Values-based Planning is a clunky phrase for what certain organizations have done for generations, indeed millennia. Miss Porters School, Sarah Lawrence, Loomis-Chaffee, Middlebury, Williams, Oxford, Yale, Harvard, Baptist Churches, The Church of Later Day Saints, Synagogues, Mosques, The Boy Scouts, Astraea and so many other nonprofits exist to cultivate what is best in us as human beings. In a plural society in which notions of “the good” are endlessly contested, and each misguided person must pursue his or her often self-defeating vision of “happiness” systematically misled by advertising, marketing and political propaganda, we are blessed with many contending nonprofits supportive of particular communities and their ideals of excellence, happiness, virtue and salvation.
I never wanted to be a "values-based planner," much less a financial services factotum. My gift is the Trickster’s gift of teaching those who would not be taught at any cost, since they are already so successful. What values-based planning means to me is the fulfillment of a life long quest to unsettle the complacent and spur them into moral action, not by my lights, but by their own. Do you recall how Socrates discussed his role? He said he was a "gadfly," stinging the reluctant horse to a gallop. Worse, he said he was “the midwife” of his interlocutor’s soul. Well? His interlocutors on the streets of Athens were the likes of Thrasymachus, the Alberto Gonzalez of that day and age, or the Dick Cheney. Note that Socrates’s conversational partners were male. Think of how hard it is for a woman to give birth; visualize her face in the throes. Now imagine Gonzalez giving birth to his better self under the caring hands of a Socratic Trickster. That is values-based planning, or at least the opening moment. From the ideals elicited, like a baby, “between urine and feces” (St. Augustine) to the ultimate plan requires a team of professional advisors, but the most important moment is the most dangerous, when the “Winner,” the wealthy client, and “Loser,” the Socratic planner, circle one another, one seeking an opening, the other seeking to escape. In this game the Winner loses if he wins and the loser survives only if the Winner wins in a deeper sense. When the new baby howls, the new mother experiences a joy so great she weeps; for that the Socratic planner lives. For that moment all the howls and the agony are worth it - particularly since it is the other party who feels it. For the accomplished values-based planner, provoking the agony and the ecstasy of self-knowledge is just another day at the office. Of course it takes only one loss and you as planner are persona non grata, out of luck and out of business. But whose soul here are we trying to save, and what price is too high to pay?
Tracy Gary inspires legacy leaders. I am glad she does, but what is silenced and suppressed will never out in a sermon or inspirational discourse. Growth at any age is hard and for those in their fifties and sixties, who have been told they are successful as the world measures success, growth into wisdom is not impossible, but very difficult and as painful and as joyous as childbirth, the birth of something new, the legacy that will outlive the parent.
Real values-based planning is an excellent fit with nonprofits whose reason for being is the cultivation of the human soul, the tending of that garden, forever gone to seed. Yes, values-based planning can raise significant funds, but at its best it is an extension of the sponsoring organization's mission to enhance lives and save souls. We cannot preserve our communities or save the world until we save what is best in the those who have the most to give or to withhold.
Of course you have to pick your shots. Not every donor is prepared to give birth, some may just need a little inspiration, or cajolery or flattery to make the gift that is in them to give. My point is that the real teacher at Harvard of philosophy, say, may not be in the Philosophy Department. A Charles Collier, if he works to the limits of his discipline, is not teaching Socratic dialog but continuing that tradition. If Charlie turns up dead, a cup of hemlock by his side, we can say he has mastered our Noble Trade. Otherwise I am afraid he may just be clowning around.
Honestly, those who say they do values-based planning have literally no idea what they are talking about. If they knew what was at issue, they would flee back to raising money or fleecing clients. Values-based planning is thankless, dangerous, and unwelcome. Of the three best (Socrates, Diogenes, Jesus) two died as criminals and one died naked and broke in the public thoroughfare. Values-based planning is a very bad business. Don't mess with it unless you are willing to pay the ultimate price on behalf of the clients you save at your own risk.
Here's a tip: If you want a good values-based planner look at his or her feet. No shoes! Naked or maybe wearing a robe or a toga, but no shoes. Planners wearing shoes are probably just in it for the money and can afford a nice pair of shoes.