“When people give you access to their values, know that you have entered the most sacred chambers of
their hearts.” —John Maxwell
Core values are the cardinal precepts or tenets held by organizations or individuals. They are a small set
of essential maxims that serve to mold and guide individual or corporate conduct as they are identified
with and followed. Below are some thoughts on core values.
I am a curious person by nature, and I often invite individuals to share their core values with me. While
that may sound a bit strange, I have found it to be a valuable relationship builder when done
appropriately. More often than not, I initially get a guarded response but then with a little prompting
some words like honest or truthful or patriotic will emerge. In my past professional capacity as Sheriff’s
Office Chief of Staff, I made the final decision on hiring applications. Without fail, the subject of core
values was always purposefully visited.
During one particular interview the applicant, when asked, confidently gave me his core values, which
included honor, courage, loyalty, and self-less service. I knew from his application that he was a sergeant
in the National Guard and, from my study, recognized the values to be four of the army’s seven core
values. More importantly though, I was impressed with his familiarity, identity with, and comfort level
with these core values. The applicant explained that these were not just idle words but powerful
concepts that had served him well in combat as well as a family man. I offered him a position as a
deputy sheriff on the spot!
Just after this interview I was thinking about core values and happened to be eating my daily apple, a
very tasty Red Delicious. As I came to the core, I realized the core of that apple was more than the
physical center. I sort of had an epiphany that the core really was the essence of the apple and that
these few seeds had the potential to produce many apple trees…and thousands of apples. Our core
values do contain the seeds that will produce fruit, either good fruit or bad fruit. Our choice of personal
core values has profound and lasting consequences.
Core comes to us from the Latin root word cor which literally means “heart”. It is interesting to note that
the words courage and coronary are derived from the same root word. It follows then that core values
are not obtained by intellectual ascent but rather are deeply held “heart” issues. Core values in fact do
define our core…what we live for…and what we love and cherish. They define not only what we ought to
be, but what we can be —who we must be—and in reality, who we are right now! They require no
external justification and stand alone as intrinsic values to guide and silent sentinels to guard our
thoughts, our words, and our actions. Three core values, duty, honor and courage have sustained me in
many and varied battle arenas for over 40 years.
In our present culture, some may scoff at or even mock those who espouse good core values such as
honesty, faith, patriotism, and respect for others. They may say such values are but sophistry—idle,
weak and meaningless words. However, for the warrior, core values such as love, courage, and loyalty
resonate deep within them. In that way core values serve to build our basic character; to govern and
refine our personal and professional temperament; to sustain and refresh us when we grow weary; to
guide us through the fog, the difficult challenges, and often unfamiliar passages of life itself. Finally, they
serve to bond us with those who, in the past, established the heritage, traditions, and values that we
now have embraced and passionately cherish.
If you cannot readily identify your set of core values, maybe 3 to 5, I would encourage you to prayerfully
ask Holy Spirit for help in confirming them. They will help to sustain and strengthen you in your many
battles ahead in 2024 and beyond. Websites are available and dedicated to assisting you in identifying
your core values and I recommend you check them out. Finally, what are your core values?
Barney Barnes, 09-11-2024, Former Promise Keepers National Ambassador for the Military and Prisons