VALUES VISION MISSION

Values + Vision + Mission

If I had money (like enough that I could own a European car, maybe two) in order to navigate the more intense upkeep, I would choose German Metal.

I think BMW makes the most beautiful cars on earth followed by Mercedes, Porsche and Audi.

German metal is AMAZING.

But since I don’t have that kind of funding it's Japanese metal.

I came close to putting 300K miles on my Subaru Outback and it didn’t break down ONCE. NOT ONCE. I love that car. Just as my little Honda Accord hatchback was the car I drove to the Ford F111 that I used to plow snow in; honestly the little Honda was a better snow car than the snow plow.

I think next would be American Metal if only for the various designs, maybe Korean, then Swedish… probably Italian cars would be last.

One reason I love BMWs so much is that their primary value is crystal clear; all of you know it and it’s not just a cooperate tag line, “The Ultimate Driving Machine.”

Organization cultures, human cultures like nation-states and religions, even individual human lives aren’t that hard to evaluate when it comes right down to it… you start by asking, "What are their core values?"

It’s possible that corporate speak has driven the energy from the word value but what’s important to you, what do you love, what do you care about, what would you pay money to see more of in the world, what do you value in this life more than anything?

Those values are all that matter as they are the essential building blocks of any culture, any life and if you come across a human life or organization you can trace it all back to those core values.

From love comes a vision.

What is the utopia of your values being fully realized?

For BMW it’s everyone in an amazing car… easy peasy.

But what’s the utopia of a nation or religion?

Meaning if they could have their values fully realized what would the world look like?

If you could have your values fully realized what would your life look like?

Once that vision is clear (and image is everything) how do you go about making it a reality?

Well that’s your mission.

Values roll into Vision roll into Mission.

Once you have a mission you have plans, goals, objectives… something to evaluate but it all should trace back via a golden thread to your values… if not there’s a disconnect.

So how do cultures, religions, organization, nations go wrong?

Well there are potential failures along the way as life is hard and just because you have your VVM shit together doesn’t mean you're on Easy Street. You still have to execute which can come down to leadership, strategy, goal setting, resource management, talent… and so forth.

Correctable challenges or at least manageable.

Manos being of hands.

But there are three sources of failure that leaders have to watch out for… failures that kill your values and vision.

The most important aspect of any system… does it have a Self-Correcting Mechanism?

Is there a way to know when you’re off course and need to put the car back on the correct road?

This takes two features: HONESTY & IMAGINATION.

Any failure in any system, be it a relationship/marriage, or organization, or church, or nation state.. it’s inevitably a failure of honesty and imagination.

Sure you can use Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory or Kim Cameron’s organizational development model to help you understand a culture better but they can't help you troubleshoot it... without honesty, imagination and self-correcting mechanisms failure is inevitable.

The most dangerous questions to ask a future employers in an interview:

• Tell me a time when your team had to course correct… how did you know, what did you do?
• Who is the most honest person in your organization, who in senior leadership isn’t afraid to tell the truth?
• How well does this culture support creatives? Can you give me an example? Who bucks the trend here? Who lives outside the box?

Those questions will give you a sense of what kind of culture you are dealing with.