Have you heard the phrase, “Tell me what you value, and I might believe you, but show me your calendar and your bank statement, and I’ll show you what you really value”? This quote is attributed to management guru Peter Drucker, and it is a good gut-check for us to consider if our actions are lining up with what we say is most important to us.

You hear us talk a lot about values at Master’s, as we hold the conviction that your values should drive your decisions (about money and everything else in life). Over the next few weeks, we will be highlighting our core values at Master’s, outlining how those values drive our business decisions and more importantly, how we treat our clients.

Several years ago, we went through an exercise to develop our core values at Master’s. We didn’t want to simply choose words that we liked or that sounded nice but instead, wanted to have a set of values that reflected who we are. To get there, we listed each of our team members, and three words we would use to describe them. We then found the common themes amongst those words for our core values. When we presented our refreshed values to our team, we all agreed, ‘this is us’! Just like the values card exercise we go through with our clients, this exercise defined a true reflection of Master’s, rather than one we are just trying to become.

We hope you enjoy hearing more about how these values shape our behaviors in the weeks ahead:

1. Authenticity – Being a transparent and accurate representation of who we are.
2. Empathy – Giving generously of our time and attention to fully understand and appreciate the perspective of another.
3. Conscientiousness – Pursuing nothing but our best work with diligence.
4. Optimism – Believing that with the right combination of consistent effort, planning, and faith we will achieve positive outcomes.