THINKDROP 24: Of the importance of Values
- Pierre Stanghellini
- 40 minutes ago
- 5 min read
>Not preaching. Just aligning.
🎤 From Me to You
“Strength isn’t in what you say. It’s in what you stand on.”
In business, it’s easy to get consumed by speed, pressure, and the constant chase for results. Opportunities grow, deadlines pile up, responsibilities shift — and somewhere in the middle, you realize that the only thing that truly keeps you steady is your values.
Values can come from anywhere: your religion, your family, your culture, or the society you belong to —as long as they uphold human dignity and support balanced, respectful relationships between men and women, whatever their origins.
Because at the end of the day, values are the invisible roots that hold your life together when everything else starts pulling you apart. They remind you who you are when success tries to make you forget. And they shape how you rise, how you fall, and how you rebuild.
Values aren’t about identity — they’re about coherence.
They don’t make you perfect — they make you anchored, consistent when the world pushes you off track.
Let's dig in!
Pierre Stanghellini -
HARi.wtf founder
P.S.: I’m Catholic — but this isn’t a religious article.
And for me, aligning my values with my professional life has been an intentional journey.
For the past three years, I’ve been part of a group within my Catholic community — Entrepreneurs & Dirigeants Chrétiens (EDC).
Not to evangelize, not to convert, but to learn how to translate the pillars of my faith into practical, positive actions in my business life.
One choice, one decision, one gesture at a time.
What is your first step in your own journey ?
This article isn’t about imposing anything — it’s about showing how each of us, whatever our background, can root our work in something deeper and more human.
🤝 1. The Virtuous Circle
Values reveal themselves in how systems hold together.
A producer with integrity creates honest work.
A distributor with fairness amplifies it responsibly.
A consumer with awareness respects the effort.
When each actor plays their part with honesty, the entire ecosystem becomes balanced, sustainable, and self-reinforcing.
A virtuous circle where no one wins by making someone else lose.
This isn’t idealism — it’s long-term durability.
Any system built without values eventually collapses.
Any system built with values compounds.
Try this: Map your ecosystem (team, suppliers, partners, clients).
Identify the weakest trust link — and take one concrete step this week to rebalance it.
🧭 2. Free Will — And Its Weight
We all have free will.
That freedom is powerful — but never light.
Every choice has a consequence.
Some choices give speed. Some give depth. The wise ones give alignment.
Shortcuts shine. Alignment builds.
Try this: Before accepting a mission or client, ask:“If everyone acted like them,
would my industry get better or worse?”
💡 3. Not the Richest in the Cemetery
Being the richest person underground has never been a goal worth pursuing.
Success measured only by accumulation is hollow.
What matters is how you walked the path —your fairness, your consistency, your human impact, your integrity.
Values turn the journey into the real achievement.
Because the legacy you leave matters far more than the trophies you collect.
Try this: Define “success” in one sentence — but remove money, titles, and possessions. What’s left is your real compass.
🪞 4. Leading by Example
People don’t follow instructions — they follow behavior.
Your actions become culture.
Your tone becomes your team’s tone.
Your habits become your children’s habits.
Leadership isn’t authority — it’s reflection.
Your example writes the rules long before your words do.
Try this: Before giving feedback, ask yourself:
“Am I personally embodying the behavior I expect?”
🌱 5. Positive Impact as Direction
Values give direction to your influence. You don’t need to change the world —you just need to improve your world nearby.
Your team.Your clients. Your environment. Your community.
Change spreads outward, not upward.
Impact begins the moment you choose responsibility over convenience.
Try this: Choose one small action that improves someone’s environment this week — mentoring, advice, or help. Make it habitual.
⚖️ 6. Virtuous Does Not Mean Naive
Integrity is not weakness.
Ethics is not fragility.
Virtue is not submission.
Being guided by values doesn’t mean accepting everything.
But it does mean recognizing that people are human — and humans make mistakes.
One mistake can come from pressure, confusion, a misunderstanding, or simply a bad day. It’s a chance to reset expectations and see someone’s true intention.
But the second time? That’s not a mistake — it’s a pattern.
And patterns require boundaries.
Facing liars, cheaters, or scammers doesn’t call for softness — it calls for clarity, law, and consequences.
Free will includes accountability.
People choose their actions — and they also choose the outcome that comes with them.
Being good never means accepting what is wrong.
Being fair means giving one chance — not unlimited chances.
Try this: Define your 3 non-negotiables (honesty, transparency, fairness).
Allow one mistake — but if the same line is crossed twice, end the relationship.
⏳ 7. The Long Game
Shortcuts are loud.
Values are quiet.
Shortcuts pay today.
Values pay forever.
Nothing compounds like trust.
Nothing destroys like betrayal.
Time exposes everything — always.
What you build slowly will outlast everything built fast.
Try this: Find one area where you’ve chosen speed over integrity.
Reverse that decision today — even if it slows you down.
🔎 7-Point Recap
Fair Systems Win — Integrity from every actor creates a virtuous circle.
Choice = Responsibility — Free will means owning the outcome.
Legacy > Accumulation — Success is the path, not the trophies.
Lead by Doing — Your behavior shapes your culture.
Impact Starts Small — Change your close environment first.
One Mistake, Not Two — Forgive once, set boundaries twice.
Play the Long Game — Shortcuts fade; values compound.
🧠 CONCLUSION
Values are invisible, but they structure everything: your leadership, your decisions, your relationships, your legacy.
In a world addicted to speed, shortcuts, and noise, values become your silent strength — the quiet rhythm beneath the chaos.
You don’t need to be flawless. You just need to be anchored.
Because long after the titles fade and the numbers disappear, the only thing that remains is how you acted —what you stood for, who you protected, and the trace you left behind.
Values don’t guarantee the easiest road. They guarantee the truest one.
And in the long run, that’s the only road that holds.
Wherever you’re headed next, let your values go first — you’ll be surprised how far they carry you.
Pierre Stanghellini
→ Let’s connect, drop me a line directly at pierre@hari.wtf .
YOU LIKED IT ??
Share with friends and let's expand our community!
Once we reach 1,000 followers on LinkedIn, I'll launch the THINKDROP Conference!
It's going to be amazing!
About the Creator
Pierre Stanghellini is a creative strategist, systems thinker, and curator of mental rabbit holes. He created Thinkdrop Weekly to feed the brains that don’t want the same old Business advice. If you’re building something bold, beautiful, or strange—this is your corner of the internet.
About HARi.wtf
HARi.wtf is a creative strategy studio for businesses that hate business-as-usual.
Born in Hong Kong, in 2017, we work with restless founders, operators, and teams who’d rather break things thoughtfully than grow them blandly. We don’t do generic decks or bloated strategies—we build clarity, guts, and traction.
From street-level restaurants to global brands, from Asia to Europe, we help shape ideas that move fast when it matters, and slow when it counts.
→ Explore more at hari.wtf
Comments