Show the Value of What You Do

How often have you completed a project, worked hard, and still struggled to prove to others that it made a difference? In Show the Value of What You Do: Measuring and Achieving Success in Any Endeavor, Patricia Pulliam Phillips and Jack J. Phillips tackle this universal challenge head-on. They argue that most people, from project leaders to independent consultants, rarely receive the recognition they deserve—not because their work lacks value, but because they fail to demonstrate that value in a tangible, credible way. The Phillipses contend that success shouldn’t just mean finishing tasks or staying busy; it should mean showing measurable impact and return on investment (ROI) for every initiative you take on.

For over thirty years, the authors have refined their globally recognized ROI Methodology, used in more than 70 countries and thousands of organizations. This book simplifies their complex framework into the Show the Value Process—a six-step guide to measure, prove, and amplify the impact of anything you do, whether you’re implementing a leadership program, launching a nonprofit project, or advocating for remote work.

Why This Book Matters Now

We live in a world obsessed with data and measurable outcomes, yet paradoxically, most people lack a repeatable system for assessing success beyond intuition or anecdote. Phillips and Phillips show how you can move away from a “busy equals valuable” mindset to one that prizes impact and evidence. They illustrate this through dozens of real examples—from a hospital chaplain proving he reduced patient length of stay, to a SWAT commander showing how mindset training cut complaints, to a teacher quantifying how empowerment programs improved student grades. The message is clear: anyone can learn to measure value with logic, credibility, and simplicity.

The Core Argument

The Phillipses contend that success follows a predictable logic grounded in five levels of outcomes: reaction, learning, application, impact, and ROI. Most projects stall at the first few—employees react well, they learn something new—but fail to connect those changes to tangible business results or financial value. The book’s six-step process helps bridge that gap by moving you systematically from identifying a project’s why (the desired impact) to proving its worth in real, quantifiable terms. Specifically, the process helps you:

• Start with the end in mind—define the impact you want before acting.
• Select the right solution—align your efforts to real business needs.
• Set clear objectives—translate fuzzy hopes into measurable goals.
• Collect and analyze data through simple, reliable methods.
• Calculate ROI—compare financial gains against the costs.
• Leverage results—use what you learn to improve, earn recognition, and secure future funding.

Who Needs This Approach

Whether you lead a team, work solo, or contribute to a nonprofit, this framework applies universally. The authors describe five audiences who benefit most: individual contributors, consultants, team leaders, experienced professionals, and career coaches. For each, the power lies in using evidence to demonstrate contribution. For example, consultant Katie Westwood used this method to save a tuition program by proving it delivered career mobility, not just retention. The lesson: when you can show impact, you win influence.

From Activity to Investment

Perhaps the book’s most profound shift is its call to see work as an investment with a return, not just an activity to complete. This mindset reshapes how you approach your projects: every task becomes a potential contribution to tangible outcomes—better performance, cost savings, customer satisfaction, or well-being. By showing value systematically, you transform not only how others view your work but also how you measure your own success.

The Ultimate Goal: Confidence and Credibility

At its heart, Show the Value of What You Do is about empowerment. The Phillipses want you to feel confident presenting your results to executives, donors, or community leaders, knowing that your claims are backed by credible data and logical reasoning. As they put it, “hope is not a strategy, luck is not a factor, and doing nothing is not an option.” By mastering this process, you’ll elevate your projects from good intentions to proven impact—and ensure that your work continues to earn the respect, funding, and attention it deserves.

If you’ve ever struggled to articulate your accomplishments, the Phillipses’ five-level model gives you a language—and a ladder—for describing success. Instead of thinking of results as binary (success or failure), this model breaks them into interconnected levels: Reaction, Learning, Application, Impact, and ROI. It’s both a diagnostic and design tool, helping you see where to focus efforts and how to document outcomes as you progress.

Level 1: Reaction and Planned Action

At the base level, success begins with engagement. Do people see your project as important, relevant, and worth doing? Without positive reaction, even great ideas stall. For example, hospital chaplain Doug Stewart began by gauging whether nurses, doctors, and families valued chaplaincy’s role in patient care. Once they saw it as meaningful, participation soared. Measuring reaction is about motivation—it tells you whether stakeholders are committed to the journey.

Level 2: Learning

Knowledge only matters when it leads to capability. This level examines what people have learned that helps them act differently. In the Kansas City SWAT team example, leader Chip Huth trained officers in the Outward Mindset—cultivating empathy and situational awareness. Tracking what they learned about communication and bias was critical before behavior could change. As Peter Senge described in The Fifth Discipline, learning organizations thrive when new understanding becomes shared capacity.

Level 3: Application and Implementation

Learning must move into action. This level measures how consistently people apply what they know. Actions, behaviors, and compliance with new processes reflect this stage. Doug Stewart documented how chaplains integrated into ICU routines daily—not just that they understood the task, but that they implemented it. Data like checklists, peer observations, and tracking reports show if knowledge truly sticks.

Level 4: Impact

This is where results become visible. The Phillipses define impact as measurable improvement in key performance indicators (KPIs). These could include productivity, quality, cost, time, or satisfaction. For Doug Stewart, the hospital saw reduced patient length of stay—a direct business outcome tied to spiritual care. For Paula Patel, working from home improved productivity, retention, and reduced carbon emissions. Impact converts personal effort into organizational gain.

Level 5: Return on Investment (ROI)

Finally comes the financial lens: was it worth it? ROI compares monetary benefits to costs. For the chaplain case, the embedded chaplain saved the hospital $251,640 against a $33,800 cost —a 645% return. The formula may sound daunting, but the Phillipses emphasize simplicity: subtract costs from benefits and divide by cost. The result speaks the language executives understand best.

Together, these levels form a chain of value. Each builds on the one before, ensuring you can trace your project from emotions to economics. As Jack Phillips notes, “When you respect the value chain, you ensure credibility at every level.”

Most projects fail not because they’re poorly executed, but because their purpose isn’t clear. The Phillipses’ first step—Start with Why—forces you to define the impact you want to create before you lift a finger. It’s about starting with the end in mind, a philosophy shared by Stephen Covey and echoed here through a practical, results-driven lens.

Defining Impact with Precision

Impact represents the business measure or key performance indicator that shows success. It’s not vague aspirations like “improve morale” but concrete outcomes such as reducing turnover by 10% or cutting processing time by two days. The authors distinguish between hard measures (like cost, time, and output) and soft measures (like job satisfaction or teamwork). Both matter; hard data convince, but soft data inspire.

The Power of Real Examples

Chip Huth’s SWAT team faced 30–40 complaints yearly, each costing $70,000. By identifying that as his “why,” he had a quantifiable problem ($2 million in losses) to solve. Anna Chen, a middle school teacher, used the same principle positively—seeing her empowerment program’s potential to increase attendance and reduce disciplinary incidents. Both began with clarity, using measurable impact as their compass.

Never Wait to Be Asked

One of the book’s most striking lessons comes from counselor Sarah Robertson. Her government-funded food-bank program was defunded because she couldn’t show results when asked. The tragedy wasn’t the lack of impact—it was the lack of data. Had she measured client improvements and tied them to ROI, she might have saved her initiative. The Phillipses urge: capture value before someone asks for it. Waiting for permission is too late.

Ultimately, starting with impact transforms fuzzy enthusiasm into strategic direction. As the authors note, even the softest projects—like coaching, chaplaincy, or education—can and should connect to outcomes. Once you know your “why,” the journey toward measurable success can truly begin.

Once you know why a project matters, it’s time to identify how you’ll achieve it. Step two in the Show the Value Process is deceptively simple but critical: select the right solution. The wrong fix for the right problem can drain time and resources without delivering impact. Phillips and Phillips stress rigorous curiosity—diagnosing before prescribing.

Diagnose Before You Act

Too many organizations leap to solutions that sound good. Starbucks’ 2020 racial-bias training, for example, cost millions and generated headlines but produced questionable change. Research shows one-off anti-bias trainings rarely shift behavior. The authors urge you to pause and examine the underlying causes before you decide.

Tools to Find the Truth

The book outlines diagnostics like focus groups, nominal group techniques, and data analysis tools to uncover root causes. Rebecca Benson’s story exemplifies this: faced with 40% staff turnover in a behavioral center, she resisted executives’ assumption that “it’s all about pay.” Her team used structured focus groups to uncover five core causes—including poor management quality and inflexible scheduling—then tailored solutions to each. The result? Turnover dropped nearly 20%, saving the nonprofit substantial cost.

Design for Learning and Preference

Once the problem is clear, consider what people need to learn and how they prefer to engage. Software engineer Ginger Luttrell discovered this when managing massive system implementations. The solution wasn’t more training; it was creating “super users”—peer mentors embedded within teams. Understanding learning needs (skills and knowledge) and preference needs (perceived relevance and buy-in) ensured smoother adoption and higher value.

Aligning Problem, Cause, and Solution

Linda Green’s prison rehabilitation project shows alignment in action. She identified recidivism costs ($17 million for repeat drug offenders), pinpointed the lack of rehabilitation programs as the cause, and designed a drug court initiative with educational and psychological support. Her “how” matched the real “why,” setting the stage for measurable success.

Selecting the right solution isn’t flashy—it’s disciplined. By acting like a detective instead of a firefighter, you increase the likelihood that your project doesn’t just look good, but actually works.

Without defined goals, even good projects drift. Step three—Expect Success with Objectives—centers on crafting precise, measurable, and time-bound objectives that act as your GPS. As the Phillipses put it, “A project without objectives is like a ship without a rudder.”

Setting SMART Goals

Borrowing from the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound), the authors emphasize measurable expectations at every level of the value chain. These objectives become the scaffolding for both execution and evaluation. Martin Burt’s Poverty Stoplight program in Paraguay offers a vivid example: each family tracks progress across 50 poverty indicators using red, yellow, and green markers, turning abstract ideals (like empowerment) into observable milestones. Clarity drives motivation.

From Reaction to ROI

Objectives should span the five success levels: participants’ reactions, their learning outcomes, what actions they will take, what impacts will result, and what ROI you expect. For instance, marketing manager José Petrini set concrete trade-show goals: attendees would rate the exhibit as relevant (reaction), understand three value propositions (learning), take four specific follow-up actions (application), generate 25 qualified leads (impact), and produce a 15% ROI. Setting these measures beforehand turned marketing from guesswork into a quantifiable investment.

Communicating Objectives

The Phillipses stress that objectives must be visible to all stakeholders. Designers use them to craft experiences, managers use them to support application, participants use them to stay focused, and evaluators use them to measure success. When everyone shares the roadmap, synergy replaces confusion.

Ultimately, objectives aren’t paperwork—they’re catalysts. They give people direction, reduce wasted effort, and transform hope into results. As John Doerr writes in Measure What Matters, “Ideas are easy. Execution is everything.”

Step four moves from planning to proof: collecting data. The Phillipses dismantle the myth that data collection is a complex, statistical mountain. All you need, they argue, is disciplined curiosity and a plan tied to your objectives. Every project generates stories and numbers—you simply need to capture them.

Methods Made Simple

From surveys and interviews to focus groups and performance records, the authors present a buffet of methods you can tailor to context. Suzette Haywood, who ran a government leadership program, combined participant and supervisor questionnaires to validate performance outcomes—and achieved a 50% response rate using strategies like executive endorsements and simple reminders. The payoff: credible data that justified a 37% ROI on a long-running program.

Choosing What Matters

Rather than drowning in data, focus on collecting only what aligns with your objectives. Zoe Moore, a diversity consultant, avoided vanity metrics like “number of workshops held.” Instead, she tracked key outcomes: attitude shifts, behavioral changes, and improvements in inclusion within teams. This narrowed approach transformed vague DEI efforts into measurable culture change.

Credibility Through Timing and Sources

Gather data at the right time—from the right people. Reaction and learning data should be captured during implementation, application and impact data after outcomes surface. Asking participants, their managers, or system databases directly increases validity. Anticipate bias, remind participants that honesty matters, and verify results through triangulation where possible.

In short, effective evaluation isn’t about spreadsheets—it’s about evidence that tells a story. As the authors remind readers: “More is not better; more is merely more.” Focus on meaningful data that illuminates outcomes rather than creating noise.

Having data isn’t enough—you need to turn it into insight. Step five, Analyze the Data, moves beyond collecting numbers to showing the value in financial and strategic terms. The Phillipses make the intimidating concept of ROI approachable and credible.

Isolating Your Impact

The first challenge is proving that your project—not other factors—caused the change. This could mean comparing experimental and control groups, using trend lines, or asking experts to estimate contribution. For instance, when a Canadian hospital tested a new surgical prep process, it compared two matched patient groups and found that infections dropped to zero in the test group, validating causation.

Turning Results into Dollars

Once you know what changed, convert it into monetary value. Some figures, like cost per hospital stay or complaint investigation cost, already exist. Others require research. Police officer Darnell Jackson quantified the cost of car theft using data from the Rand Corporation ($9,079 per case), which made his prevention program’s savings concrete. When you speak in dollars, you speak executives’ language.

Don’t Forget the Intangibles

Some outcomes—like engagement, trust, or reputation—don’t easily translate into money. The Phillipses caution against forcing conversions. Intangibles, while unmonetized, often create lasting impact. For example, increased teamwork or morale can drive future gains indirectly. Recognizing these adds texture to your report without overpromising precision.

Calculating ROI

Finally, compare total benefits to total costs. Gloria Williams did this with her in-agency master’s degree program. After accounting for tuition, salaries, and administration, she still found a 153% ROI—meaning every dollar returned $2.53 in value. Presenting such evidence transforms your project from an expense to an investment.

The analysis step closes the credibility gap that plagues so many initiatives. As the authors put it, “Tell the complete story—what worked, what didn’t, and what it’s worth.” Once you do, the numbers will speak for you.

The final step—So What? Leverage the Results—is about using your findings to drive change, secure resources, and amplify success. Evaluation without follow-up, the authors warn, is wasted potential. This step transforms analytics into influence.

Communicate with Purpose

Tailor your message to the audience: executives want ROI, managers want application results, and participants want recognition. Jessica Kriegel’s project at Oracle exemplifies this. By proving that intergenerational training improved productivity and reduced turnover, she achieved a 695% ROI and earned buy-in for broader culture initiatives. Effective communication isn’t just data—it’s storytelling with evidence.

From Data to Improvement

The Phillipses champion “black box thinking,” borrowed from aviation: if something fails, examine it, learn, and improve. When Kaycee Buckley’s coaching program produced a negative ROI, it became fuel for change. By identifying weak implementation and redesigning the process, she later turned losses into gains. Failure, when analyzed, becomes progress.

Expand and Inspire

Leveraging results can ripple outward. Police major Chip Huth shared his SWAT success in TEDx talks and national training programs. Omani administrator Haifa Al Lawati published her ministry’s ROI studies to elevate professional development across government. When you share your wins, you multiply their value.

Ultimately, leveraging results completes the circle. As the authors conclude, “Hope is not a strategy, luck is not a factor, and doing nothing is not an option.” By showing and magnifying value, you not only justify your work—you strengthen the systems and people it touches.