5 ms·

Yeah. File this under another thoughtcrime I've committed. There was one set of values that my company's CEO wrote up on the fly b/c we were doing reviews for

Yeah. File this under another thoughtcrime I've committed. There was one set of values that my company's CEO wrote up on the fly b/c we were doing reviews for the first time. Those values are _awesome_. They're explicit about the goal of making money, they're explicit about priority, just awesome. The new COO felt like he needed to make an impact so he wrote some new ones. The company I work for also has a very playful marketing tone, and he applied our marketing tone to our company values. The values also aren't explicit-- they are each a complete sentence, but it's fairly vague how they should be applied. Idk. I know it's all bullshit, but I felt like we really had something for a moment. I think that the new generation (I'm 29) is just so tired of being marketed or manipulated that honest "we're here to make money" is a better value than "We should all do what we can to hit our numbers." Maybe this is just a problem that engineers and lawyers have, since we neurotically try to find the inconsistencies and misapplications of statements. [edit] money, not monkeys. Thanks kd :)

sharemywin 10y ago
I've always seem company values with things like "We respect each other", "we operate with integrity in every aspect of our interaction with other stockholders". It's like kindergarten meets lawyeresse.
- brazzledazzle 10y ago
  It's all bullshit anyhow because it doesn't matter what your execs put down as the company values if your manager has different ideas. And everyone knows there's a cold chance in hell they'll be held responsible unless they're already out to get them. If your publicized values take a backseat to other things they're not really your values. "We value honesty" in your company values but you'd better not "rock the boat". I've had "have fun and play" or something to that extent in my company values but had the exec I reported up to present that then in the very next slide say "That's good for the company but really no, that doesn't apply to our group." I've had "Always be continuously improving" and had a direct manager say "what is that shit anyway? I don't buy it" about it. You might ask why someone would disagree with something that's so blandly uncontroversial and it turns out that you need to be okay with admitting that there's room for improvement and that's not compatible with carefully crafted slide decks talking about how awesome we were. As you can imagine technical debt was left unchecked until something caught fire. And after a couple years of that kind of management there's pretty much always a fire.
kdamken 10y ago
I too, share in the goal and passion of making monkeys. In all seriousness though, I'm surprised the number is even as high as 27%. Unless you're working for the Peace Corps or some charity that's trying to do some real good in the world, you're probably working for a business that is there to make money. And the reason you're working there is most likely that you need to make money to live on. It's nice when companies just cut through all the bs and pretense and are honest about it.
- johan_larson 10y ago
  > I'm surprised the number is even as high as 27%. Every statement of company values I have ever read has been very bland, essentially a bunch of motherhoods that virtually no one would ever disagree with. Who ever had a problem with "innovation" or "communication"? A statement that actually made some choices, that drew some actual lines in the sand, would be very welcome. Imagine a company that said something like this: "We are high performers. We recruit only the highly accomplished, and reward those who do great work far above common standards for our industry. We cull the laggards ruthlessly." or "We acknowledge a duty to act in the interests of our employees, customers, and stockholders, even beyond strict legal requirements. If we absolutely have to choose among these groups, the stockholders come first. Note that the list does not include suppliers, the government, or the general public." or "We believe in hierarchy. It's the only way to effectively organize the efforts of thousands of people. Your boss has done something to earn our trust in ways you have not. Accordingly, in a dispute between you and them, we will almost certainly side with them. If you have serious conflicts with them, we recommend you leave."
rgbrgb 10y ago
You mind sharing what you remember of the good ones?

sharemywin 10y ago

I've always seem company values with things like "We respect each other", "we operate with integrity in every aspect of our interaction with other stockholders". It's like kindergarten meets lawyeresse.

brazzledazzle 10y ago
It's all bullshit anyhow because it doesn't matter what your execs put down as the company values if your manager has different ideas. And everyone knows there's a cold chance in hell they'll be held responsible unless they're already out to get them. If your publicized values take a backseat to other things they're not really your values. "We value honesty" in your company values but you'd better not "rock the boat". I've had "have fun and play" or something to that extent in my company values but had the exec I reported up to present that then in the very next slide say "That's good for the company but really no, that doesn't apply to our group." I've had "Always be continuously improving" and had a direct manager say "what is that shit anyway? I don't buy it" about it. You might ask why someone would disagree with something that's so blandly uncontroversial and it turns out that you need to be okay with admitting that there's room for improvement and that's not compatible with carefully crafted slide decks talking about how awesome we were. As you can imagine technical debt was left unchecked until something caught fire. And after a couple years of that kind of management there's pretty much always a fire.

kdamken 10y ago

I too, share in the goal and passion of making monkeys. In all seriousness though, I'm surprised the number is even as high as 27%. Unless you're working for the Peace Corps or some charity that's trying to do some real good in the world, you're probably working for a business that is there to make money. And the reason you're working there is most likely that you need to make money to live on. It's nice when companies just cut through all the bs and pretense and are honest about it.

johan_larson 10y ago
> I'm surprised the number is even as high as 27%. Every statement of company values I have ever read has been very bland, essentially a bunch of motherhoods that virtually no one would ever disagree with. Who ever had a problem with "innovation" or "communication"? A statement that actually made some choices, that drew some actual lines in the sand, would be very welcome. Imagine a company that said something like this: "We are high performers. We recruit only the highly accomplished, and reward those who do great work far above common standards for our industry. We cull the laggards ruthlessly." or "We acknowledge a duty to act in the interests of our employees, customers, and stockholders, even beyond strict legal requirements. If we absolutely have to choose among these groups, the stockholders come first. Note that the list does not include suppliers, the government, or the general public." or "We believe in hierarchy. It's the only way to effectively organize the efforts of thousands of people. Your boss has done something to earn our trust in ways you have not. Accordingly, in a dispute between you and them, we will almost certainly side with them. If you have serious conflicts with them, we recommend you leave."

rgbrgb 10y ago

You mind sharing what you remember of the good ones?