If you are familiar with the concepts of Managing, Leading and Coaching by Values (Dolan 2011, 2021, and 2023) which emphasise stress and values interaction, you may recall the triaxial model which helps identify and rank individual core values to enhance general well-being and boost productivity (by reducing stress). In diagnosing what is important to you and then finding a way to apply those core values to your daily behaviour, you create an alignment resulting in enhanced mental health and productivity (see also: Garti and Dolan, 2019 and 2021). The rub, as they say, is balancing this with your life/work goals and objectives, which is inevitably easier said than done.
This article is focused on (and sometimes forecasts) possible future events from an admittedly odd (we prefer innovative) perspective connected to the neurobiology of values. Admittedly, some of the newer ideas we present in this paper are speculative. More research is certainly needed to substantiate some of our propositions. We do not claim this research to be exhaustive. Nonetheless we feel there is enough there to present you with this “appetiser” of sorts. Perhaps it can help stir reflection around the ideas of resilience, mental health, and what the future holds.
So, let's start with the basic assumptions and current practices and gradually move towards new paradigms and the future. Values, Managing by Values, leading by values, and Coaching by Values are dynamic concepts and methodologies. They have evolved dramatically since the first author began his academic journey in the early 1980s (he was the co-founder of ISSWOV, the International Society for the Study of Work and Organisational Values – www.isswov.net). The study of values is in continuous evolution. Values are part of nature. Some claim that if we do not change or even transform our current values, an entire civilisation is at a risk of becoming extinct (Raich, Eisler and Dolan, 2014). If you are creative and innovative, and have genuine concern about the future, you may decide not to wait any further and embed some of the concrete ideas proposed hereafter immediately.
Developments in neuroscience indicate that values evolved as the human brain did, with each affecting the other.
THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF VALUES
How do humans develop the values that permit us to classify objects as beautiful or ugly and to judge actions as good or evil? Where are good social conduct and ethical principles grounded? We have long been preoccupied with such questions. Some of the answers may be found in our evolution, specifically in our neurobiology. Recent research suggests that the evolution of human values may be imprinted in the human brain, both in its gross anatomy and in the finer details of its physiology, including brain chemistry. Developments in neuroscience indicate that values evolved as the human brain did, with each affecting the other.
Humans have been pondering the origins of their
