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Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What's Right
How can you effectively stand up for your values when pressured by your boss, customers, or shareholders to do the opposite? Drawing on actual business experiences as well as on social science research, Babson College business educator and consultant Mary Gentile challenges the assumptions about business ethics at companies and business schools. She gives business leaders, managers, and students the tools not just to recognize what is right, but also to ensure that the right things happen. The book is inspired by a program Gentile launched at the Aspen Institute with Yale School of Management, and now housed at Babson College, with pilot programs in over one hundred schools and organizations, including INSEAD and MIT Sloan School of Management. She explains why past attempts at preparing business leaders to act ethically too often failed, arguing that the issue isn’t distinguishing what is right or wrong, but knowing how to act on your values despite opposing pressure. Through research-based advice, practical exercises, and scripts for handling a wide range of ethical dilemmas, Gentile empowers business leaders with the skills to voice and act on their values, and align their professional path with their principles. Giving Voice to Values is an engaging, innovative, and useful guide that is essential reading for anyone in business.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published August 24, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
December 4, 2012
The main points: Know what your values are. Deliberately articulate them to yourself. And then practice speaking to them. It gets easier with practice.
December 31, 2021
Great for anyone that faces situations at work (or anywhere) where they want to speak their values but find it hard.
October 21, 2020
Great points, but the author drones on.
August 23, 2026
Decent book about making your values come to life. Here are the best bits:
The greater our self-knowledge, the more likely we are to be able to anticipate and manage our responses to values conflicts. Prior reflection on our own personalities and behavioral tendencies under pressure enables us to play to our strengths: that is, to frame the challenge we face in such a way that it draws on the skills and arguments with which we feel most adept and confident. Rather than accepting the challenge as it is put before us, we can take an active role in reshaping it.
First of all, the focus here is on "values" rather than "ethics," because in general usage, ethics suggests a system of rules or standards with which one is expected to comply. That is, we may talk about business ethics, medical ethics, legal ethics, or more generally, professional ethics. Individual businesses often have their own formal codes of ethics (a set of written standards and guide-lines); they distribute these widely and sometimes even conduct training sessions to make sure employees are aware of them. Thus, ethics is often seen as rule-based and externally imposed, something that exists outside the individual. Furthermore, in the study of ethics, the emphasis is typically on models of ethical reasoning, such as déon-tology or duty-based ethics, utilitarian or consequentialist ethics, virtue ethics, and so on. The emphasis is therefore again on various external frameworks that can help us to discipline our thinking about various ethical choices and dilemmas.
Confucius, Aris-totle, Aquinas, the Bushido Samurai Code, the Bhagavad-Gita, and other venerable traditions disagree on the details, but all of these codes include six core virtues: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence
With the point here is that giving voice can be seen as a metaphor for finding a way to embody and enact our values but it might not mean actually speaking up in the ways we usually conceive of that.
"I really like the idea of actually preparing folks-myself and others to speak about and act on their values, giving them the chance to script and practice their voice. But what if their values are wrong? Aren't we just empowering folks to be more skillful at arguing for unethical positions?"
Asking not what is the right thing to do but rather how can we get the right thing done.
The students who found ways to enact their values had said something, at some point, out loud and to someone outside their own heads. This single act makes the decision feel more real, less hypothetical, less easily avoided. We have brought it into the light.
If we approach our business careers with the expectation that we will face values conflicts and have anticipated some of the most common types in our intended industry and functional area, not only can we minimize the disabling effect of surprise, but also we will likely find ourselves framing attempts to speak about these issues in a less alarmist or emotional manner and more as a matter of course.
she recalls some advice a business school professor gave her six years earlier: "He had told students that the first thing to do after graduating was to start pulling together their 'go-to-hell money. Dubinsky took that to mean that she should never put herself in a situation from which she could not walk away."
We need to eat to live; food is a necessary condition of life. But if we lived mainly to eat, making food a sufficient or sole purpose of life, we would become gross. The purpose of business is not to make a profit, full stop. It is to make a profit so that the business can do something more or better.
They argue that most people categorize themselves as "ideal-ists" (who attempt to act on their moral ideals no matter what), "pragmatists" (who seek a balance between their material welfare and their moral ideals), or "opportun-ists" (who are driven exclusively by their own_material welfare).
There are many different ways to express our values, and some may work better in certain circumstances with particular audiences than others do. We ourselves may be more skillful at, or simply more comfortable with and therefore more likely to use, one approach over another. Thus our ability to frame our challenge in a way that allows us to use that particular preferred approach may be the most important fact determining whether or not we speak.
So, for example, perhaps our understanding of our audience's needs, de-sires, and perspectives suggests that we should approach him or her one-on-one instead of in a group setting, even if we would prefer the support of our colleagues around us. But we can mitigate our discomfort at flying solo by using the communication style with which we are most skilled and comfortable when we do so. Thus, if our most effective style of communication is storytelling and the use of metaphor, we would likely want to play to our strengths when we set up that one-on-one discussion. Or, if we are uncomfortable with confrontation, like Cecilia the diversity consultant, we may choose to raise our objections through a line of careful questioning rather than assertion.
Research supports this idea that an individual's ability to handle challenging situations is enhanced by his or her ability to "make sense" of the situation, to tell a "positive story" about it, and in particular to answer two questions: "Why did this happen? What good might I derive from it?"
That is, do they resonate most when someone shares a compelling analogy or story that captures their point? Or are they persuaded by seeing graphs and charts—visual or quantitative representations of the issue at hand? Do they feel most comfortable with decision trees? Or do they seem to respond best to scenarios of positive future possibilities?
She chose to view her relationship with her bosses as a two-way conversation rather than a one-way interaction, and she felt that this choice was one of the most important enablers for voicing her values.
As she noted above, instead of forcing herself to voice her discomfort with certain practices in the moment, confrontationally and publicly, she tended to take time to reflect, to determine a way to express those views that were a true priority to her, but in a way that invited the other person to consider her viewpoint seriously and nondefensively. She owned her own views, in a way that was still respectful of the other person's formal authority. Her bosses knew that she raised an issue only when it was important and that her commitment to the organization was unquestionable.
As she progressed in her career, Baxter became more pol-ished, more confident, and more skillful at voicing her values. But she felt that it was the experience and the practice in expressing them, even clumsily, that built this muscle, and not simply the fact that she was more senior in the firm. This idea—that practice is powerful—is one of the foundational ideas in this book, of course.
One of the useful reframings we have found for finding ways to act, regardless of one's level in an organi-zation, is to focus on the barriers to action that someone at a different level might face. The flip side of these barriers is often an enabler at one's own level.
Institute for Global Ethics. Kidder suggests that despite their myriad manifestations, most ethical dilemmas/ fall into four categories or patterns: Truth versus loyalty - Individual versus community - Short term versus long term - Justice versus mercy. Kidder is talking here about conflicting values, not values versus a lack of values.
"I wonder why we all have coalesced around this decision so quickly. Are there no counterarguments we should consider?").
But this tendency is also useful in thinking about ways to make positive impacts in an organization. In a powerful article, "Small Wins: Redefining the Scale of Social Problems," Karl Weick argues: "People often define social problems in ways that overwhelm their ability to do anything about them.... When the magnitude of problems is scaled upward in the interest of mobilizing action, the quality of thought and action declines, because processes such as frustration, arousal, and helplessness are activated?" Weick suggests a more positive vision of the slippery slope: "A series of wins at small but significant tasks... reveals a pattern that may attract allies, deter opponents, and lower resistance to subsequent pro-posals."!! It can be helpful to find ways of breaking down challenges to our values into smaller, more immediately actionable steps, rather than asking our colleagues to "change the system" all at once.
The scripts and arguments that are used by individuals who voice their values are not magic bullets. They are often surprisingly familiar. But in the stories we have considered, the point is that they were in fact spoken. The Giving Voice to Values approach is designed to make it more likely that we can all actually speak these scripts because we have crafted them in advance and, impor tantly, because we have practiced voicing them. The second general observation is that when we confront values conflicts at work, we typically reflect on the risks associated with voicing our values, but individuals who did voice their values tended to reflect on the risks associated with not doing so.
People have a pervasive tendency to attribute another individuals behaviour to their individuals disposition rather than to situational factors.
That it seems that one way to enable courage is to know that not acting is untenable. The others to believe that by acting you can have a positive impact.
The greater our self-knowledge, the more likely we are to be able to anticipate and manage our responses to values conflicts. Prior reflection on our own personalities and behavioral tendencies under pressure enables us to play to our strengths: that is, to frame the challenge we face in such a way that it draws on the skills and arguments with which we feel most adept and confident. Rather than accepting the challenge as it is put before us, we can take an active role in reshaping it.
First of all, the focus here is on "values" rather than "ethics," because in general usage, ethics suggests a system of rules or standards with which one is expected to comply. That is, we may talk about business ethics, medical ethics, legal ethics, or more generally, professional ethics. Individual businesses often have their own formal codes of ethics (a set of written standards and guide-lines); they distribute these widely and sometimes even conduct training sessions to make sure employees are aware of them. Thus, ethics is often seen as rule-based and externally imposed, something that exists outside the individual. Furthermore, in the study of ethics, the emphasis is typically on models of ethical reasoning, such as déon-tology or duty-based ethics, utilitarian or consequentialist ethics, virtue ethics, and so on. The emphasis is therefore again on various external frameworks that can help us to discipline our thinking about various ethical choices and dilemmas.
Confucius, Aris-totle, Aquinas, the Bushido Samurai Code, the Bhagavad-Gita, and other venerable traditions disagree on the details, but all of these codes include six core virtues: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence
With the point here is that giving voice can be seen as a metaphor for finding a way to embody and enact our values but it might not mean actually speaking up in the ways we usually conceive of that.
"I really like the idea of actually preparing folks-myself and others to speak about and act on their values, giving them the chance to script and practice their voice. But what if their values are wrong? Aren't we just empowering folks to be more skillful at arguing for unethical positions?"
Asking not what is the right thing to do but rather how can we get the right thing done.
The students who found ways to enact their values had said something, at some point, out loud and to someone outside their own heads. This single act makes the decision feel more real, less hypothetical, less easily avoided. We have brought it into the light.
If we approach our business careers with the expectation that we will face values conflicts and have anticipated some of the most common types in our intended industry and functional area, not only can we minimize the disabling effect of surprise, but also we will likely find ourselves framing attempts to speak about these issues in a less alarmist or emotional manner and more as a matter of course.
she recalls some advice a business school professor gave her six years earlier: "He had told students that the first thing to do after graduating was to start pulling together their 'go-to-hell money. Dubinsky took that to mean that she should never put herself in a situation from which she could not walk away."
We need to eat to live; food is a necessary condition of life. But if we lived mainly to eat, making food a sufficient or sole purpose of life, we would become gross. The purpose of business is not to make a profit, full stop. It is to make a profit so that the business can do something more or better.
They argue that most people categorize themselves as "ideal-ists" (who attempt to act on their moral ideals no matter what), "pragmatists" (who seek a balance between their material welfare and their moral ideals), or "opportun-ists" (who are driven exclusively by their own_material welfare).
There are many different ways to express our values, and some may work better in certain circumstances with particular audiences than others do. We ourselves may be more skillful at, or simply more comfortable with and therefore more likely to use, one approach over another. Thus our ability to frame our challenge in a way that allows us to use that particular preferred approach may be the most important fact determining whether or not we speak.
So, for example, perhaps our understanding of our audience's needs, de-sires, and perspectives suggests that we should approach him or her one-on-one instead of in a group setting, even if we would prefer the support of our colleagues around us. But we can mitigate our discomfort at flying solo by using the communication style with which we are most skilled and comfortable when we do so. Thus, if our most effective style of communication is storytelling and the use of metaphor, we would likely want to play to our strengths when we set up that one-on-one discussion. Or, if we are uncomfortable with confrontation, like Cecilia the diversity consultant, we may choose to raise our objections through a line of careful questioning rather than assertion.
Research supports this idea that an individual's ability to handle challenging situations is enhanced by his or her ability to "make sense" of the situation, to tell a "positive story" about it, and in particular to answer two questions: "Why did this happen? What good might I derive from it?"
That is, do they resonate most when someone shares a compelling analogy or story that captures their point? Or are they persuaded by seeing graphs and charts—visual or quantitative representations of the issue at hand? Do they feel most comfortable with decision trees? Or do they seem to respond best to scenarios of positive future possibilities?
She chose to view her relationship with her bosses as a two-way conversation rather than a one-way interaction, and she felt that this choice was one of the most important enablers for voicing her values.
As she noted above, instead of forcing herself to voice her discomfort with certain practices in the moment, confrontationally and publicly, she tended to take time to reflect, to determine a way to express those views that were a true priority to her, but in a way that invited the other person to consider her viewpoint seriously and nondefensively. She owned her own views, in a way that was still respectful of the other person's formal authority. Her bosses knew that she raised an issue only when it was important and that her commitment to the organization was unquestionable.
As she progressed in her career, Baxter became more pol-ished, more confident, and more skillful at voicing her values. But she felt that it was the experience and the practice in expressing them, even clumsily, that built this muscle, and not simply the fact that she was more senior in the firm. This idea—that practice is powerful—is one of the foundational ideas in this book, of course.
One of the useful reframings we have found for finding ways to act, regardless of one's level in an organi-zation, is to focus on the barriers to action that someone at a different level might face. The flip side of these barriers is often an enabler at one's own level.
Institute for Global Ethics. Kidder suggests that despite their myriad manifestations, most ethical dilemmas/ fall into four categories or patterns: Truth versus loyalty - Individual versus community - Short term versus long term - Justice versus mercy. Kidder is talking here about conflicting values, not values versus a lack of values.
"I wonder why we all have coalesced around this decision so quickly. Are there no counterarguments we should consider?").
But this tendency is also useful in thinking about ways to make positive impacts in an organization. In a powerful article, "Small Wins: Redefining the Scale of Social Problems," Karl Weick argues: "People often define social problems in ways that overwhelm their ability to do anything about them.... When the magnitude of problems is scaled upward in the interest of mobilizing action, the quality of thought and action declines, because processes such as frustration, arousal, and helplessness are activated?" Weick suggests a more positive vision of the slippery slope: "A series of wins at small but significant tasks... reveals a pattern that may attract allies, deter opponents, and lower resistance to subsequent pro-posals."!! It can be helpful to find ways of breaking down challenges to our values into smaller, more immediately actionable steps, rather than asking our colleagues to "change the system" all at once.
The scripts and arguments that are used by individuals who voice their values are not magic bullets. They are often surprisingly familiar. But in the stories we have considered, the point is that they were in fact spoken. The Giving Voice to Values approach is designed to make it more likely that we can all actually speak these scripts because we have crafted them in advance and, impor tantly, because we have practiced voicing them. The second general observation is that when we confront values conflicts at work, we typically reflect on the risks associated with voicing our values, but individuals who did voice their values tended to reflect on the risks associated with not doing so.
People have a pervasive tendency to attribute another individuals behaviour to their individuals disposition rather than to situational factors.
That it seems that one way to enable courage is to know that not acting is untenable. The others to believe that by acting you can have a positive impact.
November 21, 2021
Mary Gentile's writing is simple, clear, persuasive and supported by research and compelling case studies from leaders she has worked with over her time as an educator - all the makings of a good B-school read.
Giving Voice to Values (GVV) is a methodology to develop ethical leadership skills around the world. The key ingredients in this methodology are a synthesis of a lot of other skills either self-taught (1) or learnt during my MBA in other electives (2 and 3):
1. Values-, purpose- and strength-based approach - very aligned to my own leadership philosophy
2. Knowledge of negotiation principles - understanding the underlying needs and motivations of the person/people you are interacting with, finding common ground, and choosing the right approach for the situation are all elements of great negotiation skills and similarly for effectively giving voice to your values. The methodology also emphasises the importance of information, identifying your gaps, assumptions and figuring out how to fill those before they unravel you. And finally the importance of considered planning!
3. Knowledge of persuasion, behavioural science/ behavioural economics - framing, knowledge and consideration of your biases and the biases of others, and consideration of the six principles of persuasion from Cialdini are the other key tools to success.
The novel content was largely in Chapter 8, which provides the practical advice on how to prepare to counteract reasons and rationalisations. The simplification of the four most common ethical dilemmas, the four most common arguments + the emphasis on learning what the most common challenges are for each industry/role type are key things to add to your personal values-based leadership toolkit.
Overall, a useful read, however not something I would have picked up myself as a leader outside of B-school context or likely recommend outside of a coaching setting. I think this would be something better learnt in a practical course, integrated with a broader leadership development intervention.
Note: I read this as part of my casual academic work, in preparation for how this methodology can be introduced into curriculum.
Giving Voice to Values (GVV) is a methodology to develop ethical leadership skills around the world. The key ingredients in this methodology are a synthesis of a lot of other skills either self-taught (1) or learnt during my MBA in other electives (2 and 3):
1. Values-, purpose- and strength-based approach - very aligned to my own leadership philosophy
2. Knowledge of negotiation principles - understanding the underlying needs and motivations of the person/people you are interacting with, finding common ground, and choosing the right approach for the situation are all elements of great negotiation skills and similarly for effectively giving voice to your values. The methodology also emphasises the importance of information, identifying your gaps, assumptions and figuring out how to fill those before they unravel you. And finally the importance of considered planning!
3. Knowledge of persuasion, behavioural science/ behavioural economics - framing, knowledge and consideration of your biases and the biases of others, and consideration of the six principles of persuasion from Cialdini are the other key tools to success.
The novel content was largely in Chapter 8, which provides the practical advice on how to prepare to counteract reasons and rationalisations. The simplification of the four most common ethical dilemmas, the four most common arguments + the emphasis on learning what the most common challenges are for each industry/role type are key things to add to your personal values-based leadership toolkit.
Overall, a useful read, however not something I would have picked up myself as a leader outside of B-school context or likely recommend outside of a coaching setting. I think this would be something better learnt in a practical course, integrated with a broader leadership development intervention.
Note: I read this as part of my casual academic work, in preparation for how this methodology can be introduced into curriculum.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 12, 2011
This book addresses an important gap in discussions of business ethics and social responsibility. Most business ethics focus on deciding what the right things is to do, offering up an array of philosophical perspectives that can lead to making highly conflicting decisions on the same issue. But, as Gentile argues, most of us know what we believe is right. The difficulty lies in saying it out loud, especially when that may entail a risk to our selves or our organization. Gentile presents a framework for working ourselves through the process of deciding how to act. She deals with issues ranging from addressing all of our rationalizations for not acting to choosing how to act in a manner consistent with our own personalities. The book will be most compelling to those already in the workforce who have been presented with ethical dilemmas in the past and want tools for handling them more effectively.
November 6, 2018
"Giving Voice to Values" is not just a book but an in depth analysis and consideration of what makes each of us consider what is the "right thing to do".
This is a book for every single one of us, any level of the organisation and any type of organisation.
It provides a template for every single one of us to help navigate the complex world we live in, but a world that relies on each of us to "give voice to values" but know we are not perfect, and we all can learn every day.
This is a book for every single one of us, any level of the organisation and any type of organisation.
It provides a template for every single one of us to help navigate the complex world we live in, but a world that relies on each of us to "give voice to values" but know we are not perfect, and we all can learn every day.
December 26, 2016
Very repetitive and never seems to really get to the point. I would not recommend this book for any reason.
May 20, 2023
I found the advice helpful and relevant. It requires knowing your values though and recognizing when someone isn't aligned, which I think is the part with which some people struggle.
June 9, 2025
Giving Voice to Values goes beyond theory to provide a practical framework for acting on our values in professional settings. Mary Gentile’s approach is refreshingly pragmatic—focused not on whether we can discern right from wrong, but on how we can actually speak and act on our values once we know them.
Several insights stood out as directly relevant to my own work in values-driven marketing. I appreciated the emphasis on identifying one’s career purpose, and the inclusion of Charles Handy’s take on the purpose of business, both of which help anchor marketing and leadership decisions in something deeper than metrics or money. Gentile also encourages readers to craft personal narratives to communicate their values clearly and persuasively, a concept that aligns closely with brand storytelling.
The book’s Personal/Professional Profile assessment is a simple yet effective tool for recognizing how our unique experiences shape our ethical responses. I also valued Gentile’s normalization of difficult conversations, her nonjudgmental stance on differing values, and her practical advice for buying time to give a thoughtful response when under pressure.
Whether you're in leadership, marketing, or navigating ethical complexity in everyday work, Giving Voice to Values offers strategies that are both actionable and affirming. It’s a book I’ll return to—and reference—often.
Several insights stood out as directly relevant to my own work in values-driven marketing. I appreciated the emphasis on identifying one’s career purpose, and the inclusion of Charles Handy’s take on the purpose of business, both of which help anchor marketing and leadership decisions in something deeper than metrics or money. Gentile also encourages readers to craft personal narratives to communicate their values clearly and persuasively, a concept that aligns closely with brand storytelling.
The book’s Personal/Professional Profile assessment is a simple yet effective tool for recognizing how our unique experiences shape our ethical responses. I also valued Gentile’s normalization of difficult conversations, her nonjudgmental stance on differing values, and her practical advice for buying time to give a thoughtful response when under pressure.
Whether you're in leadership, marketing, or navigating ethical complexity in everyday work, Giving Voice to Values offers strategies that are both actionable and affirming. It’s a book I’ll return to—and reference—often.
April 18, 2025
I didn't feel like I was reading a book. It took me on the spiritual journey of life. It was recommended as a part of one of the subjects I have studied at the University and it totally taught me how resilience never goes out of fashion. While dealing with personal setbacks in Canada I have realized I am not the only person who has faced such situations. There are people in this world who weren't entertained professionally because they showcased the audacity to live by their ethical values and practiced the principle of raising their voice whenever the situation demanded. I am also one of those people and keeping my faith in God has got me too far. What I can say about this book is that once you start reading it you will be engrossed with questions like: Am I really doing a great job at work and personally? What is it that needs to be set right more? How does my moral grounds define me as an individual and a professional?
It's going to wake you up from the slumber land and you will never be the same person anymore. This book has encouraged me to practice my voice more diligently, humbly and professionally. It has taught me that we are never alone in our battles. I feel guarded by the universe and God.
May this book leave the same magic on your spirit too. Thank you.
It's going to wake you up from the slumber land and you will never be the same person anymore. This book has encouraged me to practice my voice more diligently, humbly and professionally. It has taught me that we are never alone in our battles. I feel guarded by the universe and God.
May this book leave the same magic on your spirit too. Thank you.
January 6, 2019
Gentile works as professor and business consultant. She has development an action based system to make it easier for employees and managers to speak up for their values and support ethical behavior.
Why I started this book: I'm blasting my way thru the audio books on my professional reading list.
Why I finished it: Short. And it was a good reminder that practicing scripts and looking for large picture consequences will make it easier to convince others to play by the rules. Especially when we find reasons that they will agree with and point out the benefits. I liked the assumption that most people want to be ethical but are also looking for the easy way; combining these rationals in your reasons for speaking up will help people agree with you. Example: It's easier to do this right once, than to have to come back and do it again...
Why I started this book: I'm blasting my way thru the audio books on my professional reading list.
Why I finished it: Short. And it was a good reminder that practicing scripts and looking for large picture consequences will make it easier to convince others to play by the rules. Especially when we find reasons that they will agree with and point out the benefits. I liked the assumption that most people want to be ethical but are also looking for the easy way; combining these rationals in your reasons for speaking up will help people agree with you. Example: It's easier to do this right once, than to have to come back and do it again...
December 7, 2023
Listened to this as an audiobook, and probably would've been better in print. Agree with the overall point that Mary C. Gentile is making and she does provide some helpful strategies. Even though this is a short book (under eight hours in audio format) it is probably a book in written form that I would've gleaned the critical information and read through the case studies (and it sounds like the book is set up for that type of reading).
January 30, 2024
I appreciated the perspective of the book and the lenses it uses to help you give voice to your values when you already know the right thing to do. It is really about ways to work the muscle of giving voice to your values and recognizing the barriers that exist (most of which we put there) to our acting toward our highest ideals of right and wrong. Not going to help you decide the proper ethical decision, but Mary is very clear that this is not the intention of the book.
November 3, 2020
Read this book as part of a community workshop on integrity and race. So, while the context for the class was to be able to speak up and engage on issues of race and social justice, it provides a framework and tools for us to speak up in other situations where our values conflict with actions or proposed actions.
August 4, 2021
Very interesting read about how to leverage personal values as positive reinforcement to encourage acting on those interests in the face of ethical conflicts. Some parts tended towards being pedantic or self-helpy, but there were some really good passages as well. Overall a definitely worthwhile read, and would be useful to come back to in the future. Great for leadership development. 3.5 stars
Read
December 27, 2023An invaluably practical guide to discerning the ethical course of action in cases of values conflict. I found myself reflecting on past work experiences when I was desperate for some help in knowing how to voice an ethical objection to standard ways of proceeding... this book would have helped me a lot. Now, as I take on new roles within a new organization, I find it insightful and reassuring.
August 19, 2020
A superb book, even though a bit densely packed with advice. The dense packing of advice makes it a hard read but the time invested is completely worth it.
I will revisit this book a second or maybe even a third time to be able to glean its advice and mull over it more often.
I will revisit this book a second or maybe even a third time to be able to glean its advice and mull over it more often.
January 2, 2018
Excellent book presenting a clear and easy to follow approach to standing up in the face of values based conflicts. Lots of good "nuggets" of wisdom which can be used in future training sessions.
December 31, 2017
Inspiring in that it delivers the concept of living by and voicing values to the doorstep of every leader, personally and professionally.
May 4, 2020
Not great. Slow start, took too long and was too repetitious getting to the point.
February 24, 2021
Superficial, repetitive and full of cliches. Would not recommend this book.
April 10, 2021
Just know your value. Don't sell your self cheap.
June 22, 2021
Although a lot of this book is relevant l found it to be a little dated given the world as it is today. I will take a few nuggets from this book.
May 21, 2022
I wished I had read this at the start of my career
July 15, 2024
I love how this book teaches people how to more easily give voice to their values.
April 29, 2025
Read for Grad School, I feel like I already do majority of what this book teaches. Overall: Meh
November 12, 2012
The book's premise is that most people do not need a lot of ethics training to help them recognize legal or ethical problems in the workplace. What is often needed however, is training and guidance to help employees speak out against something that sets off ethical alarms. Mary Gentile has developed a training program to address this type of situation, and this books distills the basic ideas from that course. Although the principles she presents are fairly universal and can be apply to most workplaces, she is entirely focused on large corporate business environments. It's up to the reader to decide how her ideas can be ported to other work settings.
October 8, 2012
While definitely more business focused, GVV fills a void - how do you express your values in a world that might not always agree with them? There are a few chapters to read word for word and few you can just browse. Here are the steps they outline:
1. Know and appeal to a short list of widely shared values
2. Discover and believe you have a choice
3. Make voicing values and dealing with conflict your normal
4. Define your personal and professional values
5. Generate your narrative about voicing your values
6. Practice using your style
7. Anticipate typical rationalization and identify counter-arguments
1. Know and appeal to a short list of widely shared values
2. Discover and believe you have a choice
3. Make voicing values and dealing with conflict your normal
4. Define your personal and professional values
5. Generate your narrative about voicing your values
6. Practice using your style
7. Anticipate typical rationalization and identify counter-arguments
June 2, 2014
I had the pleasure of discussing Dr. Gentile’s work with her a while back, and was delighted to discover that her work takes on a very action-oriented approach: instead of wondering whether values should be considered, or debating what they might be, this approach focuses on how to ‘voice those values’, how to make things happen. Originally supported by the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program and Yale School of Management, Giving Voice to Values is also an active curriculum used in numerous settings, and yes, it is OPEN, FREE, and highly collaborative (details of the curriculum are at this Babson link).
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