We are a principle-based company, meaning we operate according to a shared set of principles rather than a handbook or rule book. Here are our nine guiding principles.
Principle Based Company
We are a Principle-Based company, which means we operate from a shared set of principles rather than from a rule book. Why? Because principles are a more effective way to guide us through the complexities of modern life. Rules tend to be rigid and, even when they apply effectively to one situation, they may not apply to another. Principles, individually or combined with one another, are a much better way to guide behavior, decision-making, and responsibility. So, what are our principles?
1. Accountability. We are accountable to ourselves, each other, our customers, our vendors, our communities, and our world. No passing the buck or pointing fingers! "I own it" is a valuable phrase around here.
2. Honesty and Integrity. We are committed to being truthful, transparent, and consistent in everything we do.
3. Dignity and Respect. We treat everyone with dignity and respect. We do this in our actions, words, tone, and intentions.
4. Fun and Joy. We believe it is important to have fun with and find joy in one another, our customers, our partners, and in our work. But what does that mean? There's no foosball table or cringy teambuilding games ... "Fun and joy" can include many things, but some of the highlights are working together without politics, leaving space to be goofy and unique humans, agency, autonomy, giving everyone the opportunity to exercise their creativity ... there's more, but those are some highlights.
5. Life Balance. We work individually and with/for one another to maintain work/life balance. There are no timeclocks ... only due dates. As long as customer and teammate needs are met or exceeded, that can be done from wherever, whenever.
6. Genuine Understanding. Most mistakes (and therefore, bad days) are due in some part to misunderstanding something. We work hard to understand, well, everything. Each other, the root of problems, why a customer wants something they want, why we reacted (or didn't) the way we did (or didn't). Genuine understanding is a precursor to excellence.
7. Personal Growth. We are committed to constantly pursuing personal, intellectual, and creative growth. In fact, our average employee spends 15% of paid time on training, certification, professional development, creative experimentation, and the occasional internet rabbit hole.
8. Know Our Priorities. We seek to understand what is most important, and to prioritize accordingly. We look to the other principles to help us do this!
9. Learn From Our Mistakes. We value embracing our mistakes and being open about them so everyone can learn from them. If you haven't made a good mistake lately, you're probably not trying hard enough ...
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- Our Guiding Philosophy and Reason for Existence
- Our Customer Philosophy
- Our Consulting Philosophy
- Our Marketing Philosophy
- Our Software and Technology Philosophy
- Our Knowledge-Sharing Philosophy