I believe...

What do you believe in? Think about it. What do you believe in so much that when you sway from your beliefs, your conscience lectures you into sleeplessness.

Have you ever written out a values statement to remind yourself and others what you believe in?

Some of us write them out. But most don't, because they are engrained into our upbringing. They emerge when we have kids as we try to pass them to the next generation.

Most values statement aren't worth much, unless they are read every single day. The problem with a values statement is that it only makes sense to you. And if you don't read it everyday, the statement becomes academic and trivial, lost in the papers of life, while you float in the vast ocean of somethingness, headed toward nothingness, while your conscience beacons you to return to safe shores.

For a values statement to have meaning, it must be written in plain, every day language. It must be void of interpretation. It must be the foundation in which all decisions are made. It must help us make decisions when we are in conflict between two equal but opposite choices.

In a team, a values statement is even more important. The leader wants everyone to choose the right path, when two tempting choices float their way.

If a values statement is vague, the interpretation will be open and the results cannot be predictable.
If a values statement is clear, everyone navigates their choices in the same direction and the destination is not just predictable.

It is intended.

Boring, corporate value statements are written on boards, laminated and posted at the front entrance of most offices. They are neighbours to mission statements, visions statements and they all live in the same useless academic community.

I remember having a values statement stare at me everyday in one of my office jobs. Our leader read in Harvard Business Review that it would get lost at the front desk, so he got all the middle and senior managers together. We spent two days in a hotel conference room developing our new mission, vision and values. The process was interesting. And I felt good about it because I was included in the process. After the two days were complete, we felt like we had direction. He laminated them and put one in every office as a constant memory of what happened on those two days.  It didn't change the culture of the organization. It didn't change the work ethics of the employees. It didn't do a damn thing except make him our leader look like he was a smart strategist.

The problem was with the leader. The first item on the values list was respect. He lacked respect for his staff and would fire them if someone looked at him the wrong way. His vision was never going to work because he didn't align with the values statements.

You can learn a lot about someone when you know what they stand for and what they stand against.

There's a better way. And simpler too.

At a recent class, I was asked to write out my belief statements. I had to articulate what my business stood for, in every day language.

I wrote them out. And so did everyone else in the class. We shared them, and we realized that the simpler the statement the more powerful the message.

The simpler the statement, the easier it is to remember.
The simpler the statement, the easier it is to follow.

When values are written clearly, they can be guiding principles.

There is one rule in developing "I believe" statements. They can't sound corporate-y. They have to be written in every day language.

What are your "I believe" statements?

Here are the ones I recently developed for my new business.

This wasn't developed by a committee.
It's not up for discussion.
It will be a guide for everyone in how we act.
There are no exceptions for any person, including the owner.
And no one is perfect, so we'll deal with each mistake in a human, respectful way.


We believe work is sometimes hard, but it doesn’t have to go unappreciated. 
We believe work should be fun. 
We believe that people come before profits. 
We believe that no one is perfect, and there’s always a more human way to deal with issues. 
We believe that we could laugh a lot more. 
We believe that customers deserve our best. 
We believe that karma is a bitch, so we work hard to not upset her.