Giving Voice to Values

How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What's Right

Yale UP, 2010

15 min read

10 take-aways

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Find the courage of your convictions and, while you’re at it, find your convictions.

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Most people know the difference between right and wrong, but far fewer have the courage to act on their convictions when the stakes seem high, especially in the workplace. Babson College researcher Mary C. Gentile lucidly outlines and discusses the fundamentals of the “Giving Voice to Values” (GVV) curriculum she launched at the Aspen Institute in conjunction with Yale University. This ethics-based course of study is now part of more than 140 college-level business education programs worldwide. If you’ve ever kept silent despite your better judgment, GVV strategies can help you develop the skills and tools you need to speak up and take action. Gentile provides examples of how real people have dealt with complex values-based issues in corporate settings and offers a robust menu of self-assessment exercises to illuminate the discourse. getAbstract believes anyone in the workforce at any level will find great value in this approach to living and working in accord with your principles.

Summary

The Underlying Premise of “Giving Voice to Values”

Across cultures, most people feel a strong sense of right and wrong. When facing an ethical dilemma, they generally want to do the right thing. Yet they often fail to follow through for fear of negative repercussions, especially at work. Perhaps you chose an unethical path in a past situation, but you’ve made better choices other times, so you know you can act on your values.

Most management schools’ ethics classes focus on various models of logical thinking that can help you make an informed choice about the right course of action. However, these courses often fail to teach you how to implement your decisions. The Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curriculum differs from standard ethics classes because it assumes that you already know the right thing to do and that now you need help with the next step – transforming your intent into appropriate, effective action.

GVV’s ultimate goal is to enable people to make positive change inside organizations by using “problem definition, creative problem solving, constructive engagement, persuasion, reasoning, personal example and leadership.”

“The Thought Experiment”

About the Author

Mary C. Gentile, who holds her PhD in humanities, directs the Giving Voice to Values curriculum at Babson College, where she is a senior research scholar. Previously, she taught for 10 years at Harvard Business School.

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A. F. 7 years ago

How to evaluate your personal act?
The hard part how to find your voice and organize your thoughts.
A. 1 decade ago

to act on your own values is an encourage act also it is a powerfull skill, once you have distinguished between moral and ethic values of course. People use to have different moral values.
Anyway, we have to find out the way to match our own ethic values with the company values; when it happens the organizational enviroment will be better.
A. 1 decade ago

Interesting issue. However, the book would be even greater if, besides instructing readers the best way to voice up their values in the organisation, it also helps them how to act in case there are gaps between their values and the ones of their bosses, their subordinates, their colleagues and above of all, their organisation. For example, how to effectively get others buy into one's value system, or how to bridge the value gap etc.

Mary C. Gentile