Values and Strengths

What one does well--even very well and successfully--may not fit with one's value system.

A person's strengths and the way that person performs rarely conflict; the two are complementary.  But there is sometimes a conflict between a person's values and his or her strengths.  What one does well--even very well and successfully--may not fit with one's value system.  In that case, the work may not appear to be worth devoting one's life to (or even a substantial portion thereof).

If I may, allow me to interject a personal note.  Many years ago, I too had to decide between my values and what I was doing successfully.  I was doing very well as a young investment banker in London in the mid 1930s, and the work clearly fit my strengths.  Yet I did not see myself making a contribution as an asset manager. People, I realized, were what I valued, and I saw not point in being the richest man in the cemetery.  I had not money an no other job prospects.  Despite the continuing Depression, I quit--and it was the right thing to do.  

ACTION POINT: Values, in other words, are and should be the ultimate test.