“Blind Spot” in Business and Investing: Our Values

When analyzing investment opportunities, purchasing strategies, considering employment, and managing a company - along with ensuring its survival in a rapidly changing world - the first thing we usually pay attention to is the company's values. They are obvious yet often overlooked or inadequately understood. Values often become just a formal element, with many companies having similar values, making them unnoticeable. Depending on the industry, one can find typical lists, for example, in tech companies it is innovation, in service companies it is "customer comes first", and so on. At first glance, this may seem nothing new, however...
5 min
13.11.2023

When analyzing investment opportunities, purchasing strategies, considering employment, and managing a company – along with ensuring its survival in a rapidly changing world – the first thing we usually pay attention to is the company’s values. They are obvious yet often overlooked or inadequately understood. Values often become just a formal element, with many companies having similar values, making them unnoticeable. Depending on the industry, one can find typical lists, for example, in tech companies it is innovation, in service companies it is “customer comes first”, and so on. At first glance, this may seem nothing new, however…

Of course, it is important to evaluate values objectively (although we still perceive them subjectively), and conveying them to others so they understand what exactly you put into this value is not that simple.

If a company’s value is to have fun in general, it is not a bad value, but it can be perceived in different ways – as having a fun workplace and creating conditions for it, or as an irresponsible attitude.

Our values influence us in everyday life, and as a cumulative effect influence our personal macro situations. Why do some residential complexes have different prices and exterior? Someone values a gym in the residential complex and goes there every day, someone values a playground because of the value of family. Someone does not need any of this at all.

By analyzing company values, one can determine which companies indeed do not plan to stay in the market for long, regardless of whether it is intentional or not.

Dissonance between actions and values is a phenomenon when we may not notice that we think one way but act based on other values. Sometimes we may think our value is freedom but in reality it is family. We cannot fool ourselves but we can act in dissonance, which can lead to many problems in our activities and business.

One needs to see that the values a person advocates or their actions should correspond to those values. A person is, first of all, an action, a deed. For example, women may often think about their career but actually want to stay home with kids, and read blogs for moms and families. Men may want to be businessmen but actually strongly wish to work for themselves in their own workshop making wooden furniture, and read literature or watch videos on this topic for hours.

We do not always understand our desires – this is normal.

For many reasons, not every business survives, and mismatch with one’s values is one of them. It is very easy to understand, for example, a pathway to a crypto project’s demise simply by reading the project description, its values, and what an individual team member writes, as well as observing the team’s actions. What catches your attention when you follow their actions? Whether it focuses on the same values or different ones? What catches your attention when you follow their actions? One can even ignore the company’s price chart. Does it seem fantastic? Try it in practice – observe companies, big and small. Of course, there are always more variables but the ratio of values, thoughts and actions is a really working factor.

Another issue. Short-term goals are generally not relevant to qualitative values. When people run businesses, what is more important to them? Profit is crucial for many. Therefore, executives and managers switch to shorter-term goals, which makes values not correspond with reality. Such companies close down sooner. For instance, this year companies emerged that help integrate AI into various areas, and currently some of them may go bankrupt due to new updates in ChatGPT. Riding the hype also needs to be done wisely. And this is how the situation arises when investors fear long-term investments, while companies understand they need to generate revenue as quickly as possible, which is the opposite of a sustainable company. This creates an imbalance. Somewhat similar to an internal conflict within a person, isn’t it?

It is difficult but important to understand the connection between a company’s values, its team’s mindset, corporate culture and financial performance. If it corresponds to stated values, such a company can go far and generate substantial revenue. Also, living your own life by the same principle.

Basic psychology teaches us that the values we choose determine our actions and our outcomes. Here is an example of how such a seemingly trivial thing that everyone supposedly knows significantly impacts business and investing.