First of all, I want to apologise for two things: First, I have not written much for a while. 2018 has been a tumultuous year on the family front so far, and with a big hairy project in full deployment at work, I have simply not had the time to write or work on my data ideas. Then, I have also been distracted by shiny things: Building a robot and working on a simulation of an artificial mind. Be reassured – the former simply wanders about under my control and bumps into furniture, the latter is still a mind map which I use to model human behaviours such as drive, sociopathy and depression. So Skynet is not happening at my house. Yet.
The second thing I want to apologise for is that this post is not at all about data, but it’s more about corporate value systems. This is because I have seen recently some irritating, sycophantic posts on LinkedIN with people sharing some great words of wisdom for CEOs and other industry luminaries, such as:
“Always behave with integrity”
and
“Be true to your values”. Great words indeed, and statements of the blinding obvious. I’m sure these words tick the ‘I’ve given great leadership there’ box. I wish I had the necessary attributes to be a great CEO so that I could come out with a phrase like this and have it shared on social media, as if I were the Dalai Lama or whatever. I’d probably say ‘Try not to be an arsehole’, I think that’s advice that many people should follow more.
Anyway, back to corporate value systems. These have replaced the ‘Mission Statement’ that became prevalent in the 80s and 90s, in order to focus your workforce and your management on a definite and pretty obvious goal.
You may be preparing yourself for a long cynical rant about value systems, but I actually think they are a great improvement on the mission statement, as instead of giving you a single goal they provide instead a behaviour framework that should, if well designed, implemented and followed up, help an organisation adapt to rapid change – an evil of our times – whilst not losing sight of what is important in most human endeavours.
Did I mention the word ‘sycophantic’ above ? Well, I’m afraid i could be accused of this myself, as I am about to give praise to the value system that my employers came up with. I won’t tell you what it is, it may be copyrighted or it may give others a competitive edge.
But it is one that I remember well, and which I use to evaluate my decisions, communications and interactions with my managers, colleagues and customers. It doesn’t ask the impossible, it does not ask you to become a different person, and its tenets are attainable by all who participate.
What is this value system made of ? It consists of five attributes (of course, we’re an Analytics company), each of them having one or two statements that give context and guidance to them. And, in communications from the Executive team downwards, initiatives are qualified in terms of one or more of these core tenets. It’s interesting to note that in my conversations with my colleagues, we often intersperse these very key words in what we say, and while we might find this amusing, it also influences how we say and do things.
Of course, value systems are nothing new – simply consider the 10 Commandments, or the Scout Promise, and you’ll agree that they’ve been around for a while. You will also agree that frequently, the tenets of these value systems are at best ignored and at worst violated or perverted to generate some pretty egregious behaviours. Thus, after a while these systems go stale until a fresh face or voice gives them a cleanup and reinvents them.
What does it matter if it’s not a new idea ? It’s still a great one. Corporations frequently have innovation spasms, the outcome of which are often dropped and forgotten, or replaced by the next new shiny concept.
But in my company’s case, I hope this particular initiative sticks around, and that our leaders do not tire of it. I think they’ve got the balance right, there, and I thank them for it.
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