The importance of having great values integrated into a clear purposed vision is immense, especially in the healthcare sector. Carrying a heavy lift of social responsibility enhances the importance of following strong values. Values definition is the fundamental beliefs and principles that guide a person or a company in his behavior, decisions, and actions. Business values and personal values are similar in principles. A company or a person with strong values represents stability, dignity, and purpose, which appeals to people to follow. Having a clear purpose powered by values creates experiential feelings that drive people beyond materialistic benefits to exceptional outcomes. Healthcare companies need to be highly aware of their social and environmental responsibilities which need to be ranked at the head of the pyramid. We saw multiple incidents of personnel who took advantage of the system loopholes solely for their benefit. The boldest example is Martin Shkreli, who higher the price of Daraprim from 13.5$ to 750$ per tablet overnight, with one aim in mind to increase himself and shareholders’ value. The paradox is that he didn’t do anything illegal, as the community didn’t think or consider someone to take advantage of rare disease patients in such an aggressive manner for his benefit. Leaving behind broken families that needed to mortgage their houses just to survive.  This is a great study of why it is so important to be driven by values.  

Driving people to pursue their jobs more effectively consists of harnessing them into a purpose that is driven by values. This could result in less job turnaround, more productivity, commitment, and a feeling of belonging. It is not by chance that over 66% of consumers prefer to buy and consume the services and products of a value-driven company with a clear purpose. As the new generation Z and Alpha start to gain more weight in the demographic map, we see an uplifting trend of connecting to a brand and company with values and purpose. As personnel working in the healthcare space, we need to apply high sensitivity to the rewards-purpose threshold and find the balance between driving a successful company, to serving as many patients as possible in a high-quality manner. Some indeed have the stakeholders’ inherited conflicts, as the pressure of creating shareholders’ value is prominent. Additionally, companies need to make sure that they perform well enough to support their growth and innovation, and hence a balanced approach is required.

Being driven by values and power by technology is the slogan accomplished by most of the companies under my management. Without values, we have no spinal cord or clear purpose that drowns people’s ambition and willingness to pursue their tasks. Every company has ups and downs in their lifespan, and it is for the values to navigate them in business storms to safe harbor. A company without values makes its employees feel lost in space, with no connecting root between their tasks to the overall goal. Core values are the central nervous system of any organization, and its role and presence are cross-organizational. From following the company’s quality values in regulatory affairs towards representing the company as results-driven in the business development unit, it touches every department in their day-to-day business activities. Unfortunately, not all the companies that hold drafted values list stand and live by them. There are many cases of nice posters with values or a paragraph that has been drafted on the company website that have no connection to customary business conduct. That’s why one of the most important tasks of senior management is to pump the company values through multichannel within the organization and beyond so that the message and values will be well broadcast and proliferate throughout the organization.  

A company vision can’t exist without strong values, as ambitious plans are fuelled by great people, led by great leaders/mentors who stand by their values. Having a clear vision in healthcare is of great importance, as it generates a clear road map with firm goals and objectives toward the target. In an ever-competitive world, a company needs to be laser-focused on its targets and make sure they acquire the best personnel to lead them in the endeavor for success. Salary is one factor in securing high-quality people; nevertheless, more and more academic studies point out that having a job with purpose ranks higher in the overall employee evaluation factors.

 A great leader must live by his values, as the stakeholders are constantly looking at him with a magnified glass. There are many situations in life with the short-term temptation of creating fast rewards and outcomes. Nevertheless, a leader with enough experience knows that if those opportunities don’t match your own and the company’s values, they tend to have a negative impact sooner rather than later. Cutting corners and minimizing the impact of problems to somehow have short relief are typical to companies with no strong values. All those actions lead to value destruction and erosion of the stakeholder’s belief in the company’s development process.

To summarize, every person and company must hold strong values, as they impact any activities we pursue and are eventually visible to all the stakeholders. Leaders and companies with great values will attract great talents and partners who share the same vision of performing important tasks that can create value in the world beyond materialized satisfaction. This as a long-term vision, will create shareholders value way beyond the short-term bottom-line results.