What Are Your Principles?
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 - Joe Kiedinger
Are you living your values? Whether at work or in our personal lives, we all hold to certain principles. At Prophit Co., we call ours Core Values and they’re what sets our purpose into motion.
Our first Core Value is Dignity: Agápē which we define as “choose to respect”. You might be wondering, what in the blazes is agápē? Well, the Ancient Greeks defined eight varying types of love that exist on the human spectrum. You may have heard of eros (a love of romance and passion) and philos (a love of friendship).
Well, agápē is perhaps the highest form of love. This unconditional love is non-reciprocal. It goes beyond emotions and instead seeks the best for others. It’s not a feeling, but rather an act of will. It’s a decision to say to yourself, I will treat that person well; they are worthy of love simply because they exist.
You can see why this would be incredibly valuable in the workplace where personalities can clash and frustration can arise with co-workers. We must remind ourselves that absolutely everyone is worthy of honor and respect. We must choose to rise above anger and sarcasm that we want to unleash and, instead, seek to understand by listening, asking others for their opinion, respecting any differences and being honest.
You’ll find this approach is not only incredibly uplifting on a personal level, but it also makes work a whole lot more pleasant and efficient.
JOE KIEDINGER
ACTION PLAN: Try out some agápē in your work life this week by choosing to respect everyone, even those who you clash with.