Create Your Own Personal

Key Values and be Fulfilled

By Richard Battista

One of the most pulling subplots

to the travesty that was the

Holocaust is those who risked

their lives to shelter the Jews.

Some took this a step further,

using their positions of power and

authority to find ways to allow

Jews to escape to locations of

safety.

One such man was Aristides de

Sousa Mendes, a Catholic

diplomat who served as the

Portuguese counsel general in

Bordeaux, France during the

war. As Portugal was neutral in

the war, de Sousa was in a

unique position to grant visas for

Jews looking to escape.

Despite a law that was in place

requiring prior permission before

travels were approved, de Sousa

and his staff managed to grant

thirty thousand visas in the

course of three days.

For his actions, his superiors with

the Portuguese Foreign Office

dismissed him of his duties and

stripped him of his rank, salary

and pension. Regardless of all

he lost, even years after the fact,

when de Sousa spoke of his

actions, he was clearly proud of

his decisions.

De Sousa’s example raises a

question of the decisions leaders

make and the possible actions and

reactions. According to an article

recently completed for The

Huffington Post, leaders face

difficult decisions like de Sousa’s

every day;

Granted, not all of these choices

are a matter of life or death—and,

as a result, the gap between

competing values can be less

wide—and, therefore, the better

choice between the two can

become less clear.

An everyday application of this

gap is provided in the article, as

leaders of a family struggle with

how to provide sufficient monetary

funds for their family and still find

time to spend valuable quality

time with said family.

The article advises a common

practice encouraged by life

coaches to help in navigating the

gap between competing values.

Often, coaches will suggest their

clients create a values list, which

contains ideals and principles

most important to the individual.

Some examples provided include

caring, decisiveness, being family-

oriented and loyal. To develop

this list, coaches often guide the

author through decisions and

times of contentment experienced

in the past.

Which decisions have provided a

sense of pride? Which

experienced accomplishments

resulted in the most

contentment? From this, the

client can often discern what

their priorities in life are—what

they value the very most out of

life.