In a world where disruption, complexity and competing priorities can pull us in opposing directions, clearly articulated values are essential for every family enterprise. “Living Your Values: Connecting Personal, Family, and Organizational Values to Build Purpose and Clarity,” the new book by veteran family business advisors Cynthia D. Scott and Dennis T. Jaffe, is a hands-on guide for anyone seeking to align their actions with what matters most.
“Living Your Values,” the first title published by Family Business Press, is a practical, actionable guide that helps individuals, families and organizations turn values into lived behavior. Scott and Jaffe offer tools for clarifying core values, resolving tensions between them, and applying them with purpose and integrity.
The book is divided into two parts:
- Part I helps individuals explore their core values and craft a meaningful, values-driven life with a coherent sense of purpose and identity.
- Part II guides families, teams, and organizations in activating shared values to co-create strong, aligned cultures—especially valuable for families navigating transitions or organizations building purpose-driven cultures.
As Jaffe, who also serves as Family Business Magazine’s contributing editor, explains, “People feel like if they have a list of values and it’s up there and they have good intentions, that’s enough — but that’s only the first step. This book shows how to connect your values, how to see their interconnection and how to create a coherent sense of who you are.”
On working with Family Business Press, Jaffe called the imprint “really unique in the sense that they don’t publish your book for them, they publish it for you.”
“We created a relationship with their team and worked with them every step of the way: writing the book, of course, but then designing the cover, designing the text, putting it out, getting it put online. They have a professional staff and they’re incredibly collaborative. So, we really felt like we were part of it, but they were doing things that we had no ability to do [ourselves]. The book itself is beautiful, the colors are vivid and the presentation is great.”
Living Your Values is available on Amazon.