I truly do not understand the value of "Corporate Core Value" statements. (OK, #5, "No Shenanigans", those are words to live by.)
Personal, Human core values. The things that keep us in line, help us to foster healthy relationships, and build civilizations are important.
But what are corporate "core values"?
I'm always a little unnerved when a company (spontaneously, or even worse, with the guidance of a "guru") feels the need to embrace this particular brand of corporate banality.
It's advertisement wrapped in altruism, and that's in vogue right now. While I'm sure it's well-intentioned, and I don't mean this as an indictment, it feels cynical.
Core values, mission statements, slogans - these are just different sides of the bad dice most companies play with. Companies that create these expressions of business communication - almost all of them? - as a result of going through the motions of running a business without any evidence for the creation of these expressions. Seriously, when was the last time you read a company's mission statement? When was the last time you thought a mission statement was anything but a bland and generic sound bite disconnected from reality?
I would love to see a company with enough integrity, honesty and confidence that they wouldn't even bother with any of these things.
Mission statements tend to lock you in a lot more than you'd desire (if you stay true to them). Organizations change. Missions can change. Core values tend to stay the same. You can write the values of an organization on the whiteboard at a board meeting, and every decision should be able to be made within them. When this works, it's really cool.
To be fair, this is coming from a not-for-profit mindset.
Personal, Human core values. The things that keep us in line, help us to foster healthy relationships, and build civilizations are important.
But what are corporate "core values"?
I'm always a little unnerved when a company (spontaneously, or even worse, with the guidance of a "guru") feels the need to embrace this particular brand of corporate banality.
It's advertisement wrapped in altruism, and that's in vogue right now. While I'm sure it's well-intentioned, and I don't mean this as an indictment, it feels cynical.
Whatever happened to Mission Statements?
http://i.imgur.com/pvEkp.jpg