Over-indexing on Drive

Last week we tackled perhaps our most important exercise yet as a ten-year-old company: we defined our values. This weekend I had the opportunity to see just how potent a well-defined value system can be.?

It’s hard to recruit great salespeople, so when I get one on the hook it’s exciting. This natural anticipation is amplified by the fact that great salespeople are especially good at selling themselves. I have been fishing for a salesperson for weeks on end, and I had a great one on the hook. I was stoked.

But there was a problem.?

“Dear Jonathan,” I wrote. “You are undoubtedly a talented salesperson. You have a stunning track record of opening, working, and closing truly impressive logos. You will undoubtedly be productive on Day One if you were to join our firm.”

“But that’s not enough for us,” I continued.?

You see, Jonathan had proven himself in many ways, but he couldn’t prove that he was fully aligned with our values.

Our values are primary. They’re how we hire and fire; they’re how we judge ourselves. They’re the first and the last thing we care about.?

Our values are non-negotiable. They are:

Integrity. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of behavior.

Total Ownership. We are responsible for everything that affects our mission's success, right down to the weather.

Teamwork. We play for each other.

Drive. We value hard work because this is not just a job, it's a mission.

Creativity. Show us a stack of rocks and we'll build a cathedral.

To Jonathan I continued, “You are perhaps over-indexing on Drive. Indeed, that’s an important value that we share. But we have five values, and all need to be present, and in balance.”?

We don’t place one single value higher than another, with perhaps the exception of integrity. But integrity is binary; you either have it or you don’t. That’s the point of integrity… it means quite literally at one. You’re either a one or a zero on that scale. So if you’re over-indexing on one of our values, the fact is you can’t be high integrity, at least by our definition.

“Based on this alone, we won’t be moving forward,” I said.?

I let this otherwise promising fish fall off the lure, return to the sea. Did I feel disheartened? Yep, sure did. Was I doubtful about my assessment? Yep, sure was. Did I regret having to let him go? Not really. My future self – the one that would have to mop up the toxic environment he would have created – was downright relieved at my decision.?

I’ll be the first to admit that this is not an exact science; it’s pretty darn difficult. Sometimes it feels like guesswork. Maybe guesswork, maybe intuition. Maybe it’s simply values-led decision-making.

The enlightened move was not to let Jonathan off the hook. The enlightenment came well before that. It was when we finally asked ourselves a few simple – deceptively simple – questions.

How are we going to judge ourselves??

How are we going to attract, repel, secure, retain, and motivate our people??

How will we inspire our team to achieve greater heights than they could have imagined??

We answered with a clear set of values, well-considered and non-negotiable.?

I’ve been the Founder or Co-Founder of four distinct companies since I began my entrepreneurial career back in 2006. For every organization, values were always present but not always defined.?

It’s the definition that matters.?

For very complex and organic organizations, like BanklessDAO — the unapologetically libertarian black-flag bearer of web3 self-actualization — defining the organization's values may be a complex and organic exercise. How does a DAO define its values? Certainly not by token-weighted voting! So what then are our values, and can we, as a DAO, stick to them?

For other startups, like Creatio — the unapologetically Catholic version of Outward Bound or NOLS — it may be far simpler to define, and to adhere to, a set of non-negotiables. Advantage: Creatio!

All three of these organizations in which I’m involved — Fintech Nexus, BanklessDAO and Creatio — are on fire, all for very different reasons.?

If we stay true to our values, we may remain so.