I recently found myself coaching a business leader through articulating their company values—a process I've guided many times. We'd identify what matters most, then create behavior statements: "We do X" or "We do Y" as concrete examples of living those values as a team.

It works beautifully for values like honesty, transparency, or customer focus.

But when I applied the same framework to virtues—specifically the eight virtues Heroic teaches us to cultivate—I hit a wall. How do you create a behavior statement for wisdom? What does "We do wisdom" even mean?

That struggle led to an insight that's changing how I approach coaching, and I want to share it with the Heroic community.

The Crucial Difference

I asked bri.ai (the AI trained on everything Brian Johnson has taught) about the difference between virtues and values. Here's what I learned:

Virtues are the essence of qualities we aspire to embody, deeply rooted in ancient wisdom and modern science. They are universal and timeless—like wisdom, courage, love, and self-mastery—forming the foundation of a flourishing life.

Values are more personal and contemporary, reflecting what is important to us individually or collectively as a team or organization. They guide our priorities and choices in the modern context.

I'd add this practical distinction: Values tell us where we're going; virtues are how we get there.

Values are what we care about—our priorities and what we consider worthwhile. They answer: "What matters to me?" or "What matters to us?"

Virtues are qualities of character—excellences we develop through practice. They answer: "Who am I becoming?" or "Who are we becoming as a team?"

Values Work at Every Level

One of the powerful aspects of values is that they scale from the deeply personal to the collective enterprise.

Personal values might include family, health, creativity, or service. Behavior statements begin with "I":

• "I spend quality time with my family every evening"
• "I exercise for at least 30 minutes daily"

Team or organizational values might include innovation, customer-centricity, or transparency. Behavior statements begin with "We":

• "We allocate 10% of our time to experimental projects"
• "We respond to customer inquiries within 24 hours"

The framework is the same whether coaching an individual or a leadership team. Values provide direction; behavior statements make them concrete.

Values as Decision-Making Tools

But values don't just tell us where we're going. In my coaching, I teach that values are what we look at any time we're making a difficult decision.

When someone faces a tough choice—should I take this job? How should we respond to this crisis?—I guide them back to their values and behavior statements.

The answer to any difficult question can be found in our values:

• If you value "family" and a job requires extensive travel, your values clarify the tradeoffs
• If your team values "transparency" and you're debating how to communicate a setback, your behavior statements show you the path
• If you value "integrity" and face a tempting shortcut, your values resolve the tension

This is the practical power of well-articulated values—they transform abstract priorities into concrete decision-making criteria.

Can Virtues Work the Same Way?

This raises a fascinating question: Can virtues be used in the same way as decision-making tools?

Yes and no. And the difference is instructive.

Values help you decide WHAT to do by clarifying your priorities and commitments. They answer: "Given what matters most to me/us, what choice aligns with those priorities?"

Virtues help you decide HOW to do it by developing your judgment and character. They answer: "What does wisdom/courage/love call for in this specific situation?"

Let me illustrate:

Imagine you discover a team member has been cutting corners on quality to meet deadlines.

Using values as a decision-making tool:

• You look at your team value: "We deliver exceptional quality to our customers"
• You check the behavior statement: "We never ship work we're not proud of"
• The decision becomes clear: You need to address this

Using virtues as a decision-making tool:

• Wisdom asks: What's really going on here? Is this a training issue, a pressure issue, or a character issue?
• Courage asks: Am I willing to have the hard conversation rather than avoiding it?
• Love asks: How can I address this in a way that serves this person's growth, not just punishes the mistake?
• Humility asks: Have I created conditions that made this likely? What's my role in this?

See the difference?

Values give you the what—the clear standard. The behavior statements make the answer almost binary: this either aligns with our values or it doesn't.

Virtues give you the how—the wisdom to understand context, the courage to act, the love to do it well, the humility to see your own contribution. They don't give you a binary answer; they develop your capacity to navigate complexity with integrity.

Both Are Essential for Difficult Decisions

The most difficult decisions require both values and virtues.

Values without virtues can lead to rigid, unwise application. You might know your value says "transparency," but without wisdom you might share information prematurely or without love you might be brutally honest in a way that damages rather than builds.

Virtues without values can lead to directionless sophistication. You might exercise great wisdom and courage, but toward what end? In service of what priorities?

Together, they're powerful:

1. Start with values: What do my/our values say about this situation?
2. Apply virtues: How can I approach this with wisdom, courage, love, and humility?
3. Act with integrity: Make the choice that honors both your values (what matters) and embodies the virtues (who you're becoming)

Why Virtues Need Reflection Questions

This helps explain why my original coaching framework broke down with virtues.

Virtues are inherently context-dependent and require judgment. Wisdom doesn't manifest as a single behavior—it's the capacity to know which behavior fits which situation.

This is why virtues work differently as decision-making tools than values. Values can have clear behavior statements because they represent commitments. Virtues require developed judgment because they represent capacities.

Instead of behavior statements, virtues call for reflection questions—prompts that help us examine whether we're developing these capacities over time.

Here are examples with Heroic's eight virtues, applicable both personally and as teams:

Wisdom

• Am I/Are we seeking multiple perspectives before deciding?
• What am I/are we learning from this that I/we can apply going forward?
• Is ego or fear clouding my/our judgment?

Courage

• Am I/Are we avoiding this conversation because of fear?
• What would I/we do if I/we knew we couldn't fail?
• Where am I/are we being called to step up?

Self-Mastery (Discipline)

• Am I/Are we doing what I/we said I/we would do, even when I/we don't feel like it?
• Where am I/are we making excuses rather than progress?

Love

• Am I/Are we showing up with genuine care and compassion?
• How can I/we serve this person's/these people's highest good right now?

Gratitude

• What am I/are we taking for granted that deserves appreciation?
• Can I/we find something to appreciate even in this difficulty?

Hope (Optimism)

• Am I/Are we approaching this challenge as a problem or an opportunity?
• What possibility am I/are we not seeing because I'm/we're fixated on obstacles?

Humility

• Am I/Are we open to being wrong about this?
• What can I/we learn from this person or situation?

Humor

• Am I/Are we taking myself/ourselves too seriously right now?
• Can I/we find lightness in this moment without diminishing its importance?

These questions develop our capacity to find the right answer in each unique situation, whether individually or as a team.

We Need Both for a Flourishing Life

We need both values and virtues for a flourishing life—whether personal or organizational.

Values give us direction and decision-making clarity—they tell us what matters and provide criteria when the path is unclear.

Virtues give us the character and capacity to navigate well—to make wise decisions, to act courageously, to lead with love.

Think of it this way:

• Values are the compass pointing us toward meaningful destinations AND the decision-making criteria when the path is unclear
• Virtues are the character strengths that enable us to navigate the journey with wisdom, courage, and integrity

How This Changes My Coaching

This insight is transforming how I approach my work at MAC6 with individuals and businesses.

Going forward, I'm integrating both:

For Values: Continue using behavior statements

• Create "I do X" statements for individuals
• Create "We do X" statements for teams
• Use values and behavior statements as decision-making tools

For Virtues: Add reflection questions

• Identify which virtues we need to develop
• Create questions for regular practice
• Build character capacity to live our values well
• Use virtue reflection questions to guide HOW we navigate difficult decisions

Together, these create a complete framework:

• Values show us the what and where
• Behavior statements make values concrete
• Virtues develop the who and how
• Reflection questions cultivate virtues over time
• Both work together to guide us through difficult decisions with clarity and integrity

A Practical Example

An individual who values "health and vitality" might have behavior statements like:

• "I exercise for 30 minutes every morning"
• "I get 7-8 hours of sleep nightly"

When facing whether to accept a high-stress promotion, they can look to their values: Does this align with my commitment to health? Will I be able to maintain these behaviors?

But they also need virtues:

• Wisdom to understand the full implications
• Courage to either accept the challenge or decline gracefully
• Self-mastery to maintain healthy boundaries
• Hope to trust in their ability to thrive

A company valuing "innovation" might have behavior statements like:

• "We allocate 10% of our time to experimental projects"
• "We celebrate intelligent failures"

When facing whether to pivot strategy after a failed initiative, they look to their values: Does pivoting align with celebrating intelligent failures?

And they need virtues:

• Wisdom to discern the right lessons
• Courage to make a bold change
• Humility to acknowledge what didn't work
• Love to support team members through transition

The values provide clarity on what matters; the virtues provide the capacity to act with integrity.

The Heroic Foundation

This is why Heroic's emphasis on the eight virtues is so powerful. Brian Johnson has built the foundation that makes everything else possible.

The eight virtues—wisdom, courage, self-mastery, love, gratitude, hope, humility, and humor—aren't just teaching content. They're the universal, timeless character infrastructure that allows us to pursue any value, achieve any mission, navigate any difficult decision, and build any life or organization worth building.

As I integrate virtues into my MAC6 coaching—both with individuals and leadership teams—I'm grateful for the framework Heroic provides. These are practical capacities we can develop through daily practice and reflection.

From Knowing to Being

Behavior statements work for values because values are about what we do and what we decide. Virtues are about who we are and who we're becoming—and how we navigate complexity.

As Aristotle taught, we become virtuous by practicing virtuous acts. But that practice isn't rote repetition—it's thoughtful reflection, adjustment, and growth over time.

The reflection questions honor this developmental nature. They're not checklists to complete but capacities to strengthen—daily, consistently, over a lifetime.

A question for Brian and the Heroic community: Does this integration of values and virtues resonate? As we work toward 51% of humanity flourishing, how can we help both individuals and organizations develop the clarity of values for decision-making and the character of virtues for wise navigation?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Scott McIntosh is Co-founder and Chairman of Heroic Arizona and Co-founder of MAC6 Growth Academy, working toward the mission of 51% of humanity flourishing by 2051.