Creeds and value-statements can be useful ways to remind your team who you are, and how you work. They can help your team to develop a shared vocabulary and shared principles, which can be a powerful way to start shaping a shared culture.
On Vox’s (excellent) Land of the Giants podcast, for example, host Jason Del Rey comments how often amazon workers of all levels refer to the same concepts using almost identical language. Getting people to talk the talk is only half the struggle, of course, but it’s a good start.
So – here are a few creeds or sets of principles worth looking at, and I’ll add more as I get them – please share suggestions in a comment!
Automattic (makers of WordPress) Creed
More on creeds from Matt Mullenweg here.
Amazon Leadership Principles
These are fantastic, and very useful. Worth a post on their own – which Amazon has already done here. This list is simply the titles of each point:
- Customer Obsession
- Ownership
- Invent and Simplify
- Are Right, A Lot
- Learn and Be Curious
- Hire and Develop the Best
- Insist on the Highest Standards
- Think Big
- Bias for Action
- Frugality
- Earn Trust
- Dive Deep
- Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
- Deliver Results
More on Amazon’s leadership principles here.
Ben Horowitz on culture, values and action
This excellent interview with Ben Horowitz on the Tim Ferriss Show is a really good complement to these creeds and values statements – he talks about the importance of doing over talking and making statements.
More from Ben here: