One of the most profitable parts of The Advantage for me was Lencioni’s distinction of values in the chapter on creating clarity.  He write a good bit about the mission statement fad of a few years ago and how easy it is for the things that should bring clarity to bring more confusion in the long run.

Lencioni sees four kinds of values: core, aspiration, permission-to-play, and accidental.  Core values, he asserts, are “two or three– behavioral traits that are inherent in an organization.”  These are things that have been at play for a long time, long before someone sits down to figure out core values.  Aspirational values, on the other hand, are the values you hope to encourage and instill in those you work with.  These are not things you already possess (but would like to).  Permission-to-play values, according to Lenin, are “the minimum behavioral standards that are required in an organization.”  Lencioni lists honesty, integrity, and respect for others as examples of this kind of value.  Finally, you’ve got the accidental values.  These are the things that creep in over time, things that no one set out to make important but that became important regardless.

While I find permission-to-play and accidental values interesting, core and aspirational values are the ones that I imagine most organizations need to tackle first.  “Who are we already?” and “who do we want to become?” are vital to any kind of moving forward.