values > rules

An insight from my wife set me thinking: Values are more important than rules.

Both values and rules are things that shape your behavior. They determine what you'll do or refrain from doing in any given situation. We need guiding structure in life to give us direction in life, and both serve this purpose. We mentally reference these standards countless times throughout our day. We choose to embrace or eschew them in every circumstance we encounter. Rules and values differ, however.

Rules have a negative connotation. They define boundaries that we should not cross. Often these behavior boarders are drawn by authorities that impose these on others. The authority tends to either be a leader tasked with control or a community majority that decides what actions are off limits. Rules tend to rouse the rebel in us, as everyone can finish the phrase, "Rules are made to be...". (And the answer isn't "followed".)

Values have a positive connotation. Rather than define what we are not or will not do, they define what we are and what we do. Simply put, values encapsulate what is valuable to us. They create a vision of what we desire and hope to achieve, not what we strain to avoid. In contrast to the outward imposition of rules, values flow from within an individual or community. Rules imply punishment; values bring the reward of becoming what is valued.

To be fair, often rules and values are related. Rules are established to enforce values. They prevent dilution caused by deviation of the divergent. More simply put, they try to keep bad apples from tempting others to reject the values of the community. Rules provide a degree of control of those that do not embrace values, preventing them from creating the negative leadership of bad examples.

The problem with relying on rules to maintain culture is that it creates a shell of obedience without embedding values within individuals. They create compliance, not community.

If your goal is a task, write rules. If your goal is community, nurture values.