On Corporate Values

What’s the difference between corporate values that actually work and the ones that stay on the wall as decoration? The way I see it, the whole point is that values should act as compasses — guiding the key decisions inside a company, at every level of its hierarchy.

Let me share the notes I’ve gathered over the years.

How an organization should set its priorities when making decisions:

— People and personal relationships come first. Always.

— Safety, personal and legal, of employees and partners. If something happens to someone, throw every effort and resource you have into helping them and finding a way out.

— Neutrality: political (in the sense of staying out of the local clans’ turf wars), religious, racial, dietary, sexual, and any other kind.

— Long-term cooperation with partners and counterparties. Look for decent people to work with, and do everything you can to keep working with them for as long as possible.

— Choose the path that fits your values and strategic goals, even when it’s harder, costlier, slower, and so on.

— Take initiative, and take measured business risk.

— Keep gathering and organizing experience and information, continuously, for later use.

— Don’t leave conflicts open — the grudges, the things left unsaid — especially when they’re personal. There shouldn’t be a single counterparty or person from whom you could expect an ugly surprise down the line: revenge, aggression, a complaint to the authorities, and so on. And with unreasonable people, it’s simpler to apologize and move on.

— Build hypotheses, and don’t be afraid to make lots of small mistakes — but try to avoid the big ones.

— Change your mind freely when new information shows up.

— Learn to let go even of the ideas dearest to you, if they don’t hold up.

— While the company is growing, speed beats perfectionism. Test hypotheses fast, capture markets fast — and only then add the perfectionism and optimize the processes.

— Don’t judge a book by its cover! Very often what we think about a person or a situation at first glance is just a symptom of not having enough information. Ignorance is the enemy.

— Be like water: find any way through and seep in even through the smallest cracks. Don’t try to get everything at once. Start small, just to build the relationship.

— Form “principles” for making decisions, grounded in the most qualified point of view available — ones you can reuse later as algorithms.

Here’s to values that are truly your own! 😎