Value Education - Your brand ambassador

"How did the Physics classes go?", I asked my daughter.  She walked up to me and said that at College they have these Value Education classes.  Somehow she felt that these were very useful to her and to her classmates in general.  She asked me as to how people use this education at work.  I told her that most corporates have a set of Values by which they operate.  "If you read these values you understand that they are all based on the principles that you are studying in the Value Education classes", I told her.

This incident got me thinking.  Most of the time, as parents, we are asking our kids as to how they have done in their course examinations.  We always focus on the subjects that will get them admission in to other universities or jobs in companies.  These universities and companies seem to focus on subjects like mathematics, science or commerce.  They do not focus on what these children learnt in their Value Education classes.  If most corporates are so focused on Values and actually pay so much attention to them, then why are they are not focused on what these children have learnt from a Values perspective?  Just think about it - if you are someone who is joining a University to do a degree program or have just passed out of University and taken up a job - which University or company actually asked you to talk on your values and your opinion on such Values?

Somewhere, I tend to believe that only few Universities and Companies put their money where their mouth is by focusing on Values.  For most, it is more a paper exercise.

So, what is the use of these sets of Values for a company?  These Values, if embodied well in to the organization, set the real culture of the organization.  If leaders in the organization walk the talk, demonstrate that these Values are critical to them and follow these Values in their day to day activities and interactions at office, it sets the Culture within the organization.  This Culture is essential and critical for any organization to survive in the long run.  This Culture, in my opinion, is probably the best brand ambassador for any organization.

I was talking to few people last week and they told me how a Montessori School where their children study has few good points but the one that really stands out is "Honesty".  They all called it an "Honest School".  They felt proud that their children studied in that school.

As I walked out of that meeting, I called my wife and told her how the small school that she runs is known as "the honest school" to few people.  The Values that your organization is known by do become the real brand ambassador.