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Values vs Behavior: 5 Minutes with Bo Hanson

Bo Hanson
4x Olympian, Director, and Lead Consultant

In this week’s 5 minutes with Bo Hanson, Bo discusses Values vs Behavior. So what is the difference between adapting our behaviors and compromising our values? Bo talks about how as a Coach, one of the key roles is to create a culture for your athletes based on your values.

Values vs Behavior

One of the challenges we face as Coaches or as leaders at some stage of our career is when we feel like our values have been compromised. So what are our values, what defines them and what is the difference between our values and our behaviors?

Essentially our values are the things that are most important to us. They are things we would never compromise on. And although they are ‘standards of our behavior’, they do differ from our actual behaviors which can be adapted to suit a particular circumstance, without us having to change our fundamental values.

He also discusses the differences between values and behaviors using a personal example of when his own values were compromised by an external party.

“Recently, I was put in a position where my values, and the culture I was creating with a team of young athletes, was significantly compromised by the administration at this club,” Bo said.

“So I was left with the question – ‘what do I do?’ Knowing that sport is an opportunity to teach life skills and knowing that I wouldn’t compromise on my values, I was faced with a choice. Did I want to continue with the club and have my values ‘stepped on’, or did I want to use this opportunity to show my young athletes why values are so important.”

Watch this episode of 5 Minutes with Bo Hanson to see how he handled this tough decision.


At Athlete Assessments, we’re experts in the people side of sport. We know sport and live high-performance every day. Our reputation and proven success at the elite level speaks for itself. The results that our National, Olympic, Professional and Collegiate team clients achieve directly reflects their focus on getting the people side right.

Looking to catch up?
You can watch all videos in the 5 Minutes with Bo Hanson series.

At Athlete Assessments we’re here to provide you with excellence in service and to help you be your best. If there is anything we can do to be of service, don’t hesitate to contact us.

You can watch all videos in the
5 Minutes with Bo Hanson series.

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Bo Hanson

Senior Consultant & Director

Bo Hanson’s career within the sport and the business sector spans over 25 years, delivering leadership, management, and coach development. In addition to his own athletic career comprising of four Olympic appearances and including three Olympic medals, Bo has worked for many years with coaches and athletes from over 40 different sports across the globe. Bo was also the winner of the Australian Institute of Training and Development (AITD) 2023 Award for L&D Professional of the Year, for his dedication to L&D and transformational work across various industries.

After a successful career in sport including four Olympics and three Olympic Medals, Bo co-founded and developed Athlete Assessments in 2007. Bo now focuses on working with clients to achieve their own success on and off ‘the field’, and has attained an unmatched track-record in doing exactly this.

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BoRowing-Atlanta Olympics

Now, watch us interrupt him for a round of quick fire questions.