By John Barrows | June 6, 2026 | 2 min read
Before you make any decisions when nothing feels stable, the fastest way to make a good move is to get clear on your core values first. They are not a soft, motivational exercise. They are the most practical filter you have for figuring out which opportunity is actually right for you, which people you can build with, and which situations are quietly draining you.
I’ve had more conversations in the past two or three weeks than I’ve had in a long time.
After Q1, my pipeline dried up, and when that happens, I do the same thing I’ve always done. I get back to work. I pick up the phone, reach out to people, and set up as many conversations as I can to get a temperature on what’s happening out there.
What I’m hearing from almost everyone is the same thing.
People are exhausted. Not the normal end-of-quarter tired. A deeper kind of exhaustion that comes from trying to make decisions when nothing feels stable. The market is shifting, AI is rewriting job descriptions in real time, companies are restructuring, and nobody has a clear picture of what the next 12 months look like.
Some people are thinking about leaving their jobs. Some are wondering if they should stay and fight for what they have. Some got laid off and are trying to figure out what to do next. Some are in roles that don’t feel right anymore, but they can’t articulate why.
The through line in almost every conversation is the same: “I know I need to make a move, but I don’t know what the right move is.”
Why core values matter before you make any decisions
I’ve been there. More than once.
And the thing that has pulled me through every time is something that has nothing to do with market conditions, job titles, or comp plans. It’s recentering on my core values.
I know that sounds soft. I promise you it’s not.
Your core values are the most practical decision-making tool you have. They’re the lens that tells you why one opportunity feels right and another one doesn’t, even when they look the same on paper. They’re what tells you whether a boss is someone you can build with or someone who’s going to drain you. They’re what keeps you grounded when everything around you is in flux.
When I’m aligned with my values, I make good decisions fast. When I’m not, I overthink everything and end up stuck in the same place I started.
What alignment actually produces
I’ve watched this play out with hundreds of people I’ve worked with over the years.
When core values are aligned between people, teams, and organizations, they do incredible things together. When they’re not, it falls apart every time. Doesn’t matter how talented the people are. Doesn’t matter how good the product is. Values misalignment is the thing that kills it.
This is true for your career decisions. It’s true for your hiring decisions. It’s true for the deals you choose to pursue and the partnerships you choose to walk away from.
The Values Prompt Pack
A few weeks ago I built a prompt pack that walks you through a guided exercise to identify your core values using AI as a thought partner. I originally built it for myself and started sharing it with a few people I was having these conversations with.
The feedback caught me off guard.
A COO told me it felt like a therapy session without the judgment. A global sales leader said it was probably the most valuable exercise he’d ever been through. These are people who have been through every corporate training and leadership program you can think of.
I’m sharing it broadly now because I think the timing matters.
If you’re in one of those moments where you’re trying to figure out what’s next, or you’re wondering why something doesn’t feel right even though it looks fine from the outside, start here. Get centered on what actually matters to you before you make any decisions.
Download the Values Prompt Pack here.
Open it up, paste it into Claude or ChatGPT, and give yourself 60 minutes. You’ll walk away with a clear set of values and a decision framework you can use for the rest of your career.
The clarity changes everything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should you get clear on core values before making a career decision?
Core values act as a filter. They tell you whether an opportunity actually aligns with how you work, what you need, and who you can build with, before you invest months finding out the hard way. Without that filter, decisions get made on surface criteria: title, comp, brand name. Those things matter, but they don’t predict whether you’ll be energized or drained.
How can AI help you identify your core values?
AI works as a structured thinking partner. A good prompt pack walks you through questions that surface patterns in your past decisions, what you’ve valued in your best work, and what’s been missing in situations that didn’t work. Most people get more honest answers in 60 minutes with an AI than in years of reflecting on their own, because the prompts push you past the obvious answers.
What happens when core values are misaligned at work?
Misalignment produces friction that’s hard to diagnose. You might attribute it to a bad manager, a bad culture, or a bad market. Sometimes it’s all of those. But often the deeper issue is that what the organization rewards doesn’t match what you actually care about. Naming that clearly makes it easier to decide whether to adapt or move on.
Is this only relevant for people considering a job change?
No. Recentering on your values is useful any time you’re facing a decision with multiple viable paths: a new deal to pursue, a partnership to evaluate, a hire to make, a program to invest in. It’s a decision filter, not just a career tool.
John Barrows helps sales leaders decide whether to replace or rebuild their teams for the AI era. For 25+ years he has worked with the world’s most demanding sales organizations, including Salesforce, LinkedIn, Google, Amazon, and Okta, building the frameworks that became Filling the Funnel and Driving to Close. Today he advises CROs and VPs of Sales on AI readiness, team restructuring, and go-to-market strategy, drawing on exposure to every type of B2B sales organization over that span. John believes sales is a science, not a personality contest. His training focuses on the fundamentals that hold up regardless of what the market or the technology does next. He is the host of Make It Happen Mondays, author of I Want to Be in Sales When I Grow Up, and an LP at GTMfund.
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