#values
What are your thoughts on corporate mission/vision/value statements? Do you think they have any **ahem value? (seewhatididthere) I took me a while, but yes. I think their tremendously important. Here's the short version of my story of going from "naive to fed-up to apathetic to interested to respect" when it comes to internal corporate propaganda.
Long ago in a land far far away... I got burned. I was working at a strong local consulting firm that gave me "fantastic opportunities to grow". We would have these monthly meetings where everyone would get pumped about what was going on and our place in this "trendy" small company. Then out of the blue at one of these monthly ho-downs, the CEO pitched a raging fit and told everyone they'd be fired on the spot if they couldn't recite the company's vision/mission statements. I quickly left that place "knowing" that ALL corporate propaganda was a filthy lie and I'd have nothing to do with it. Anytime someone would tell me they even liked their company/job I'd think to myself "What a moron. He thinks they care about him." That's a special kind of jaded right there.
Between then and now I've journey-manned my way through several projects and constantly worked on personal and professional growth. In pursuit of said growth, I've taken up a habit of reading books, blogs and articles that pertain to strategic development. I've also tried my hand at building a company of my own, which obviously brought up the issue in a unique way. During that time I've talked with several executives and company owners ,good and bad, about their companies' corporate values. Sometimes I even wanted to! One thing was consistent across all of them; You could always tell the ones who had really considered it/owned it/lived by it (versus the one who was regurgitating memorized phrases for fear of being fired) by the aura they gave off. But what does that mean? Am I being naive again? Hold that thought.
I'm currently a director at a small consulting firm that I believe has true potential for great things. With that level of influence, it seems at least necessary to know what the corporate value statement is. But what about owning it? Is that necessary? The short answer is YES. If you want to make any progress at advancing/growing the company you choose to be a part of, you must take into account the direction set forth in the mission/vision/values statement when making critical decisions.
CONCLUSION:
The really good ones "own it". When the good ones make a decision, big or small, they see the issue at hand, superimpose it's potential impact over the roadmap defined by the strategic direction, and pick the one that best lines up. Now that I've written it down it seems like common sense... but that's what I've thought after reading EVERY great self help book in my library, so maybe I'm onto something.
Post Script:
The inspiration for this post came from stumbling into a page of a company whose products I really love, Atlassian. The content took me aback at first. While I don't necessarily agree with the raw crassness, I do appreciate the directness. It's not often you find a company willing to just "lay it on the table" in plain English without polished corporate mumbo jumbo screwing with it.
linky-link - http://www.atlassian.com/company/about/values
video (slighly NSFW due to language):
PPS
Note to self: Re-read this one by Maxwell.
