Principles we hold true

An inquiry into the values of values

If I had a dollar for every time I came across a company presenting 'honesty' and 'integrity' in their list of corporate values, I'd likely have a piggybank full. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing good or bad about this, but perhaps, in this example, values relating to honesty might simply be expected these days. Corporate distillation and presentation of their values aren't new; however, one thing I've noticed in recent years is the evolution of companies' approaches to this subject. Why? Well, as I see it, there are two factors. Firstly, customers now care more about the companies they buy from. Who are they? What do they stand for? Do they care about how they treat their people, customers, and the environment they often impact? Secondly, as we're now in an era of truly proliferated global talent, mindful, conscious employees are asking the same questions. So, gone are the days that companies can nonchalantly throw a list of cozy-sounding buzzwords out there, hoping they'll sound appealing while giving little to no consideration to whether the company lives up to these words or whose actions and values align.

Principles versus values

Anyone who knows our story knows that, early on, my co-founder and I got together to define a list of what we call 'principles.' We chose this word because we see them as our most important values. In this regard, I suppose they are, therefore, our principal values. For us, principles encompass some kind of action, whereas a value is more of an aspirational concept. And because we want our principles to be measurable and concrete rather than banalities on a workspace wall, we call them principles. And so, back at the beginning of our journey, we ran an internal exercise to define our five core principles as follows:

• Trust
• Personal responsibility
• Customer experience
• Continuous Improvement
• Adaptability

I won't elaborate much more on this, but if you'd like to dig a little deeper into our rationale behind these words, you can visit this page on our website. We've also crafted a manifesto inviting all team members to sustain as part of their involvement with DESelect.?

Principle reading

If you're a regular follower of my articles, you’ll know I like to pick up a book once in a while. Personally and professionally, I believe we're all teachers and learners; thus, learning never ends. And so it'll likely come as no surprise that I'm also a massive fan of a book called Principles , written by Ray Dalio. Dalio, for those that don't know, is a billionaire investor and hedge fund manager regarded as one of the greatest innovators in the finance world. I'm impressed that such a global influencer (busy as he likely is) took the time to distill his thoughts on this topic and pass that knowledge on. Check it out.?

Much closer to home (in the sense that we're part of the Salesforce ecosystem), Marc Benioff, the chairman of Salesforce, has written a book called Trailblazer that, for me at least, explains how values create value. This is a concept I wholeheartedly embody, and remembering the lessons from devouring hours of content from the likes of? Y Combinator , I believe that this approach to company culture is critical to a startup's success. Moreover, it can even be your strategic advantage compared to massive firms, who, despite having significantly bigger budgets and employer brands, will often struggle to ensure that employees' beliefs and behavior genuinely align with the brand's values.

The importance of company culture

When you create a strong culture, something really interesting happens that speaks to people, and this is something we've worked on from day one and shall continue to do so. Like many things in business, this will be a neverending task since as we grow (and change), so will our culture.?

I'm proud of what we've accomplished in terms of culture, and I see it working when our people come together at company gatherings. Observing the excitement, the friendships, and the sense of community, is a true privilege as a founder. As a small example, I'll often discover on a Monday that colleagues spent time together on the weekend. Just recently, some of the team went paragliding.?

Then there's the incredible sense of responsibility ingrained in so many of our people that goes hand-in-hand with trust. We're young founders, and as a startup, we initially (perhaps naturally) hired very young people. These days, we're balancing things out a little bit more, and I hasten to add that as an equal opportunities employer, an employee's age bears no relevance to our recruitment process. Of course, every team needs a healthy balance of exuberance and experience. So because we still had super-ambitious targets, we chose to give a lot of responsibility to the team early on. Sometimes this worked, sometimes it didn't (test and learn), but the latter really were few and far between.?

To this day, I'm impressed to see how much responsibility young people can take on; I think that one of the failures of the education systems we've built in the last century is that much time must pass before people are exposed to the "real world." I recognize the need for a structured education that something like a Bachelor's or Master's degree offers, but nothing compares to real-life experience. Perhaps people were previously more ready for the responsibility and gain experience in the job market than present-day; nevertheless, young folks want it now. But the point is that now when people enter the job market, they've already spent years in higher education. In reality, they were ready to take on the responsibility way earlier, and with the right coaching and trust, you'd be surprised what some people can do. We have people in their early twenties engaging with massive brands, major banks, and pharmaceutical companies, and they're doing really well. It's an impressive thing to witness, and in part, it's because of the trust we bestow upon them.?

We see this behavior translating into the workplace mentality. For instance, one Account Executive has worked with us since the early days. He always saw me working late and on weekends, and even now, I'll sometimes visit the office on a Sunday to prepare for the week ahead. He'll spontaneously come in, and I'll ask him what he's doing. "Oh, I'm just preparing for my week," he'll say. Nobody asked him to do that, nor is he paid overtime. Of course, he's working on commission, so there's that. But every day, I see him and many others doing this kind of thing. This diligence and sense of responsibility is just part of our culture freely adopted by others.

Do less, better

Slogans and taglines are somewhat of a minefield in business. But when they work, they work. Aside from being the obvious mantra for our customers' product experience, Do less, better (our company slogan) is essentially all about focus.?

We coach our people to be mindful of not juggling too many different things at once, and of approaching and managing their responsibilities. It’s the Pareto principle in action: We encourage our people to prioritize the right scope constantly and master a few things before continuing. By tackling just a few tasks at a time, in the long run, they get more things done faster.?

It works a treat. They live up to it.

Personal responsibility

Another cool thing is our people's considered approach to the type of clients we onboard. Of course, as a startup, you might think we'll work for anyone who pays their invoices, but that's not the case. We often have profound debates about the industries we want to serve. We've done this since the company was bootstrapped because ethics are essential to us.?

I can remember when, in our early days, we were approached by a major tobacco company. As I had an adverse history with tobacco (I'm glad to say that's no longer the case), serving that industry was something that didn't sit well with me. However, I invited the team to debate; interestingly, some non-smokers didn't see an issue. I, therefore, declared that I would not undermine the company's success or the people working the opportunity but wouldn't help either. Nor would I judge people for the choices they made. I left it to the team to decide. And one of our Account executives stepped up, saying, "I'll do it, but if I close this thing, I'll donate all my commission to a good cause," which is what he did—despite the fact he could've used that money for his family. Incredible.?

We had another situation not too long ago with a company with Russian affiliations, which is a sensitive topic given the current war. Clearly, while all Russians likely do not support the invasion of Ukraine, serving this Russian subsidiary would ultimately benefit the Russian economy (which continues to fund the war). So we debated it.?

Along these lines, ingraining personal responsibility and treating our team like the adults they are, is, I believe, the right thing to do. In this instance, the person chose not to offer licenses to the Russian subsidiary, and to my amazement, the customer understood, respecting the decision. Престижность.

We're trying to create an environment of trust and personal responsibility, and I think we're succeeding.?

Values create value

One final story before I let you get back to work.

A few years ago, I worked as a consultant at 4C Consulting (now Wipro). Johan Van Genechten was Group CEO back then. I didn't know Johan personally that well, but I once encountered him at the office entrance. Some weeds grew between the tiles and on the curb. As we spoke, he bent down and nonchalantly began pulling the weeds. This wasn’t a show for me, it was just evidence of the man’s genuine respect for the office and environment, which really impacted me. Suited and booted, he still didn't mind getting his hands dirty. Wittingly or not, he ingrained a deep sense of respect in me.

Interestingly, I witnessed the same thing sometime later when I visited an ancient temple in a remote part of Greece. This site is 2,600 years old, and my friend gave me a guided tour. He was a history buff and knew everything about the place. His veneration for this structure was abundantly clear as we explored the ruins. Walking past a wall, without breaking from his presentation, he pulled weeds from the ancient stones, throwing them to the ground as he continued to speak enthusiastically about the temple. I saw a reflection of the same deep sense of care, consideration, and responsibility beneath these actions.?

And that's all I've got to say about that.