Violating Your Values

What happens if for some reason you violate your values? Take, for example, a businessman who violates one or more of his values to make a sale, or just to get ahead.

Violation of values can cause depression, guilt, anger and resentment (just to name a few of the side effects). Victory can taste bitter if you violate your fundamental values to win. The side effects can be even worse if others witness your actions. Regardless of how well you cover your tracks, someone will always know what has happened - even if that person is you. This reminds me of a verse my parents taught me: "Be sure that your sins will find you out."

A victory that can be credited, in part or in whole, to some violation of values will destroy your credibility and your positive influence over others. Most great scandals in recent times can be tracked to the violation of fundamental values. Take, for example, former US presidents Nixon and Clinton, Jimmy Baker, Jimmy Swaggart, Enron and WorldCom. In each of these cases, the fundamental values of people, organizations, corporations or countries were violated. This violation resulted, among other things, in the loss of credibility of the leaders involved, and in many cases it destroyed the lives of those leaders.

Keep in mind, however, that should you make a mistake and violate a value it does not mean that you are forever doomed. What it does mean is that you must spend time reestablishing your values, and aligning your actions with those values. You may never again attain the level of influence that you enjoyed before the violation occurred, or you might possibly attain a higher level of positive influence. It depends on how hard you work at it.

Chuck Colson is an excellent example of this. Implicated and indicted in the Watergate scandal, he ended up serving time in jail. There he realized that he had not violated just one of his values, in the quest for power he had, over time, sold out his values completely. Winifred Gallagher describes Colson as follows: "Charles Colson would have beat his grandmother to death when he was with Nixon... However, the Watergate event changed him completely and since his release from prison, he has positively influenced more people than he ever would have as part of the Nixon administration... He probably always had a very emotional, intense temperament, but now he has different enemies and friends. His nature didn't change - he just does something else with all that zeal. One's mode of engagement with life may not alter much. But one's focus can."

How do values affect you as you strive for victory? What can you do to ensure that your values remain intact while you struggle to succeed in your endeavors? Is it even possible to attain victory while keeping your values intact?

In most cases, it is possible to maintain your values and still win. If you have to violate your values to succeed, it is better to lose. Losing while retaining your values and integrity is better than violating your values to "win." This relates back to the definition of value: "A value is an abstract concept that a person is willing to embrace at the expense of personal comfort." If you are not willing to maintain a value at the expense of personal comfort, maybe the value in question is not one of yours.