Value-based Decision Making

Value-Based Decision Making

A value is a principle or quality that is intrinsically desirable. It is an ideal that should govern decision making in business, school, athletics, dating, and marriage. As I coached my son Brady’s football teams, one of our values on the football field was to try to always be a good sport.

When Brady was on the Aggies in fourth grade, we were up on Coach Winston’s Longhorns by a few touchdowns. The game was winding down, and Brady, who was playing quarterback, was under center. Our offense was on the two-yard line, and Brady wanted to punch it in with a QB sneak. You see, he had yet to score a touchdown as a football player. I would have loved to have given him that opportunity to get into the end zone, but I had to keep the bigger picture in mind. In the grand scheme of things, the win was already in hand. We had beaten the Longhorns.

My value is to strive to have a good name. I knew that if I had allowed him to punch the ball into the end zone, it would have cost me influence with all of the coaches and league officials. As a result, my value governed my decision making over my emotion. As you can imagine, this disappointed my son, but it also taught him a bigger lesson. Instead of scoring, we took a knee and went out victorious with our name not only intact but on the rise. It took Brady two more years before he scored his first touchdown, but I believe it was worth the wait.

Listen to the conviction that governed Joseph’s decision making when Potiphar’s wife tempted him to sleep with her: “Joseph refused. ‘Look,’ he told her. . . . ‘No one here has more authority than I do. [My master] has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God’” (Genesis 39:8-9). When we know our values, the hard decisions become much easier.

Joseph refused. ‘Look,’ he told her. . . . ‘No one here has more authority than I do. [My master] has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.

Genesis 39:8-9