If We Share These Values, We Will Get Along Famously

We work purposefully.

We are not working to live, or living to work. There is a greater good that can't be captured in our job title. We are on a mission and will drive the impact using whatever strengths and leverage are at our disposal.

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We work from hypotheses.

Use bullets, then speed up, then use more bullets, then cannon balls. There are two distinct working modes for me: the planning phase and the execution phase. I love to do as much planning upfront so that I can move to execution mode. There are clear gates, but we also have a clear emergency brake. Go ahead and make decisions with imperfect information after you've done some analysis and created a hypothesis. Evaluate the ROI of the decision and weigh, and document, the risks. That way, it's easier to understand what went wrong and prevent a repeat mistake. Be curious about, and solicit, feedback. When you do thoughtful analysis, there is no such thing as a mistake.

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We have each other's back.

We own our communication. Live up to our commitments. Communicate if you're drowning in work or if there is something interfering with your work that would be useful for the rest of us to know. Speak up if you think we are on the wrong track. Life is too short to micromanage. Speak up about yours and others boundaries that protect personal time, and your time to focus and work deeply.

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We hear those who speak, and we speak to be heard.

Communicate more often than you think you should, but about one thing at a time. If you communicate with clarity, people will spend less time trying to interpret what you’re saying. As a result, they’ll understand you faster, with less effort. Be sensitive to the resource waste caused by excess information, and the benefits of tidiness in how you say things as well as how you organize physical and digital information for retrieval by any of us ... assuming you get hit by a bus.