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You're buying influence. Learn more by visiting ACAST.com slash advertise. This is the Rosen Shine podcast, featuring the Swedish sisters Josephine Ruse and Victoria Rusellson. They say Stockholm and New York share experiences from our international lives and careers.
Good morning. Good afternoon and good evening. This is Victoria. Hi and this is Josephine and we're sitting here together in Stockholm at the podcast studio, Kerry and Sign, and very happy to be here.
Yeah and we're actually just back from two deep-intense strategy days somewhere in the deep woods of Sweden at our country house. Yeah it's been lovely. We've been sitting out there reflecting and working through our Ruse and Shine strategies and talking about our values and visions for the future. Yeah so perfect fit for the topic of today that is actually all about finding or refining your values.
So we've decided that we are really hoping to continue to provide insights and inspirations for all the aspects of your life and your career and health and family. So we want to talk about what your values might be and those of your organization as well. Yeah so this episode is actually one of our episodes. It's also a corporate episode which means that some organizations are using this, listening also hi everyone from the corporate clubs and also having little workshops around this topic later on.
So that's why we have PEPSheets. We have a facilitator script for the corporate clubs but we also have a PEPSheet just for anyone listening. So if you want to, after this episode you want to spend a little bit more time and reflect a little bit more, we prepared a PEPSheet for you. And if you think that this is something that would be interesting for your corporate, your organization to be part of, then it's of course you can contact us through our website, ruse and shine.com.
So in this episode we're going to talk through a few things in relation to values. So defining values and why they are important. The importance of reflecting and reviewing our own values. We might think of them as something stable but they might not be, maybe they shouldn't be.
Finding your own values and here I recommend that you download our PEPSheet so that you can work it through on yourself. We also want to discuss corporate values, they make different or not from your private ones. And then how do you live by your values and what happens if you don't live by your values? So let's start, let's dig right into it.
What do we actually mean then by values? Because it's kind of a popular word, everyone's talking about what are your values. Yeah, it might seem very, very big. It might seem very hard to define but really it's our guiding compass.
The things that are important to us in our lives and the characteristics and behaviors that motivate us and guide our decisions. Yeah, exactly. So it's kind of your starting point to stop by and really think about what is it, who do I want to be, what's important to me, what really matters. And when it says, you know, when we talk about the idea of a compass, really your values is something that if you're aware what your values are, if you really define them for yourself, it can really help you when you have those hard decisions to make.
Because then you can always look back at your values and say, okay, what does reflect most the things that I have determined are my values. Yeah, you haven't an experience when your values came handy. Yeah, yeah, and we possibly did mention this. Are you thinking about the Dubai example?
Yeah, and that was so powerful because my husband and I, we spend a little bit time and I just remember that was sort of sunny afternoon, summer in our little garden. And then we were kind of reflecting on what's important to us. Who do we really want to be, what do we want to do? And we kind of said, all right, so we actually, we want to have more of an international life and international family.
We want to explore, we want to be explorers. We want to be with people that gives us energy and share energy with them. So we kind of had, you know, set up a core values for us as a couple. And then what happened was that that kind of triggered us or actually my husband to go out and look for jobs for us internationally because we'd been back in Sweden for three years.
So he found, first of all, a really nice job for him in Scotland. So we said, okay, let's go for that. And we moved there. But then when we had been in Scotland for, well, he'd been there maybe for a quarter and I just basically arrived with the girls.
And then he's sort of calling me one day and he goes, Victoria, I have this headhunter on the phone and she has this most exciting job for you in Dubai. And you know, this is super, and I'm like saying to him, I'm like saying no, I was standing in our apartment in Edinburgh unpacking all our big boxes and getting the girls settled in nursery and all of that stuff. And he goes, no, no, no, no, we have to hang up now because she's calling you now. Bye.
And then, you know, really literally 30 seconds later, I get this call from this international headhunter and she's like having this amazing job. And long story short, you get the job and you guys have a really hard decision to make because you have just moved to somewhere else and obviously had decided on another type of life. So then your values, how do they play in? Yeah, so then we could go back to our values and say, is it really that crazy?
I mean, actually this is even more exciting. This is bringing out the international life, exploration and everything that we wanted even more. So it actually fits even better with our values. So that was our kind of final decision that helped us to make that decision.
And we went to Dubai, which was amazing for amazing years in Dubai. Yeah. So I think it's super important and we both really enjoyed doing that throughout the years to reflect on our values. What are they?
Why are they important to you and everything? And if I ask you, what about your values? Have they stayed the same over time? Yeah, no, I mean, the values change.
And I thought that was very interesting. I mean, we've sometimes referred to our wonderful trip that we did a couple of years ago to the Maldives. We're lying there in the sun and doing some reflection work. And I was reading Tony Robbins and he has a whole section on values.
So he was encouraging you to sit down and write down what different values are. And you can even look from a long list of ideas. So I was looking at this list and I was seeing adventure. And I was reflecting on, wow, this has really been a core value for me over so many years.
And then you're encouraged in this exercise to then start looking at what are your other values? And I realized that more recently, safety has started to become something that I value. Maybe because my life has been so not that it's not been safe, but much more all over the place around the world. Kind of the opposite from the safe.
And could it have anything to do with you now being a mother? Of course, of course. And age, I think it has an impact on this as well. So then you're encouraged to start to think about, do you have values that potentially are a bit in conflict with each other or contradict each other?
And I started to say, oh, that's a real challenge for me. I have the safety and I have the adventure. And I wasn't necessarily sure at that time what am I prioritizing? I think I was coming in between.
So I think it's super important to look at your different values, see what they are, write a list and actually prioritize them. If they are contradicting each other. And I think it's okay to have some contradictory values. But then if your values are going to help you to make decisions, you might still need to order them and prioritize them.
And I think it's really good to, once in a while, just like you said, review them, but also actually challenge your values a lot. And I know when we talk in workshops about finding your purpose and everything, I think some values should be possible to inherit, right? Because these are our family values. And this is, and you know, really ask yourself, well, really?
They might have been the values of my parents or the people living in this town or in this country. But are they really my values? Yeah. And how well are you communicating your values?
This is where so much conflict comes around, especially maybe less with family members. Maybe you understand the values a little bit more there. But with your new family members, like the people that you might marry. So your family members, yeah.
Okay. So not your parents or the ones that you grew up with, right? But for us, you married someone from another part of the country. I married one from the opposite side of the world.
But still, what are the values that you have that are so natural to you that you might not even communicate? And then you get really pissed off when you're the second half does not live up to your values. Because your standards of what this value should mean, right? Exactly.
And you judge them for it. And you try to hold them accountable to these values that we might not have really informed them. No. I think that's a great point.
I think in general in life, it's probably really good to, we think that all these things are in peril and short, they need to start internally with you. But I also think you have a responsibility to communicate about them. And really, that's when we work with corporations and large organizations, we're really clear about, it's not enough you just have a workshop and set up your values and put them on a paper and on the wall. And then that's fine.
You really need to talk about them, live them, share them. And it's really the same. And exactly. And I think we inherently think that values, because value sounds positive, right?
So we think that values are good. So we think that we have our own values. They are then good, our values. From our perspective.
The problem is when you then have something like safety and adventure. Both of those are really great values, but they might then contradict each other. So your partner might have, or whoever you work with or whatever the example might be, might have fantastic value. But they are not prioritizing some of your values.
And that's not good or bad. It's just about being clear. Can you tell us a little bit about what your values are? I think that could be inspiring for people.
Yeah, I'm thinking, so for me, I put a big kind of mission of who I want to be. And from there comes my values. I'm looking at them kind of yearly and revisiting, maybe tweaking them a little bit. Just like you said, it can change.
And it has changed enormously, but a little bit. And for me, one of the values that I really value, and I think I googled this, a lot of people put kindness on their values. But to be kind and to sort of be loving and share love and share with the people around me that really matters. But also to be sort of everyday kind.
What can I do in a workshop with leaders or in the yoga classroom? Or even in the supermarket. You see someone super stressed. And can I just send that person like a nice smile or something that gives them a little bit of a boost?
I guess in a sense, it's a little bit what we want to do with our podcast to share this happy sort of kind of feeling that you feel a little bit strengthened. So that's something for me. And another thing that I feel so passionate about is the learning and growing and knowledge. And it's kind of two ways of always, I value that you always continue to grow.
And this comes now, this is very interesting because it's like, I think that's super important for me. Sometimes I'm thinking, could I be a little bit judgmental for people that are not interested in learning new things? Because now that I'm listening to us talking, I'm like, yeah, maybe that's a little bit rude to me. And that's where that comes.
It's very important for me, but maybe it's not that important for others. But I try to make it important for people. Because I think that's good. And that kind of comes to my next value, which is engagement.
And I really want to, I want to be in what I do, I want to really be fully engaged in. So, if I do something, I really want to do it well. It doesn't need to mean that I want to do everything perfect because then life really becomes very difficult. But I want to do it, yeah, good enough.
But go for it and do it nicely and be engaged. And where I focus my energy on, it should matter. And I also want to create that in others. Like be engaged in their own development or in health or in running.
And I'm like, yeah, so when I go and do my yoga classes, I also talk about, so this is the sense of taste and try to remember it because this is really good for you to do in yourself practice. Because I'm not only like want them to be happy in the class, I want them to think like, how can I actually discover yoga even more? Which goes hand in hand with your growth value or learning value. Yeah, exactly.
And then I have another one that I also think I have to be careful with. And this was a little bit more difficult for me to define. But if I'm honest with me, it's like, it's there. And when I was looking for the word, you know, the word self discipline came up.
And that in my word, who's always wanting, you know, feeling happy, fluffy, you know, in that sense, it was kind of, is that positive enough? But when I'm after, like, we have the discipline to have the grit to have the, to make things happen and to the drive in a sense. Yeah. And I value that.
I think grit and driver, and I swear it's potentially the self discipline one. See, it's good to reflect on your value. It's someone. Yeah.
Yeah. And we've been reading a lot of interesting books for children's development. Yeah. And grit is really coming out as a key factor of success.
It's really, you just see how kids try and try and try. Yeah. And that is such a better way of judging success. But that's a part of itself.
We can have our own episode about that. Yeah, exactly. So then now it's a perfect opportunity to really start looking at your own, defining your own values and you can use the pepsies and download that from our web page. Yeah.
And start reflecting. Yeah. And we have a couple of questions there and I'm throwing them out now. So you can already think a little bit and I'm going to ask you.
Right. But you know, like the key to like, so what's important to you in life, like to start there? And I think this question is a really good one. If you could have any career without worrying about the money or other practical constraints, what would you do?
I think that's a really good question. I remember that one from, we were reflecting, I think, earlier. And I think that came up when I was doing the value. And it wasn't actually the career.
It was more if there's anything that you can do. And I remember that yoga was part of it. Yeah. But I had written it more yoga.
We do more self reflection, more investing in my own well-being and taking it easy. So that's probably where I am. That's a great. Yeah.
And look, you're a certified yoga instructor. Yeah. Yeah, which is really good. So and another question I think, which is quite nice is so when you're reading like news stories or when you read like articles and or a book and everything, what sort of stories inspire you?
What stands out to you? I would like, wow, I need to share this article. And yeah, well, I mean, I love people that are trying to find different ways of fulfilling their life, maybe that come with smart and inspiring ideas. Yeah.
But also people that have managed to scale back and living, it's inspiring me because I guess that's what I'm interested in, but leading maybe a simpler life. Yeah. But where they are really focusing on their mental development on their, you know, their spiritual development. I find those articles and then health.
I love, I mean, I always read. We both do, but I must say you even more so than me. Health and nutrition and that is really like fantastic recipes and thinking of how can I prepare even healthier meals for the family and so on. I find that really interesting.
So yeah, and I'm thinking for me, what really now it's funny reflecting back on what I said, my one of my values is great. And I love to read these stories about these people that against all, you know, they really managed to stay on and they were not like the JK Rowling's, you know, sitting in her coffee shop and not having any money working on her book and being refused by 12 publishers before the, you know, and I think that's really, really nice. Yeah. That's inspiring.
So that's that mean then that the kind of the stories that you read reflect on what makes you, what triggers you in a positive way and then identify your, yeah, but then through that identify some of your values. That is, yeah. So it's like, I'm thinking of one of the movies that I really liked. Well, I've just seen the green book, you know, how he was sort of kind of brave in his calm way, this musician and went back, well, I can just recommend it when to watch it, but to be brave in the little things, I think that's also something.
So maybe I should put courage up there on my values because I really admire people that are courageous and they don't have to do big, scary, super courageous things, but like little things that make a difference. That's cool. I think. So those are finding all the things that inspire you and make you really happy.
But what are things that makes you angry or upset you or you want to change in the world? So those are also things or sources to go to, to look for your own values. I think that really matters for you. And maybe they doesn't trigger like the super exciting feelings, but, you know, creates a lot of engagement with you.
So that's also another way to look for. So in justices, so now in, well, across the world, there's of course a lot of reflection around climate change, which it should be. Yeah. But do you then live up to those values?
Do you do less of certain things? Are you scaling back your life? Are you living in accordance with those things? Exactly, exactly.
Because that's something that, well, do something that, so these questions and some more reflective questions are in the Pepsi. I think if you want to think a little bit more about and reflect on your own values, because I think that the point that you said here is so important, what happens if you are living in conflict with your values, actually? Yeah. And what happens if you are, for example, working in a place that is not in tune with your values?
Exactly. So, I mean, maybe it's too much task to find a place that is exactly 100% value by value in accordance to you. But I do think that before you accept that job or you should revisit what are their values and not necessarily the values that they put on the paper, you know, like, but what they actually live and look for that. Do you keep hearing podcast ads?
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Get started at acast.com slash advertising. So you look out for a little bit of different values in different organizations. Yeah. So, I mean, it's quite standard for organizations across the world.
And I looked to the top of the famous ones that we know, the companies that we know. You're going to see what are they putting out there and what are they seeing as the key values. So, Google, I thought was interesting. I just picked two of their values.
Which we've seen on internet. So, we're not sure if it's exactly what they have right now. But at one point. The internet says Google says that Google says that Google says that Google says that Google says that Google says that Google says that Google says that Google says that Google says can slow.
And it's best to do one thing really, really well. And I was thinking, huh, this might be contradictory. Yeah, that would be interesting to hear their background behind that. But I like it because it's interesting because it shows how values certainly can be different for a certain company.
And I can understand the fastest better than slow. And I can completely understand a company that would have slow as better than fast as well. Yeah. I mean, because that comes to one of my absolute favorite quotes from Stephen Covey.
And it's with people vast,ty slow and slow, it is fast. It's like, yeah, in your relationships, if you try to do quick fixes or as a leader, you have someone, you wanna solve things really quickly, you usually end up maybe not solving it properly and actually end up spending more time and having more hassles and spending more energy on it. So do it properly, either first time, really take time to really listen, to really understand and to really coach and not try to like, okay, I can solve this quickly. But to really stop yourself and see, what is it that really matters here before I do it?
And then do it well. So that would go nice into its best to do one thing really, really well. Yeah. Then it couldn't solve myself from bringing IKEA.
Yeah, we're all our IKEA. It's like, well, you know, it's because it's a Swedish brand, we kind of almost own it too, right? Yeah, it's ours. We did it like it.
And it was interesting because they have two, well, that's took out to me, which is humbleness and willpower and then leadership by example. Yeah. And Ima Campra, who started IKEA, is very known for this. He's known for being this multi-billionaire who was still super humble and really continued to keep those values.
And we actually have a funny claim to fame with IKEA is one of these funny stories where IKEA can't put a just set up an IKEA close to our parents hotel. Yeah. And he was going to stay over. And this is kind of an economy hotel.
Exactly. So not super, super fancy. So that's fitted with the values of staying there. And he came in to stay there.
And my dad got to know about it and thought, wow, I'm going to upgrade him to the suite. And really treat him a little bit extra. And he currently and humbly, in my campra, I can say his name, declined. Yeah.
And said, no, thank you very much. I paid for the economy room. And that's the room that I would like to stay in. So very much living up to the humbleness and leading by examples, which is, I guess, key, if you have these values to actually really show that you live by them and that the leadership is living by them.
Yeah. That's true. And that, I think, is, again, going back to even what we said, if you have values that are important to you, you need to really live them and show others that you live them to. Whether that's your partner or your co-workers or your team members or your clients, it's almost exaggerating them if you want to establish them.
Yeah. Otherwise, we've seen as hypocrites in the sense. My former organization that I worked for CDA, they developed a number of different models that was helping international organizations working in conflict or in humanitarian settings. And the model that they developed, defined, actually, a number of values, that they basically suggested that we all should come in with when working in a conflict in a humanitarian context.
They call it Raft, which is respect, accountability, fairness, and transparency. And that model really was about helping organizations to think about, how are they showing respect or not? How are they showing accountability? How are they showing fairness?
Are they treating people equally? How are they transparent? Are they showing who gets what in salary, for example? Or how are they working around that?
So those were examples of interesting values that could be applicable to many organizations. You don't have to come up with your own unique values, necessarily. I mean, there are sets of values that you could just adapt and reflect on for your own organization. Yeah.
And I think that's just important when you look for your future organization or when you are in an organization to check in and tune in with those values, maybe be part of, also create those values, because you're part of something. And I think for those of you who already have spent time thinking on this, yeah, I'd encourage you to go back and revisit, are they still valid? Does it make sense? Do you want to add something or change the order and revisit that?
And have you communicated them clearly to the people around you and to the people that you expect to live by those values? Yeah. And how do you see those values in your everyday life? How do they come out?
What are you doing? What are your actions that actually support and show that this is you? Yeah. Yeah.
So that's kind of key. So if you haven't thought so much about values and you're still like, what does this really matter? Yeah. I think it matters to set your tone for your life.
And you're in charge. It matters. And if you haven't done it before, start now, creating a list, and then revisit it in half the year. And maybe you realize that those are not really reflecting your values.
But start with a list and then adapt it to what you are. And then if you want to live more by those standards, hold yourself accountable to them. Exactly. So it doesn't have to be perfect when you start to do something little and then grow from there.
I think that's our best advice. Good enough. Good enough values. Our good starting point.
Yeah. Because if you don't start, you don't have them. So with that, having said that, we wish you all a great week. And lovely values.
Yeah. Ciao. Bye. Thank you.
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