I was doing some correspondence with another career management blogger (Sklover Working Wisdom) and in the correspondence, Alan noted that “We are of the view that value must precede success.”

That statement is simple, but lost in the noise of business competitiveness. We validate our processes, increase our capitalization, determine our job skills, interpret corporate speak, and leverage our networking. But none of that means much unless we create value.

Creating value is an important deliverable to a wide ranging audience:

• We must create value to our network as our network is our lifeblood of contacts and future work.
• We must create value to our family as those relationships provide the base of our work and life.
• We must create value to ourselves so that we know each of us is a good person with valuable strengths to share with others.
• We must provide value to those who employ us so that there is a reward for their risk in our believing in our work.

Too often value is simply viewed as earnings earned, dividends paid, or work completed. But, really, value is the service that we provide to others to help them in their life and work.

We can get caught up in the corporate speak of value to the shareholder, optimizing our processes, and creating a culture of innovation. None of that means much unless you can help the person you are dealing with right now with the value of the work only you can do.

How many ways do you create value for others in your life?

Scot

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