Values

Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking or when the right thing runs directly contrary to your self-interests.  At least that's what my mom taught me.  So why did I put integrity on my short list of critical personal values?  It's because I feel like integrity is regarded as "old-fashioned" and especially in business there is an ever present idea that if someone acts in their best-interest we should have anticipated that possibility and adjusted our expectations accordingly.

The problem I see with that approach is that you can't build anything that lasts on the basis of self-interest.  Certainly team members (internal or external) all have objectives and agendas and that is appropriate.  But acting with integrity is the only way that an organization can navigate those competing interests in a way that moves the ultimate goal of the organization forward.  

So acting with integrity is a key piece of what defines my professional career.  You can expect me to act with integrity even if it runs contrary to my self-interest.  And, you can expect that I will work to instill that on the teams that I work on or lead.

Transparency is a value that I think can get confused with honesty. To me transparency is ensuring that not only my actions are clear but my intentions are also clear.  While honesty dictates that you share the truth with others that you know will impact their decision making, I believe that transparency includes sharing not just facts but also intentions.  And sometimes being transparent can require more integrity than being honest.  Saying what happened in an interaction you had with a co-worker (for example) would be honest, but obfuscating your intentions in order to protect your self-interest would not be acting with integrity or being transparent.

Transparency is important for a lot of different reasons but at it's core I think it's value is in the ability for leaders to make informed decisions.  If I'm being transparent with my leader, then they understand which direction I'm moving in and what I'm trying to accomplish in addition to the specific goals I have to get there.  It's also critical to developing trust.  So as a leader, it's important to be transparent because that is the bedrock whereon you can build an effective team.

One of my favorite ideas is that hard work can make up other deficiencies simply because of persistence.  The saying that "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard" is an idiom that I live by.  I believe the best combination is to be talented AND work hard.

But hard work isn't just a personal value.  It's also a team value.  When a team is working hard and is unified, they are able to accomplish pretty incredible things.  That is a reflection of the trust they have in each other, but even if you create a team with a lot of trust, if there isn't an attitude of hard work then you won't realize the same results.

Now, I should hasten to add that there's a difference between hard work and over work.  I think a critical piece of hard work is prioritizing your time and efforts effectively.  I also think that a balanced and healthy mental state is critical to doing your best work.  And working hard while in a compromised mental health situation is a recipe for burnout.  The idea is to work hard in perpetuity but if you do so at the expense of your health, you won't last.

No one--absolutely no one--is smart enough to accomplish the same output that they can when they work with a team.  And that is both true for actual work output but also for ideas.  The life blood of modern companies is their innovation and that is a team sport.

Teams work when everyone not only pulls their weight, but bring their best, complete, authentic selves to work.  That is what creates an environment where people can be excellent.  I believe in driving this excellence in myself because I am part of a team that needs my best.  But excellence is not only about my performance, perhaps more importantly, I believe in being excellent in the way I treat customers and other team members.  Doing the right thing, being a present and engaged partner, and seeing people's needs are critical pieces to being excellent at work.

This value is equal parts critical and difficult to implement.  I believe that no one can hold you more accountable than you hold yourself.  It's necessary then to have a high degree of personal accountability.  Giving my word that I will do something means something to me.  Being accountable to delivering at a high level of excellence is crucial to developing the trust in internal and external stakeholders that is necessary to accomplish the strategic objectives that we are working on together.