Marrying value and values.

There is no denying the prominence given to shareholder value in business today. At the same time, many companies have made attempts to state and adhere to a set of values. Yet there have been very few attempts to bring the two together or, as one author writes, to incorporate values into value. In fact, it seems to be accepted wisdom that there is no real value in focusing too heavily on values because they are a distraction from the real purpose.

In his recent book, On value and values: thinking differently about we in an age of me, Douglas Smith defines value as a financial outcome, usually shareholder value. Values are defined as those morals and ethics that …