Screenshot of the World Economic Forum article The world's most influential values, in one graphic

In November 2020, the World Economic Forum published a piece by Dorothy Neufeld of Visual Capitalist that ranked the values people care about most around the world, using our data. The value of Family came out on top. Values about being connected to other people, like Relationships and Belonging, made the top ten too, and the security values, Financial Security and Employment Security, scored high around the world. As I said in the piece, if you can understand what your target audience cares about, what they spend their lives chasing, you have an actual chance to use data to engage and motivate them.

The article also showed how much the rankings move from one region to another. The value of Morality is second in the Middle East and near the bottom in Central and South America. Africa puts the value of Patience in its top five, while globally it sits at 26. North America and the Middle East both rank the value of Authority at 17, well above its global spot at 30. If your audience spans more than one region, those differences decide what your message should say in each place.

You can read the original at the World Economic Forum.


The Values Map by David Allison, available for pre-order

My new book walks you through all kinds of ways to identify (and use) your values, and it's available for pre-order now. It's called The Values Map, and I would be very grateful if you pre-ordered a copy. My publisher would love it too. ❤️

Everything gets easier when you know What Matters Most.

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