Before You Choose Your Career, Choose Your Values

Why your next career decision should begin with who you are, not simply what you want to do.

When students and early career professionals ask me for career advice, they often expect me to talk about resumes, interviewing, networking, or job searching. Those things certainly matter, but over the years I've discovered that the people who build meaningful careers rarely begin with their resume. They begin with their values. A resume tells employers what you've done. Your values explain why you do it. Without that foundation, it's easy to chase opportunities that look impressive on paper but leave you feeling disconnected, burned out, or wondering why success doesn't feel fulfilling. Career readiness is about much more than preparing for employment. It is about preparing to make decisions that reflect who you are and who you hope to become.

Values Are Your Internal Compass

Values are deeply held beliefs that shape our decisions, behaviors, and relationships, especially when life becomes uncertain or emotionally demanding. They are not personality traits, trendy buzzwords, or qualities someone else assigns to us. They are convictions we choose to own and consistently practice. When our values are clear, decisions become simpler, even when they remain difficult. Whether you're deciding between two job offers, considering graduate school, navigating a relationship, launching a business, or determining how to invest your time, energy, and finances, your values provide direction when circumstances feel unclear. I've often described values as our internal compass. They don't eliminate storms, but they help us navigate them. When our choices align with what matters most, we experience greater confidence, purpose, and integrity. When our choices repeatedly violate our values, even attractive opportunities can leave us feeling unsettled. For leaders, values are especially important because they influence how we communicate, build trust, respond to conflict, and make ethical decisions. They become visible not during easy moments but during the difficult ones.

An Exercise That Changed the Way I Lead 

Several years ago, I wanted to better articulate what mattered most to me. Rather than choosing words that simply sounded inspiring, I intentionally set out to uncover the values that were already guiding my life. 

Step One: I began with Dr. Brené Brown's list of values from Dare to Lead. Seeing such a comprehensive list helped me distinguish between values I admired and values I genuinely practiced. 

Step Two: From that list, I selected my top twenty values. Then I challenged myself to narrow those twenty down to ten. That process proved far more difficult than I expected because every decision forced me to ask, "If I could only keep one of these, which would remain?" The exercise wasn't about finding the perfect collection of words. It was about discovering what I was unwilling to compromise.

Step Three: Once I identified my top ten, I wrote my own definition for each value before looking up a single dictionary definition or quote. I also wrote why each value mattered so deeply to me. Only after I had captured my own perspective did I compare my thoughts with dictionary definitions, meaningful quotations, leadership literature, and Scripture. I wanted to ensure that my values reflected lived experience rather than borrowed language. 

Step Four: From there, I narrowed my list even further until I identified the five to seven values that consistently shaped how I live, lead, and make decisions. I have found that between five and seven values create enough breadth to represent your identity while remaining memorable enough to guide everyday choices.

Step Five: The final step became the most meaningful. Instead of simply listing my values, I wanted to create something I could easily remember and consistently return to whenever I faced an important decision. I began looking for ways to organize my values into a meaningful acronym. Sometimes the words naturally fit together. Other times they don't. When that happens, I encourage people to explore synonyms that preserve the original meaning. Today, generative AI can also be a wonderful thought partner in helping identify words that maintain the integrity of your values while creating a memorable acronym. The objective isn't to create something clever. It's to create something you'll actually remember and use.

My Identity Anchor: GO BRAVE

For me, that acronym became GO BRAVE. GO BRAVE is far more than a tagline or personal brand. It serves as both my leadership framework and my decision-making compass. Whether I'm evaluating a career opportunity, navigating a major life transition, mentoring someone else, leading a team, or making a difficult personal decision, these seven values help me determine whether my choices align with the person I am striving to become. 

Growth reminds me to remain teachable and continually expand my capacity. Optimism keeps my vision rooted in hope while remaining grounded in reality. Boldness reminds me that courage requires action, not simply intention. Resilience helps me adapt, recover, and continue moving forward through adversity. Authenticity calls me to lead consistently without performing a version of myself for approval. Virtue anchors every decision in integrity and character. Empowerment reminds me that leadership is ultimately measured by how well we develop and elevate others. Together, these values shape how I lead, communicate, mentor, build relationships, and make decisions. Leadership, in this sense, is not positional. It is behavioral.

Why This Matters for Career Readiness 

This exercise has become one of my favorite career readiness tools because it equips people to articulate not only what they do, but who they are. Students spend countless hours preparing resumes, yet very few spend time preparing their identity. Employers increasingly ask questions that require candidates to communicate far more than technical skills. "Tell me about yourself." "Why are you interested in this role?" "What motivates you?" "What kind of work environment helps you thrive?" These questions aren't really asking about your resume. They're asking about your values. When you've done the work of identifying and defining what matters most, your responses become authentic rather than rehearsed. You're no longer trying to guess what employers want to hear. You're confidently communicating who you are.

I've watched this exercise transform the confidence of students, early career professionals, and entrepreneurs alike. Mentees have used their Identity Anchor to prepare for interviews, clarify career direction, earn promotions, and establish business goals that better align with their purpose. The framework has also become a meaningful part of my work with organizations. 

Values Build More Than Careers 

During workshops focused on workplace belonging, culture, and wellbeing, I divide participants into small groups and invite them to identify the values they believe should define the culture they want to create. Each group selects meaningful words, defines them together, and develops an acronym that captures the workplace they hope to build and protect. As they present, something remarkable happens. The conversation shifts away from policies and slogans and toward shared behaviors and collective responsibility. Values become visible. Culture becomes intentional. Belonging becomes something people actively create instead of something they simply expect to experience.

Anchor Yourself Before You Advance 

Ultimately, this process is about far more than creating an acronym. It is about creating alignment. Career readiness isn't simply about securing your next opportunity. It is about becoming the kind of person who can steward every opportunity well. Your degree may open a door. Your skills may earn an interview. But your values will influence every decision you make once you're inside. Before asking, "What career should I pursue?" I encourage every student, emerging professional, and leader to ask a different question: "What values do I want my life to reflect?" Careers change. Organizations change. Titles change. But when your values remain anchored, you'll always have clarity about who you are, what matters most, and which direction to go next.