Podcast Summary

Kreatures Of Habit Podcast

Host: Michael Chernow
Episode: Forget The Fluff: Redefining Core Values with Robert Glazer
Date: October 8, 2025
Guest: Robert Glazer, bestselling author and expert on core values

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the real meaning and practical application of core values – both individually and organizationally. Michael Chernow and guest Robert Glazer discuss why traditional approaches to core values often fall flat, how to identify and implement actionable personal values, and why getting these right is crucial for happiness, healthy leadership, and long-term success in life and business. Robert shares his framework from his new book The Compass Within, guides listeners through identifying their values, and examines the culture/values connection, including memorable stories about business partnerships, leadership, and even marriage.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Data-Backed Importance of Living Core Values

• Hard Data: People who connect with their core values are 30% happier, and those who link values to work are 52% happier at work (Robert Glazer, 00:00).
• Leadership Trust: Employees trust leaders who live their stated values three times more than those who just talk about them (Robert Glazer, 00:00).
• Authenticity Gap: Stating values but acting incongruently undermines leader trust by up to 80%.

“There's real data behind this, but this can't be the, I’m saying it but not doing it."
— Robert Glazer (00:32)

2. Why Most Core Values Are Meaningless – And How to Fix It

• Problem with One-Word Platitudes: Companies and individuals often list ambiguous words like “integrity” or “family,” but cannot use these to guide decision-making (Robert Glazer, 01:46).
• Actionable Core Values: The value must be a filter for decisions: “Could you make a decision based on it? Can you use it as a decision-making rubric?” (Robert Glazer, 02:53).
• Personal Example: Robert shares his own actionable values: “Find a better way and share it,” “Health and vitality,” “Self-reliance,” “Respectful authenticity,” and “Long-term orientation” (01:46).

“My dominant core value is find a better way and share it. That's literally why I'm here.”
— Robert Glazer (01:46)

3. The “Big Three” Life Decisions and Their Orbits

• Framework: Your job/vocation, partner, and community.
• No Fixed Hierarchy: Each influences the others over time (Robert Glazer, 04:09). A value-violating job can strain your relationship and social life.

“They probably rotate around each other… If you're in a job that really goes against your values… it’s probably gonna deteriorate your community, you know, deteriorate your relationship.”
— Robert Glazer (04:09)

4. Defining and Discovering Personal Core Values

• Mirrored Self-Discovery: Robert’s values work was catalyzed by a leadership program focused on self-discovery, not tactics (06:39).
• The 'Tunnel' Analogy: Navigating life without conscious values is like driving in a tunnel with the lights off—bouncing painfully off walls (Robert Glazer, 07:14).
• Anti-Core Value: Feeling deeply uncomfortable around someone who violates your values is a sign you’ve correctly identified your own (Robert Glazer, 07:52).

"If you tell me one of your values and I make up a character who's the opposite ... your face starts getting tense ... that’s your value being violated."
— Robert Glazer (08:20)

5. The Power of Parables and Story in Teaching

• Book Format: Glazer’s new book The Compass Within is a parable; this style makes lessons emotionally resonant and relatable (09:23).
• Personal Regret: Robert shares a story of ignoring a core value discord that became a significant personal regret (10:47).

6. Moving from Abstract to Tactical

• Six-Question Framework: To discover your core values, answer six behavioral questions—covering best work, greatest frustrations, disliked people, eulogy wishes, and more (Robert Glazer, 36:14).
• Theme Validation: Group your answers for recurring themes, then test them with a validator (Can you make a decision on it? Does the opposite make you uncomfortable? Is it more than one word? Can you rate yourself on it?) (Robert Glazer, 39:00–41:00).
• Negative and Positive Triggers: Dislike of certain traits is often the inverse of your own value.

7. Leading and Hiring with Core Values

• Hiring/Firing for Fit: "These are the values we have. If you want something different, it won't be a good fit." (Robert Glazer, 18:50)
• Changing Workplace Norms: Robert describes eliminating typical “two weeks notice” etiquette via open, honest “transitions” (17:38).
• Toxic Exits Indicate Deeper Issues: Walkouts, toxicity at exit—either you hire badly, or your culture made them that way (Robert Glazer, 21:54).

“If your employees all the way out are always stealing…there are two things going on. One, you’re not hiring really good people… Two, something about your culture is turning them toxic.”
— Robert Glazer (21:54)

8. Partnerships, Community, and Values-Based Compatibility

• Business Partnership Example: Michael shares a story of a failed business partnership rooted in divergent core values—financial ambition vs. desire for balance/community (51:22).
• Importance of Values Conversations: It is critical for partners (romantic or business) to compare core values before committing (49:33–53:57).

“If these are like magnets… you can work around one point of friction, but if you have three or four, that’s hard.”
— Robert Glazer (49:58)

9. Living in Alignment: Individual and Organizational

• Company Culture: The true values of a company are what’s rewarded, regardless of stated platitudes (31:32).
• Real World Example: Enron’s wall values (“integrity, respect, be kind”) had no relationship to actual rewarded behaviors.
• Alignment Principle: The healthiest organizations have close alignment between stated and lived values throughout hiring, reviews, and daily decision-making (33:22).

“The great companies are actually aligned between what they think, what they say, and what they do.”
— Robert Glazer (33:22)

10. Values, Adversity, and Transformation

• Origin of Values: Most values are either doubled-down positives from formative experiences, or the opposite of trauma/absence (24:20, 63:18).
• Purpose from Pain: “Purpose and pain lie very close to each other... there’s some amazing stuff that comes out of bad stuff.” (64:03)

11. Strategies for Values in Daily Life and Relationships

• Family/Parenting: Align family activities and goals with your authentic values, not with societal “checkboxes” (43:08).
• Goal-Setting: Build long-term goals around your values, then back-cast into annual or shorter-term goals (43:17).
• Community Fit: Where you live and who surrounds you can make (or break) your ability to live by your values (53:57).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Living Values:
  “Could you make a decision based on it and can you use it filter decision making rubric?”
  — Robert Glazer (02:53)

• On Relationships:
  “We could do this again.... Or not.” [on just letting relationships fade when values aren’t aligned]
  — Robert Glazer (16:20)

• On Company Culture:
  “The core values are either the culture is explicit or implicit. So it doesn’t matter what you write on the wall.”
  — Robert Glazer (31:32)

• On Adversity Creating Values:
  "Purpose and pain lie very close to each other."
  — Robert Glazer (64:03)

• On Partnership Friction:
  “One person's hell is another person's happy place.”
  — Michael Chernow (57:17)

• On Personal Practice:
  “My dominant core value is find a better way and share it. That's literally why I'm here.”
  — Robert Glazer (01:46)

• On the Reality of Culture:
  “If your employees are all theft and rage at the exit — either you’re hiring badly or your culture’s making them that way.”
  — Robert Glazer (21:54)

Tactical Takeaways & Practical Exercises

Discovering Your Core Values (from Robert’s process, 36:14–41:00)

• Answer 6 behavioral questions about high/low points, frustration, and legacy
• Look for themes by color-coding recurring concepts
• For each candidate value, run the validator:
  • Can I make decisions from it?
  • Does its opposite make me uncomfortable?
  • Is it longer than a single word?
  • Can I objectively self-rate it?
• Replace ambiguous words with clear phrases or sentences
• Try this exercise with partners and business team for alignment

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:00] – Data and importance of core values
• [01:46] – Robert’s actionable values
• [04:09] – The “Big Three” framework: job, partner, community
• [06:39]–[08:20] – “Tunnel” analogy and anti-core value concept
• [09:23] – Book writing as parable: teaching through story
• [17:38] – Company transition policy: open, honest exits
• [21:54] – “Toxic” culture and hiring/firing implications
• [31:32] – Real vs. stated company culture
• [36:14]–[41:00] – Step-by-step personal core value discovery
• [43:08]–[43:17] – Family life and values alignment
• [51:22]–[53:57] – Michael’s personal partnership story
• [57:17] – “One person’s hell is another’s happiness”
• [63:18]–[64:03] – Adversity, childhood, and value formation
• [69:04]–[70:34] – Awareness barometer and “benefit of the doubt” as value

Final Reflections & Next Steps

• Understanding and living by actionable core values is essential for happiness, healthy teams, and purposeful life.
• Run the values discovery exercise for yourself, your team, or your partnership; compare and discuss results.
• Check out The Compass Within (compass-within.com) for further guidance, and access Robert Glazer’s course and newsletter for ongoing insights.

For more on Robert Glazer’s work, visit robertglazer.com and check out his Substack: Friday Forward.

“The secret sauce is to say what you mean and mean what you say—and let others decide if that’s where they want to be.”
— Robert Glazer (58:22)