Clarity is arguably a leader's first job. Why are we here? What are we doing? How do we work?
MISSION = WHY
This is why we exist—the mission. It’s the guiding principle that serves as the foundation for all work. When you talk about it, you should feel your energy rise. When it gets hard, this is what gets you to the other side of the hard. The mission should be clear and have deep meaning to everyone.
STRATEGY = WHAT
This is the plan of action to achieve the mission. This is where analytical thinking, understanding reality, and committing resources intersect.
Strategy is the high-level direction, and tactics are the specific actions. One way to think about it is like a road trip. "We’re headed east" is the strategy. The turn-by-turn directions, the vehicle choice, who drives when, and keeping those fed who get hangry are the tactics.
Don’t fall into the trap of believing that you must have all the answers just because you are in charge. Sometimes, you must drive, navigate, pay for gas, nap, or change a tire. Your role should constantly change depending on what the team needs from you. And don’t forget, if you could do this yourself, you wouldn’t have a team.
CULTURE = HOW
The behavior of each person as they execute the work forms your culture. This happens interaction by interaction and decision by decision. Will I say "please" and "thank you"? Will I punish someone for taking a calculated risk that failed?
You need to be intentional about the behavior you expect. The values on the wall often get mocked because they aren’t lived. If the values are lived, people won’t laugh at them—they’ll be proud of them. But if you say you want transparency but hoard information, they should make fun of you. If you say respect is a value but show up late to meetings, talk over people, and never listen, then you don’t believe in respect. Remember, the more power a person has, the more impact their behavior has on shaping culture.
In 2009, Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, published a 125-page slide deck on their values. That’s right, 125 pages. It begins with:
Be Clear On How - That Drives Everything
Reading Scaling People by Claire Johnson, I stumbled upon Stripe’s Operating Principles. They are great. Here’s one I like:
“Solve problems. Be a persistent force for progress. Our leaders must work with their teams and across Stripe to quickly and effectively solve problems—especially when they’re hard.”
Amazon’s leadership principles are great, too. The original version of these was sent out by Bezos after his head of HR spent nine months interviewing people to figure out what really mattered in their culture. It has grown from 9 to 14 principles since then. Here’s a favorite:
“Earn Trust: Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume. They benchmark themselves and their teams against the best.”
You can have a clear mission, strategy, and tactics, but it doesn’t matter if you fail to execute. Execution is all about the "how." Be clear on the behavior you want to hire, reward, and promote. Ultimately, this will be your culture. Hastings says it best, “Values are what we value.”
Here’s a link to all three. They are worth a few minutes of your time.
Netflix Culture (2009 Version)
Hope you’re good.
Take care, bye.
-Kelly
Beyond Buzzwords