Being a business owner is unique, and being in a business partnership with your spouse is even more so. What is the crucial ingredient to thriving in this dual role? Understanding and honouring your values, as well as those of your spouse. This understanding is key to creating a successful business and a strong marriage.
Values are often talked about in terms of attributes like honesty, integrity, and teamwork. But there’s a different angle to values, an angle that can have a significant impact on your business, relationship, and ultimately, your world.
John Demartini, a human behaviour expert, provides some profound insights on values. I strongly recommend carving out some time to explore www.drdemartini.com and absorb his knowledge on how values guide our lives and businesses. His DVD set titled ‘Understanding Family Dynamics’ is particularly enlightening for couples in business together.
Values serve as our internal compass, guiding what we invest our time, energy, and resources into. They often spring from our perceived ‘voids’, the things we feel are lacking in our lives or our businesses. The things we feel are most missing become our most important values.
Our highest values govern our decisions, actions, business strategies, and partnerships. They are, in essence, the masterminds behind our business trajectory. While our values can evolve over time, we usually retain a few core values as constants.
The more significant a value is, the higher it sits on your priority list, and the more discipline and order you’ll bring to that area of your business. Conversely, values lower down the list tend to have less discipline and more disorder.
When you run your business according to your highest values, you’ll feel motivated, energised, and inspired. However, trying to operate your business by lower-ranking values or, worse still, by someone else’s values (even if it’s your spouse’s) can sap your energy and diminish your influence.
Celebrating your individual values and sharing them with your spouse can strengthen both your business and marital partnership. But remember, it’s not about imposing your values on your spouse or adopting theirs wholesale. Instead, it’s about understanding and embracing each other’s values, cherishing the similarities, and respecting the differences. No two people – even business partners or spouses – have the exact same set of values. Therefore, learning to blend and respect each other’s values can be a game-changer in maintaining a thriving business and a strong marriage.
