Core Principles Summit
PICS Technology Department

The prelude
to principles…

What are core principles?

What are core values?
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What are core principles?

More values?
Do we need more values?
Don’t we already have company values?

Think globally. Act locally.
Encompass company’s values
Tangible benefit
Relatable context

Not just paper on a wall
Team management
Forcibly better hiring
Brand identity
Better performance
Decision making framework

Not just paper on a wall
Prevent lurching from crisis to crisis
A constant
Address #1 problem—communication
Foundation of your culture
Let’s people be themselves; elevates uniqueness

More than just paper
As a department, we value these principles
Those who exhibit these principles will succeed
Those who do not, will fail

Expectations
Radical change in culture
Will not occur overnight
Be willing and open-minded
Renounce any existing negative culture

Core Principles

We want to work with great people.
• We hire great people and expect a lot from them. We treat people with
fairness and respect. We continually raise the bar and are driven to
deliver high quality products, services, and processes. We ensure that
defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so
they stay fixed. We expect your insights to be influential and important
—not prone to flakiness, anger, or impulsiveness. We believe you
should be dependable and reliable.

Deliver WOW.
• We expect you to differentiate yourself from the norm. Go above and
beyond what is expected and have an emotional and lasting impact on
the receiver. We must seek to WOW our customers, our co–workers,
and our company. We expect and encourage you to have a lasting
impact on the world.

Embrace and drive change.
• Learn not to fear change, but instead embrace it enthusiastically. We
remain agile, flexible, and nimble to thrive in an evolving business
environment. Always inspect and adapt; never be too comfortable with
the status quo. Change is our evolution to providing a greater impact
through service, and it is important that most of the changes in the
department are driven from the bottom up—from the people who are
on front lines.

Create enjoyment.
• Our success is driven by our culture and we expect our people to know
and enjoy each other. We want people to be able to express their
personality in their work and thrive on their memorable experiences.
We never want to be boring. We want to be fun and a little weird—even
if we are perceived as unconventional—to have a challenging/energetic
work environment.

Be bold. Invent and simplify.
• We encourage innovation through practicality and simplicity. We
expect our team to look for new ideas in every aspect of life. We
encourage everyone to make bold (but not reckless) decisions. We do
not want people to be afraid to take risks and make mistakes. We are
not bound to the concept of "that's the way things have always been
done”. We should always be seeking new adventures/possibilities with
an open mind.

Build strong relationships
with communication.
• We believe that honest communication is the foundation for building
strong relationships. Strong relationships built on trust are what allow
us to accomplish so much more than we could on our own.
Communication is always one of the weakest spots in any organization,
no matter how good the communication is. We want everyone to
always try to go the extra mile in encouraging thorough, complete, and
effective communication.

Be hungry.
• We expect a deep found passion that is apparent to everyone. We want
people to wake up every morning, excited to make someone's day—
company, co-worker or customer. We value passion, determination,
perseverance, and the sense of urgency. Passion and determination are
contagious. We believe that your thirst for excellence should be
infectious and inspiring.

Be tenaciously honest.
• We exhibit honesty and integrity in everything we do, avoiding the
partial or tinted truth. We make money by doing good things. We
should always act for the absolute good of the whole. We expect you to
be straightforward when disagreeing with others. Respectfully
challenge decisions—even when doing so is uncomfortable or
exhausting. We believe that you should be tenacious in your decisions
and never to compromise for the sake of social cohesion. When a
decision is made, commit wholly.

Be accountable.
• We only foster owners. We value people who see the big picture—not
sacrificing long–term value for short–term results. We expect
individuals to act on the behalf of the entire company; beyond just
their own team, beyond just themselves. We believe owners should
never say "that's not my job".

Have humility in success.
• We believe that no matter what happens, we should always be
respectful of everyone. We should not let our successes cause us to be
arrogant. We treat each other no differently than we would want to be
treated. Instead, we carry ourselves with a quiet confidence because we
believe that, in the long run, our character will speak for itself. We
should consciously think and act like an underdog, being both scrappy
and resourceful.

Moving forward…

Follow–up email with notes will be sent out
Open for discussion for next week

Expect the outcome to be embodied,
as well as plastered over the walls.
• Reference
• http://about.zappos.com/our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values
• http://www.johndehartblog.com/2011/09/22/what-do-core-values-do-why-do-i-need-them-well-at-least-the-top-11-reasons-why/