What does it mean that values consistency across domains?

Your values should be the same at work at home and alone — inconsistency signals conflict.

Example: Marcus says he values honesty above all else. At home, he is transparently honest with his partner about finances, feelings, and frustrations — sometimes uncomfortably so. At work, he routinely inflates project timelines, softens performance feedback to avoid difficult conversations, and presents optimistic projections he knows are unrealistic. When asked about this discrepancy, he does not experience it as dishonesty. He experiences it as "how business works." The professional context has a separate rule system, and he has never held the two systems side by side and noticed that the person who claims honesty as a core value is systematically dishonest for eight hours a day. The inconsistency is invisible to him because each domain has its own stage, its own audience, and its own script — and he has never stepped far enough back to see that the scripts contradict each other.

Try this: Identify your top three values from the hierarchy work in this phase. For each value, write a short paragraph describing how that value operates in four domains: your professional life, your closest relationships, your friendships, and your solitary time. Be concrete — describe actual behaviors, not aspirations. Then compare the four paragraphs for each value. Where the behavior differs significantly across domains, write a diagnosis: is the inconsistency a genuine contextual adaptation (the value is expressed differently but authentically in each setting), a compromise forced by environmental pressure (you would act consistently if you could), or a compartmentalization you have been avoiding confronting? For each case of compartmentalization, write one sentence describing what consistency would require you to change.