“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.  Unfortunately, so is losing.”

Reverend Lombardi (as my high school football coach referred to him) knew something about winning – that it was habitual.  But I believe he can teach us something about alignment when it comes to our core values as well.

Take the word “winning” from this line and substitute your core values, either for you organization or yourself.  (Or you can borrow mine: character, courage, faith, leadership, gratitude, and humility).  Does the quote still ring true for you?

If not, there’s room to grow.  Until our values have become habits – an “all the time thing” – there will be a lack of alignment between what we say is important and how we actually behave.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or   follow him on Twitter.