the seven interrogative words to formulate open questions and therefore elicit the information you need. 

It just goes to show that, as Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun!”

Your personal values are important as they are the things that guide you in life, particularly when you make choices. This YouTube video gives an introduction to how you can work out your top 3 values:

This video looks at 4Ps that can help understand and identify your personal values. These are:

1. Personal stories
2. Priorities
3. Passions
4. Principles

You can find out more information in the related post by clicking on this link to read How to Discover Your Top 3 Personal Values.

Values are the principles and beliefs by which we live our lives and make our decisions. If you want to effectively lead yourself and lead others then you need to be aware of what those personal values are.

Our values are also linked to how we feel. Think for a moment: are you feeling unhappy, distressed or dissatisfied about something?

If you are, then there is a good chance that your reality is not living up to your expectations. Economists and researchers Rakesh Sarin and Manel Baucells worked out the fundamental equation of happiness was: Happiness = Reality – Expectations.

“Happiness equals reality minus expectations”

Rakesh Sarin and Manel Baucells

For example, it might be that you are unhappy about your:

• Career
• Relationships
• Habits
• Finances
• Work-life balance
• Health and fitness
• Life purpose and direction

The actual reason why you are unhappy

The usual reaction at this stage is to set a goal and achieve something that we think will make us feel happy. But, this often does not solve the underlying issue as unhappiness, and our expectations about being content, are actually rooted in our values. Our dissatisfaction is often caused by a misalignment between your core values and what is happening in your life and work at the moment.

Therefore, even if you did set and achieve a goal without understanding this, you may well find you end up unhappy again. If you do not make a decision in the context of your key principles then it is likely you will make the wrong decision or not really solve the deeper cause of your unhappiness.

By understanding your values you are in a good place to make a change for the better. That is the reason for starting with asking the question ‘why?’ Why do we want something? Why do we feel that way? Why do we want to change? These are the questions that will help us understand our motivations and pick the right goals.

Understanding your own values or principles is therefore vital in order to be effective and happy. And that is not just me saying that. Ray Dalio shares his precepts in his book ‘Principles and urges others to discover theirs. Brene Brown evidences the importance of values in Dare to Lead and Steven R Covey argues for a model of leadership based on being Principle-Centred.

What are values or principles in life?

Value denotes a degree of importance. In monetary terms, we set a value on something by how much we are willing to pay for a product or service.

In moral terms, a value is an ideal that we give a high degree of importance. Values are the moral code that guides us, and the priorities that motivate us. They are the principles we uphold, the ethics and tenets that we believe in and ascribe to. These ideas are our rules of conduct and standards of behaviour.

If you do not know what your values are then it is very likely that you are living your life – whether you know it or not – according to other people’s principles or priorities.

“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.”

Brian Tracy

How do we express our principles?

There are values we hold personally and those we share corporately, be that with a team, community or organisation. They are often similar but expressed in subtly different ways. For example, common personal values might be expressed as kindness but a team might talk about respect for others. A person may value honesty whereas an organisation might express that as transparency.

David Brooks has formulated another way of looking at values, and that is resume values versus eulogy values. The differences are explored in his book The Road to Character and outlined in his TED Talk, “Should you live for your resume or your eulogy?”

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How do you assess your personal core values?

You can do an assessment of your values by examining different aspects of your life and looking for trends.  You may have a feel for the values you most relate to, but thinking about values through these different lenses will help you see which principles you really do embody or aspire towards.

In my experience, it is good to start with examining our:

• Personal Stories
• Priorities
• Passions and
• Principles

Personal Stories 

The amount of our character that is fixed at birth or developed by external influence has been a hotly contested subject for many years. We will not go into the ‘nature versus nurture’ arguments here, but it is relatively safe to say that our character is formed from a mixture of both innate qualities and our experiences.

There are various personality tests that you can do but one of the most instructive ways you can examine your character is by looking at the stories of your life.

Try to think about:

• When have you been most happy?
• Which achievement or experience are you most proud of?
• What has been your biggest success?
• What has been your biggest failure?
• When have you been most afraid and what do you fear most?
• Which thing in your past are you most ashamed of?

When reflecting on a personal story you can analyse it in this way:

• What was the situation?
• Which role did you have to play and what did you do?
• What was the result and what did you learn?

Certain themes and principles should emerge as you do this analysis.

Priorities

One simple and effective way to examine our priorities is to see where we use our resources. We invest our time and money in what we value.

Money

Where does your cash go? Money provides a very tangible expression of what we prioritise. Have a look at your bank account and credit card bills. Even how much you spend on essentials and where you shop can be telling. Food, clothing, and shelter are essential but buying luxury options are not. What do you choose to spend more or less on?

Do some analysis and ask:

• How do you budget or divide up what you spend?
• How much do you spend on different things? (E.g. debts, savings, utilities, rent/mortgage, holidays/travel, clothes, leisure activities etc.)

Time

Time is a truly finite resource. How you spend your time will give you a good indication of what you really value. Take a look at your diary or think back and answer the following:

• What amount of time goes to various activities each day and each week? (Working, sleeping, eating, leisure activities etc.)
• Within your work time, how does it break down? (Emails, speaking to people/phone calls, meetings, writing, planning, business development, people development, etc.)
• Which roles do you play in life and how do you prioritise them? (Employee, leader, spouse, parent, friend, child, creator, team member, other?)
• What habits or routines do you have?

Passions

Our passions are the things that drive us emotionally. Our passions either draw us towards or away from something or someone. Often we don’t analyse these thoughts and they can go unnoticed but if you reflect on your thoughts and dreams, beliefs and influences then you will gain a deeper understanding of your passions.

Thoughts and Dreams

What we spend our time thinking, dreaming or worrying about can also tell us a lot. Think about:

• What are you hoping to achieve in life?
• When you daydream what is it about?
• If time and money were not limited what would you do?
• Imagine that you have one wish that would immediately be fulfilled, what would it be?
• What are you anxious or stressed about right now?

Beliefs

What are your theological, metaphysical, philosophical and political beliefs? Ask yourself:

• What are the values of the politicians or political parties you vote for?
• Where do you put your trust for the future?
• When something goes wrong, what or who do you turn to for answers and support?
• What makes you joyful?
• What makes you angry?

Influences

There are many external influences on our lives and predominantly these are people we know or respect. Think about the following:

• Who do you follow?
• Who do you want to be like?
• Which are your favourite biographies?
• What are the books and stories you like most?
• Which films do you like most and why?
• What are the principles of your family and friends?

Principles

Having thought through your personal stories, how you spend your time and money, your dreams, your beliefs and your influences, you should be a much better place to assess what your values really are.

What trends do you see appearing and which words help to sum those up?

“Principles are fundamental truths that serve as the foundations for behavior that gets you what you want out of life. They can be applied again and again in similar situations to help you achieve your goals.”

Ray Dalio

What are examples of values or principles?

The list of words that we could use to express our values is almost endless but sometimes we can struggle to come up with the right one.

Here is a list of more than 150 more common values that will help to prompt you:

Accountability	Discipline	Humour	Respect
Accuracy	Discretion	Humility	Restraint
Achievement	Diversity	Independence	Results-oriented
Adventure	Dynamism	Ingenuity	Rigour
Altruism	Economy	Inner Harmony	Romance
Appearance	Effectiveness	Inquisitiveness	Security
Ambition	Efficiency	Insightfulness	Self-actualization
Autonomy	Elegance	Integrity	Self-control
Assertiveness	Empathy	Intelligence	Self-expression
Balance	Enjoyment	Intimacy	Selflessness
Beauty	Enthusiasm	Intuition	Self-reliance
Being the best	Environment	Joy	Sensitivity
Belonging	Equality	Justice	Serenity
Boldness	Excellence	Leadership	Service
Calmness	Excitement	Legacy	Shrewdness
Carefulness	Expertise	Love	Simplicity
Challenge	Exploration	Loyalty	Soundness
Cheerfulness	Expressiveness	Making a difference	Speed
Clarity	Fairness	Mastery	Spirituality
Commitment	Faith	Merit	Spontaneity
Community	Family	Nature	Stability
Communication	Flexibility	Obedience	Status
Compassion	Fidelity	Openness	Strategic
Competitiveness	Fitness	Order	Strength
Connectivity	Fluency	Originality	Structure
Consistency	Focus	Partnership	Success
Contentment	Freedom	Patriotism	Support
Continuous Improvement	Friendship	Perfection	Teamwork
Contribution	Fulfilment	Personal growth	Thankfulness
Control	Fun	Piety	Thoroughness
Cooperation	Generosity	Positivity	Thoughtfulness
Correctness	Goodness	Power	Timeliness
Courtesy	Grace	Practicality	Tolerance
Creativity	Growth	Privacy	Tradition
Curiosity	Happiness	Preparedness	Trustworthiness
Decisiveness	Hard Work	Professionalism	Truth
Democraticness	Health	Prudence	Understanding
Dependability	Helping Society	Quality-orientation	Uniqueness
Determination	Holiness	Recognition	Unity
Devoutness	Honesty	Reliability	Usefulness
Diligence	Honour	Resourcefulness	Vitality

What are your top 3 personal values?

Pick the 3 most important principles, those with the highest score and correlation after looking at the various aspects above.

Why 3? Because:

“If you have more than three priorities, you have no priorities”

Brené Brown, Dare to Lead

Three is a powerful number for various reasons (to find our more read The Rule of 3).

One of the best ways to identify your values is to follow this easy process:

1. print off a list (such as the one above) and then cut them up so you have one single value per piece of paper or card.
2. Now sort those values into three equal piles (most important, less important, least important)
3. Take the ‘most important’ pile and discard the rest.
4. Go through steps 2 and 3 until you are left with just 3 values.

How do you define or refine those principles?

For each of the 3 words that you have chosen, write your own definition. Think:

• What does the word mean to you?
• Which actions or behaviours display your defined value?
• What other word or words would you add to the initial one to make it embody the value most clearly?

The idea here is to define how you actually live out your value. Simon Sinek puts it in this way:

“For values or guiding principles to be truly effective they have to be verbs. It’s not “integrity,” it’s “always do the right thing.” It’s not “innovation,” it’s “look at the problem from a different angle.” Articulating our values as verbs gives us a clear idea – we have a clear idea of how to act in any situation.”

Simon Sinek

Next, put your principles in priority order. This is important as there will be decisions where you have to know the most important factor. To help you try asking these questions:

• If you could satisfy only one of the values which would you choose?
• When a situation causes a conflict between two of your values (for example career and family) what would you do?

Congratulations!

“It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.”
― Roy Disney

Once you know your values you can use them to guide you in making decisions, setting goals and living a more fulfilling life. You are likely to continue to refine your list over time so it is worth reviewing whenever you review your plans.

We have to make an active choice. If we go with the flow then we can be swayed by wrong beliefs and unhelpful thoughts that can create bad habits, wrong values and an unhappy destiny. Or, if we actively work to define our values, we can build useful habits, have positive words and actions and create positive thoughts and liberating beliefs. We all have a personal responsibility for our destiny.

Taking things further

You have made a big step towards understanding your personal values and this will really help you. It does not end there though. In my experience, understanding values is an iterative process; you will refine your principles every time to take time to really examine them.

Your values create a firm platform for your decisions and plans. Question is, now you have the foundations, what will you build?

You may want to start making a plan for what you want to do next and if so you will find my post on making an action plan useful.

You may want also want some help, delving deeper into your values and identifying your goals. I have the pleasure of seeing amazing, positive, transformations in the individuals and organisations I work with. If you would like some assistance too, in person or online, then please do drop me a line. You can email me via the contact page.

And if you would like to hear more about how I discovered my personal values, check out this video:

How values, principles and ideals impact our choices

What is the most important decision you have ever made? It might have been choosing your romantic partner, selecting your school, or deciding upon your career. How did you make that decision? Whatever process you applied – consciously or otherwise – to your choice, that decision was informed by your personal values. This is what values-based decision-making or principle-based decision-making is all about; understanding how our precepts and beliefs inform our judgements.

Why is values-based decision-making important?

We might think that our biggest decisions would be based upon pure logic and critical reasoning, but we would be wrong. Just think for a moment; if your spouse or partner asked you why you wanted to be with them, how would you reply? Would you immediately say,

“Well, I considered the factors, and – following an analytical process – decided that you were the most rational choice of partner, presenting the best statistical chance of a successful union (given the limited alternatives)”?

I doubt that would get a kindly reception.

You are more likely to answer that it is because you love them. But then you must think about the follow-up question of why do you love them? When you explore that question you can see that, knowingly, or otherwise, you have made a values-based decision. The reasons for loving someone are bound up with your principles, beliefs, and passions.

When I first started to think about decision-making, during my time as a bomb disposal officer, I did use to think that decision-making was largely a rational process. It took some near-death experiences for me to realise that the neuroscience of decision-making is much more complicated. Slowly, I came to appreciate the important psychology of heuristics and bias, as well as understanding the importance of assumptions and how values underpin our decision-making.

Values, principles, and ethics in decision-making

The book that introduced me to the concept of principle-based decision making was The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Stephen Covey points out:

“We are not in control, principles control. We control our actions, but the consequences that flow from these actions are controlled by Principles.”

Stephen R Covey 

So, the fact is that – whether we know it or not – our personal values drive our decision-making and influence the choices we make. But this is not a new discovery and Covey was not alone in this idea. For example, Gandhi said,

“Your values become your destiny.”

Gandhi

And this school of thought goes back much further. The idea of making right judgements is the field of ethics in philosophy. In Western philosophy, it was Socrates, Plato and Aristotle – the so-called founding fathers of ethics – who started this tradition.

Ethical decision-making is not just about choices in medicine (such as when to end care) or complex moral conundrums faced by society (such as assisted suicide). You cannot separate ethics from personal values and our everyday behaviour. As well as the moral code of the society we live in, we all have our own inner sense of morality that informs our actions. The ability to make these choices, according to our values, is inextricably tied to our understanding of freedom. Aristotle summed it up this way:

“Freedom is obedience to self-formulated rules.”

Aristotle

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How do values influence our choices?

My favourite analogy for personal values is that they are like a compass. The whole point of a magnetic compass is that it points to the North, no matter which way we are facing. Even when we cannot see properly – for example, when stuck in fog or deep in a jungle – the compass gives us reliable data about our direction.

Personal values do the same for us. Whatever our circumstances, our values are an inner compass, informing us of whether the direction we are choosing is in line with principles or not.

“I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.”

Michelle Obama

To complete the analogy, it is worth remembering that a compass can be affected by magnetic interference and occasionally not be trusted. In the same way, even our moral compass can be thrown off by cognitive bias. That is why no one aspect of decision-making can be considered without respect to other facets. We must be aware of all the various neural processes if we really want to make good decisions.

Values in decision-making for organisations 

Ray Dalio is an expert in how values affect decision-making in an organisation. In his book, Principles, he shares the values that he has identified and implemented – both in personal and business life. What makes Ray Dalio’s company Bridgewater, so impressive is the way they have built their values into the very fabric of the business.

For many organisations, their company values are just nice-sounding universal values (such as trust or creativity) that have been decided upon by an executive, but with little thought to how these values should truly affect the culture of an organisation. Many employees can barely remember their company values, let alone explain how they should inform their judgements and behaviours. Not so at Bridgewater.

Building a company from the values up

At Bridgewater, not only did they identify the company values, but they also then built organisational processes to reflect those principles, even writing code to embed these principles into automated decision-making. With each decision made these values are tested, the results examined, and the algorithms refined in a constant process of improvement.

This approach, backed up by the transparent way Bridgewater makes choices, empowers people at every level in the business to make decisions. Decision-making is not the preserve of management or the executive suite. At Bridgewater, this empowerment has fuelled effectiveness, growth and profitability.

As Roy Disney, the co-founder of another values-driven company observes,

“It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.”

Roy Disney

It is worth reflecting upon. You can ask these questions:

• What are the principles of your organisation and how do they inform processes?
• Do the actions and behaviours of employees reflect the core values?
• Are people empowered to make decisions measured against stated principles?

Principle-based leadership

This sort of organisation is led by a leader who understands the importance of values; someone who knows their own principles and lives according to them. We call that integrity; someone who walks the talk, and integrity is one of the most frequently listed essential traits of a leader.

Stephen Covey wrote about this sort of leadership in his other popular book, The Principle-Centred Leader, but this approach to leadership also has a lot in common with servant leadership, transformational leadership and authentic leadership, all of which emphasise leaders of moral principle and purpose.

So how do you start?

So, having seen that understanding personal values is important as they affect our choices, what do we do about it? The first step in making better decisions is to identify the principles that guide you in your judgements. This will help both you and the people you work with. As Ray Dalio points out,

“The most important thing is that you develop your own principles and ideally write them down, especially if you are working with others.”

Ray Dalio

Take a moment to think. Can you write down your top values? Try to think of the top principles that you adhere to. I recommend 5 to 10 as a maximum. If you are a bit stuck then there are various tools, exercises that can help you do this and if you would like some help then read my post on What Are Your Personal Values?

How to practically apply personal values in decision-making

Once you have your list of personal values, there are some simple, practical ways you can employ them to inform your decision-making. For example:

Values Venn Diagram

Create a venn diagram that shows how your core values overlap. You can then think of past experiences, upcoming events, roles you play and choices your make, and plot them on the Venn diagram to indicate how these different situations utilise or impact your principles.

In theory, the intersection of your values, where they are all being employed to the max, is a sweet spot. This should be a space of fulfilment, flow and effectiveness. If you are trying to work out the ideal career or vocation, then this is a good place to start.

For example, my core values are leadership, service and adventure. Therefore, it is no surprise that I served as an officer in the military, as this profession sits at the nadir of my values.

You can also consider the factors relayed in my post on:

How do you find a job that you love?

Principle Driven Courses of Action

Another way to use values is to use them as factors when weighing up different courses of action. When facing a choice or considering a goal, there are often multiple options we can pursue. To decide between these potential paths, we can score each option against our key principles. A course of action that scores the highest, according to the values you choose, is likely to be the preferred choice.

You can read more about developing and choosing between courses of actions in my post:

Choose the Best Course of Action to Achieve Your Goal

Values Dashboard

Another way you can use your personal principles is to think of them as a dashboard, with each value as a gauge that monitors levels in real time. This is a useful way of thinking about how our values are impacted on a more continual basis, day-to-day.

In this way, the console helps us maintain a life balance. I like to imagine them like a dashboard in a plane, where my values gauges sit alongside other dials that measure other important factors such as rest, nutrition and emotions. You can read more about how to use this approach in:

How to Maintain Balance in Life to Ensure Success

Making Good Decisions and Choices

When I was about ten years old, I decided to run away from home and ran (unexpectedly) into an ethical issue. I can’t remember exactly why I wanted to run away (as my life wasn’t exactly bad) but I do remember that I strolled out of the house carrying nothing but a penknife. I was obviously confident in my survival skills and overly trusting that warm weather would continue!

With my elementary school logic, I decided that a hole in the ground – in the woods not far from my house – was the obvious place to start my new life. As this den was also known to my friends it was not long before one stumbled across me as I cleared the twigs from my future bed space.

“What are you doing?” My friend asked me. “Making camp.” I replied, “I have run away from home so don’t tell anyone!”

My friend wandered off and I continued working. Then, about twenty minutes later my friend arrived back. Behind him stood my dad. I remember looking into my friend’s eyes, feeling betrayed but also knowing they had done the right thing. I was outraged and relieved all at the same time.

What are ethics and why are they important?

At that stage in life, I had no idea what ethics was, but I did intuitively know that my friend made a courageous moral decision that day. Ethics is simply that; it is making good or right choices. That includes big ethical dilemmas, such should we limit artificial intelligence or genetic engineering, right through to more everyday choices, such as whether you help yourself to extra stationery at the office for personal use at home.

Making good decisions is not easy. We might have an intuitive feel of what is right or wrong but sometimes the answer is not obvious. This is particularly the case when various values come under tension.

Taking my running away as an example, my friend had to balance the value of loyalty against that of care. Loyalty might have persuaded them to keep quiet as I had shared something in confidence, but out of care for me they knew the right thing was to tell my parents.

Therefore, sometimes values on their own are not sufficient. In these moments, where good values are in tension, we can employ a decision-making tool to help make the best ethical choice.

How to make ethical decisions

One such technique has been developed by The Ethics Centre in Australia. The Ethics Centre is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes the use of ethics in everyday life and decision-making. They suggest a decision-making model based on considering values, principles, and purpose.

In this context (and using the wording of The Ethics Centre):

• Values tell us what’s good – they’re the things we strive for, desire, and seek to protect.
• Principles tell us what’s right – outlining how we may or may not achieve our values.
• Purpose is your reason for being – it gives life to your values and principles.

Of course, to employ this methodology you must first know what your values, principles and purpose are, so let’s take some time to consider each in turn.

Values

Values are things we give worth, things we prioritise. The values (or virtues) we aspire to come in different forms, such as:

• Personal values (the ones we prioritise as an individual)
• Corporate values (the ones we hold in a community or organization such as a company’s values)
• Universal values (ones that are held in common more globally such as the UN Charter of Human Rights)

Therefore, the starting point, when making a decision, is working out which values are the most important ones in the circumstance. If you have never properly identified your values, then I would recommend you discover your top 3 personal values.

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Principles

Specific principles help us think about what is right or wrong and, in this way, they complement values. These principles are essentially algorithms for behaviour. For example, when working in the British Army and considering a course of action, the principles I was taught to apply can be summed up in the following question:

“Is this action lawful, appropriate, and professional?”

Many of our principles have a basis in religion. For example, one of the principles I (like many) try to live by is the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule is the idea of treating others as we would like to be treated and this precept is reflected in various spiritual traditions. For example, the Hindu Mahabharata states:

“One should never do something to others that one would regard as an injury to one’s own self.”

Mahābhārata 13.114.8

Or in the teachings of the Buddha:

“Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”

Udanavarga 5:18

And similarly, Jesus of Nazareth said:

“Do to others what you want them to do to you.”

Matthew 7:12

So, as with values, there are some common themes, but it is also worth reflecting upon the specific principles you hold to. This can be done systematically if you take time to reflect on how you make decisions. This reflective process will start to reveal the underlying principles you use.

If you would like to explore more on identifying and developing principles, then I recommend reading Ray Dalio’s book Principles where you can see how this process can be done on both a personal and organisational level.

Purpose

Similarly, to values and principles, there can be overlapping ideas of purpose. These might be:

• Individual purpose – your own sense of personal purpose
• Professional purpose – the specific purpose we have in a given work role
• Organisational purpose – the mission statement of a team or business your work for

To understand purpose and make it measurable it is advisable to create a clear and concise mission statement. A good purpose statement is a definition of success, within a given context.

For example, my own mission statement is:

 “To serve people by helping them unlock their leadership, in order to support them on their adventure.”

In this case, my personal purpose statement also encompasses my top three values of service, leadership, and adventure (but this does not have to be the case). For example, Oprah Winfrey’s purpose statement is:

“To be a teacher. And to be known for inspiring my students to be more than they thought they could be.”

What I find useful about this (and good purpose statements in general) is they can give a measure of success against different time scales. Both the mission statements above can be used to consider achievement in a day, week, year, or lifetime. These statements also help to analyse whether decisions have worked towards the good and successful outcome of the stated purpose.

Factors that impact good decision-making and ethical choices

Even after identifying our values, principles, and purpose, or those specific to a given ethical problem, there are still factors that can impact making a good choice. Most of these factors relate to cognitive bias, the subconscious rules of thumb we use to help us make quick decisions.

To minimise the negative impacts of cognitive bias it is worth considering the following:

• Education and training. Learn about decision-making and the different types of cognitive bias
• Diversity of thought. Bring different perspectives to a team or decision
• Build a culture that allows challenge. Create a culture around you where people are more likely to challenge or call out bad behaviour and decisions (even if that is just a good friend who will be brutally honest with you)

The three things to help you make good ethical decisions

Therefore, if you want to make ethical decisions you need to first know your values, principles, and purpose. Then, while allowing for cognitive bias, you can then balance these three elements against each other to make your choice.

This does not mean you will immediately come up with an answer. If you are new to exploring values, principles, and purpose then that will likely throw up challenges and questions to work through before you even get back to the ethical problem you are facing!

But don’t despair. The search for good outcomes and truth is a journey, not a single destination. It should inspire personal reflection, critical thinking, and the sort of discourse that Socrates would be proud of. And that quality thinking leads to good actions, and as Martin Luther King said:

“The time is always right, to do what is right.”

I have had a fascination with philosophy, and particularly with Socrates, ever since winning the book, A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, as a prize at school. As someone passionate about personal development, and as a professional coach, it continues to amaze me how many important themes, such as self-inquiry, question technique and ethical decision-making, can be traced back to the thinking of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Socrates and the importance of self-improvement

Arguably, Socrates was the father of personal development as well as Western philosophy. He is most associated with the Greek aphorism, “know thyself” and is quoted as saying,

“To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom”

Socrates

This premise is echoed in personal development literature, such as Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which starts with mastery of self before moving onto success in the public field or in the leadership of others.

It is somewhat tautological to say that self-improvement should start with self, but it is a point that is often overlooked. All too often, when setting goals, we choose to focus on people around us. This might be in making unhealthy comparisons (a particular problem in the age of social media), blaming our situation on others, or endlessly seeking to fix everything around us, without doing any home maintenance.

To know that we have progressed – in whatever field we want to develop – we need to be able to manage a process of improvement. As the adage goes, “you can only manage what you can measure.” That being the case, when setting a goal, you need to define the start-state as well as the end-state. Self-examination should therefore be the first step of productive personal development. We start by working out where we are now. And the most important aspect of this self-examination is to identify the motivations, beliefs and ideals that inform our behaviours.

Socratic ethics, virtues, and values

Socrates, in his dialogues, sought to seek out and test the foundations on which people based their ideas and actions. He also believed there were right and wrong actions, good and bad decisions. In other words, he sought virtuous behaviour and ethical decision-making.

Socrates believed in an objective good, a standard of right and wrong. This contrasted with the Sophists who treated truth as relative. The Sophists were more concerned with eloquent debates and winning arguments; it was less important whether what they were arguing for was true or not. Today a Sophist might be compared to an unprincipled lawyer who is willing to defend anyone for the right price, or a rotten politician who is willing to say anything to bolster their position. Few of us would claim to know objective truth but fewer still are comfortable with such extremes of relativism. Most people prefer to have principles to live by.

Are there immutable and irrefutable principles? It is an excellent philosophical question and one that is still being asked. Socrates did not claim to know, or presume to dictate, the standard of absolute truth, but he always strove to find it. I think that is a great place to start. We can imitate the likes of Socrates by having the humility to admit we may not know the truth and that we are imperfect people. Add to this a curiosity to seek out the good and a determination to change, and we find ourselves describing what today we call a growth mindset.

We might not have thought of it in these terms before, but this search for truth is – in philosophical terms – about ethics. It is about making the right choices. If these choices are about acting beyond pure self-interest, then we are also talking about virtues. And there is the rub. A lot of what we desire might be purely selfish; it may even be base or wrong. Self-examination can require us to be brutally honest with ourselves about what we value and why.

Integrity and leadership

Leadership also starts with self. If you cannot lead yourself well, how can you expect others to follow you? That is why leadership itself is a development journey akin to broader self-improvement; it is a path of learning much more than it is a role or title. Which ones again leads us back to the need for self-inquiry and the need to ask some questions.

If you compare lists of leadership traits, probably the most common trait you will come across is integrity. In my military career, it was certainly considered the most important of leadership traits as a failure of integrity was the quickest way to lose credibility as a commander.

Integrity is about walking the talk; about acting in accordance with the standards that you set. But this begs the question, what is the right standard? In theory, a bad boss could have integrity of a sort if they acted in accordance with their ideals, even if bad ones. So, integrity must be coupled with the idea of good leadership, not just effective management. And hence we find ourselves back in the realms of ethics, virtues, and values again; as we need to know our principles to act in alignment with them, and the precepts we follow should be good ones.

Socratic questioning

Similarly, to Confucius and Buddha, Socrates’ style of pedagogy was through inquiry. In other words, he taught by asking questions. In this way, I like to think that Socrates is the grandfather of coaching as well as philosophy and self-improvement!

Socrates developed the elenchus or Socratic question technique. The aim of this technique was to clarify someone’s position on a subject and then question the foundational assumptions of the idea to test its logic. The technique has been adapted and used in diverse fields such as debating, legal cross-examination and coaching. If you are curious about the world and like to understand ideas and test beliefs, then it is an important tool – even if just to use in everyday conversation.

“The highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others.” 

Socrates

In this context, we can use the same process to question ourselves. If we do not have someone to help us, such as a coach or counsellor, we can do some self-reflection. Using a journal or taking notes can be helpful in this process. Here is a simplified way to use the Socratic method when using it for self-examination:

Reflect

Reflect upon a statement or a decision that you have made. Some of the most insightful statements and decisions to investigate are the more negative ones. For example, we might choose not to do something, saying “I can’t do that!” Hold that thought or write it down.

Refine

The next step is to refine. Here the context of the word refine is like that of refining precious metal; the aim here is to expose our thinking to the flame, to burn away untruths and remove the impurities from our thinking.

To do this we must examine the assumptions that have informed our words and actions. If we don’t think we can do something, why is that? What is the belief or feeling that underpins this? Some assumptions are reasonable, some are simply false. The purpose of this stage is to sift what is true from what is not.

Re-state

Once we have examined the thinking behind our statement or decision, we can re-state it, bringing in our new knowledge. If there was a false assumption identified, it might be we can turn the statement on its head. We might be saying “I can” instead of “I can’t”.

Repeat

The next step is to further examine the new statement. Are there further assumptions that need to be identified and tested? In this way the process is like the 5 Whys interrogative technique; we keep on asking the questions until we get to the fundamental issue. As we delve ever further into our thinking, we should be able to identify the core beliefs that shape our thinking, the standards that drive our behaviour and the values that inform our decisions.

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Know thyself

Socrates commitment to enquiry, truth and ethics got him into trouble. He was nicknamed the gadfly; an annoying biting insect, by self-important and self-proclaimed wise people. They did not like to be exposed by Socrates as his questioning revealed their fallacies and undermined their position. He so challenged the beliefs and norms of his day that he was sentenced to death. His integrity was amply demonstrated in his unwillingness to back down in his search for truth.

Revealing the truth can be uncomfortable and maintaining our integrity often comes at personal cost. Self-inquiry can be a humbling process, but it is a vital one if we truly want to be happy in who we are and successful in what we do.

So, be prepared to be confronted with some brutal facts as you begin your self-examination. And don’t just make it a one-off, instead, develop a habit of challenging your own thinking. For all of us, whether in leadership positions or not, this process of reflection is a vital part of self-improvement.

Be like Socrates and seek to know thyself.