In her book Is It Too Late to Run Away and Join the Circus? Marti Smye suggests that matching your belief system with your employer’s is more important than matching your skill set.

This harmonization is absolutely critical. More so when organizations are going through significant change—particularly in the early stages of the transformation, the collective and representative values of the organization are in a glaring spotlight. They’re primarily evidenced by the way people behave, the way they’re treated, and the decisions that are made.

There once was a corporate leader so consumed with his desire to cut costs and to hastily make change that he ultimately lost his way. To the outside world, this gentleman had a most impressive educational and business pedigree, as well as a prior record of accomplishment. He traveled the globe, ate at the finest restaurants, went to the “right” shows and events, and carried a corporate title and compensation package worthy of it all. However, he was hardly out of central casting. Insiders were well aware of his Machiavellian approach and attitude. His caustic tyrants were rampant, and his volcano-like temper flared more than it settled. He had little patience, and he expected nothing short of “24/7” dedication from his team, treating them as if they were interchangeable parts. He ruthlessly closed plants, dramatically reduced the workforce, and sold off the businesses he deemed to be lacking—all in a manner of principle and practice that was contrary with the company’s stated values. His actions quickly helped the balance sheet, but they inevitably threatened the actual viability of the business. His relentless pursuit of bottom-line performance had caused him to not respect or trust others.

When confronted with this type of situation, we have a range of choices—from ignorance to exodus. Each option has a significant personal and professional consequence. Your values will likely determine the path you take.

Values are a principle or an ideal that is intrinsically desirable. They help us shape and interpret the state of our world and aid in our understanding of how it works. They’re derived from our upbringing and experiences—formed and influenced by our family, our friends, and those with whom we have significant relationships. They influence how we feel, think, react, and behave. They’re based on social, religious, cultural and ethical grounding, and they’re individually derived and experienced through occasions when we deal with the endpoints of the range of human emotions such as conflict, grief, disappointment, envy, and success.

All organizations, whether we’re talking about IBM, the local parent-teacher organization, or the Girl Scouts, have explicit or implicit values as their cultural underpinning. The shared meanings and interpretations of these values help us understand the expectations for professional behavior, as well as gain a clear understanding about how to handle any potential conflicting demands.

The question and potential challenge for each of us is to identify and understand our personal values and determine if there is alignment with the way they’re “lived” within our respective organization. This is where a little soul searching comes in handy.

We can’t be “successful” by any definition in our organizational lives without broader harmony. Said differently, do you really want to work for an organization where you don’t believe in the products or services, business model, culture, or decisions made by leadership of the enterprise? Do you want to work for someone who seems to have too cozy a relationship with various vendors? Do you want to work next to someone who is apathetic about the organization?

In search of values congruence, take time to reflect and compare. Know that whatever path you choose—whether you grin and bear it, take on the cause, or opt out—you’ll hopefully come to find, as others have, that individuals with aligned values at home and at work generally experience higher consciousness, increased performance, heightened security, greater confidence, higher job satisfaction, higher morale, and more effective decision making.