Seeing the World Through the Lens of your Core Values Index Profile

Is the glass half full or half empty? The volume is precise but the reaction definitely varies. Why the difference? Our perspective of a factual situation — how much liquid is in the glass — will vary based on our unique perspective.

When you take the Core Values Index psychometric assessment and read your full report, you begin to understand that every situation and interaction you experience will be viewed through a lens based on your core values profile.

This probably seems like common sense to most people. We all see the world in a particular way based on our perspective. Some of this is obvious to us at the time, but there is a lot more involved in shaping our perspective at a deep, fundamental level that isn't necessarily obvious until we truly understand our core values profile.

We'll explain this principle with a fictitious but common scenario where two people with different CVI profiles must work together toward a common goal.

These individuals are asked to coordinate the release event for a software development project at a trade show. We'll call them Julia and Marco.

Julia is creative, spontaneous and very intuitive. It is her job to write about the product for the company's marketing materials. Marco is analytical, methodical, and straightforward. He is the project manager on the development team and ensured it met all required specifications.

Can you guess what their CVI profiles might be?

Julia is a Merchant/Innovator and Marco is an Innovator/Banker.

How do you think these two will get along? Will they be able to work together effectively? Will the product release event be successful?

Julia's favorite events are project kick-off meetings because she loves motivating others and getting teams fired up. She also carries a lot of valuable creativity and motivation during the first half of the project, but beyond that point she tends to get bored and seek other new projects that excite her. In essence, Julia is an excellent starter but not an enthusiastic finisher.

Marco is the kind of project manager the development teams rely on to keep them on track. He thinks things through and documents the entire process, never letting anything fall through the cracks. He focuses on bringing the creative ideas of others into reality. To him, a project is one big problem to solve, and nothing makes Marco happier than finding the solution to tough challenges.

These two individuals must work together to bring about a successful conclusion to the event. Their definition of success varies quite dramatically, though. Marco wants the release event to be practiced and precise, with each part of the proceedings to be planned and executed down to the second if possible, without any hitches along the way.

Julia wants the event to be fun and engaging and interesting. To her, seeing big smiles and hearing applause from the event's audience will be her biggest reward. To help plan the event, she jotted down some quick ideas on a napkin, knowing that she can fill in the blanks later.

When Marco saw Julia's napkin with some doodles on it, he asked, "Is this all you have?" He winced when she quite enthusiastically explained in a rather random order her very loose vision for how things should go. Her plan had no coherent flow, it skipped several critical steps, and there was no timing or idea for how long it would run. Marco predicted it had a small likelihood of success. In fact, Marco couldn't get a clear answer from Julia for how she even defined success.

Marco pulled out his laptop and showed Julia a 34-page slideshow that detailed every step. She felt overwhelmed by Marco's plan. He even had a stopwatch app running in the background, completely eliminating any possibility for improvisation or flexibility. There was no fun or excitement to his ideas, everything was boring and far too factual. The audience would walk away bored and unenthused.

Both Marco and Julia are approaching the project based on their unique way of doing things.

More telling, they are viewing the other's perspective through the lens of their own core values profile.

Julia is creative and spontaneous and very comfortable tackling projects on the fly. Because of her perspective, she sees Marco's methodical approach as boring, stodgy, and even intimidating in a way.

Marco avoids spontaneity whenever possible, and in a way sees it as a failure to do his job properly. He is hardwired to predictably meet objectives exactly as planned. He likes to provide answers to tough questions but feels uncomfortable doing so without at least some research beforehand. Doing anything on the fly is profoundly uncomfortable for him.

Julia and Marco are both professionals with a lot of talent and skill in their respective disciplines. They will likely pull off a successful product release event, even though their individual definitions of what constitutes success will be very different.

Without understanding their own profiles, however, both Julia and Marco will likely feel a lot of frustration and consternation during the project. At times, they will even wonder if the other person is off their rocker. "How can you work that way?" will be a common question in each of their minds.

If Julia truly understood her Merchant/Innovator profile, and fully grasped how that influences the way she sees the rest of the world, she would understand that individuals like Marco make very valuable contributions that she herself doesn't enjoy providing. It's not in her nature to make sure important projects go according to plan. Understanding this would enable her to value Marco's contribution.

If Marco understood his Innovator/Banker profile, and fully grasped how that influences the way he sees the rest of the world, he would understand that individuals like Julia make very valuable contributions that he himself feels uncomfortable providing. Marco isn't usually very creative and he can recognize the value of people like Julia to come up with ideas that are engaging and build enthusiasm. Understanding this would enable Marco to value Julia's contribution.

In the end, Julia and Marco can work together to make a very effective team. By understanding their own Core Values Index profiles, they can rely on each other to fill in the gaps where they are individually less than comfortable. They will recognize and celebrate the perspective they each have, seeing the world through the lens of their own core values.