“You can have all you ever wanted
(I know)
But I don’t want it.
No, I can’t want it anymore.”
This song is full of life lessons and deeper meanings, but today we will stay focused on this small section. Without giving anything away, in a very powerful moment in Wicked, Elphie realizes instantaneously that moving in the direction she was striving for would conflict with her values. Because she has this clear alignment, she is able to make the hard decision to go a different direction. Not only does she not want it- “she CAN’T want it anymore.”
Values, they drive everything. And in business, they help our people make the right decisions for the company when we are not in the room. In creating a strategy, they become our touch stone for determining our metrics, our priorities, and even in reprioritizing objectives as new ones arise.
Ensuring the strategy to the company values, also decreases the change management hump. Employees have already signed up for the values when they joined the company, so they are introduced to the new or amended direction along with something familiar.
Values are not just something to plaster on a website, they make a difference in how you do business and even the initiatives you deploy. Choose them wisely, live them loudly, and make decisions driven by them.
Defying Gravity (From “Wicked” Original Broadway Cast Recording/2003 / Lyric Video)