MANDEEP RAI is a global authority on values, hosting workshops on the subject for companies and individuals around the world. She has traveled to more than 150 countries as a broadcast journalist and reported for BBC World Service and Reuters, among others. She started her career in private banking at JPMorgan, and later worked for the UN, EU, and grassroots NGOs, before setting up the Middle East's first media venture capital fund. She has an MSc from the London School of Economics and completed an MBA from London Business School, including study at Harvard Business School and MIT, and holds a PhD in global values.

Broadcast journalist Mandeep Rai takes us on a journey to 101 countries around the world, highlighting a single, unique value that has defined each nation's history, culture, and global influence - and how we can apply them to better our own lives and make decisions more effectively.

--THE SUNDAY TIMES BUSINESS BESTSELLER--

--Selected for the Thinkers50 Radar list--

--HIGHLY COMMENDED at the Business Book Awards 2021--


The Values Compass takes us into the hearts, minds, and traditions of the cultures and people of the world. It demonstrates how interconnected we are and how the divisions that exist between us stem from narrow self-interest rather than concern for the good of our human family. I hope that the book will contribute to making our world a happier place.'
The Dalai Lama

'The Values Compass is a fresh, engaging and eye-opening guide to understanding ourselves and others in the most profound and practical ways.'
Deepak Chopra


Every day, whether we acknowledge it or not, we make decisions based on what we believe in. The choices, challenges, or opportunities facing us - and how we engage with them - in politics, family, relationships, work, and play reveal something important about our character, desires, and personality to ourselves and to others. When those values align and are shared by a single population, they have the power to transform a nation and teach the world valuable lessons about success.

In The Values Compass, Mandeep Rai explores this concept by taking 101 distinct countries and identifying a single key value in each that is represented throughout its history, geography, and culture in the hope that we may find a way to incorporate those values into our own lives. From India's 'faith' to Vietnam's 'resilience', Argentina's 'passion' to Singapore's 'order', Australia's 'mateship' to Uganda's 'heritage' and from Malta's 'community' to Sri Lanka's 'joy', we may all find something of ourselves in others and succeed together as a result.

This is an insightful and readable collection of profiles that open our eyes to the world around us, and in turn help us reflect on which values matter, last, and have the power to create change.