Thinking about the Guiding Principles

Not too long ago, I was on the phone with a member of the MBM Team, and he said to me, "Think about what is special about the first word of each Guiding Principle." I'm a touch embarrassed to say that it took me awhile to think of them (and I quickly ran to my desk and got my Guiding Principles card to study them).

So, stealing a little trick from Andy G, I've put the Guiding Principles below and made the font of the first word in each white. Take a guess at what you think it is, then highlight to see what it is. After thinking through it a little bit, I'd love to see if you notice something special about the first words of each principle. I think I know what this colleague was getting at, but I've not looped back around with him to pick his brain. Leave a comment to let me know what you think!

Integrity
Conduct all affairs lawfully and with integrity.

Compliance
Strive for 10,000 percent compliance, with 100 percent of employees fully complying 100 percent of the time. Ensure excellence in environmental, safety, and all other areas of compliance. Stop, think and ask.

Value Creation
Createreal, long-term value by the economic means. Understand, develop, and apply MBM to achieve superior results. Eliminate waste.

Principled Entrepreneurship™
Demonstrate the sense of urgency, discipline, accountability, judgment, initiative, economic and critical thinking skills, and the risk-taking mentality necessary to generate the greatest contribution to the company and
society.

Customer Focus
Understand and develop relationships with customers to profitably anticipate and satisfy their needs.

Knowledge
Seekand use the best knowledge and proactively share your knowledge while embracing a challenge process. Measure profitability wherever practical.

Change
Embrace change. Envision what could be, challenge the status quo, and drive creative destruction.

Humility
Practice humility and intellectual honesty. Constantly seek to understand and constructively deal with reality to create real value and achieve personal improvement.

Respect
Treat others with dignity, respect, honesty, and sensitivity. Appreciate the value of diversity. Encourage and practice teamwork.

Fulfillment
Produce results that create value to realize your full potential and find fulfillment in your work.

Comments

[David McGinnis]

I couldn't think of "Produce" nor "Practice", before my temptation to hightlight the word became overwhelming, but i got knew all of the others right away!

Much like a good resume, they are all proactive verbs that require action. They are not just traits or wishes, they are purposeful actions.

That's my answer. I can't wait to see what the RIGHT answer is...

[Ann Zerkle]

That's what I think too, David! They are action words. It speaks to the bias toward action in MBM.

I always forget "practice" as well. I like the idea that humility is practiced though. It's not like you achieve it and you're done.

Did any of the action words stick out to you?

[David McGinnis]

Just that they all make enough sense that I can tell they were thoroughly vetted. I have always liked the word "Embrace" regarding change. I love change, I crave it, and I rarely order the same item twice off of any given menu.

The word embrace conjures up for me the word "HUG" and I'm imagining the people who fight change and hate the unknown finally letting down their guard and reluctantly "hugging" and inviting-in-for-a-cup-of-tea what used to be an adversary, and turns out to be a best friend.

My imagination is limited to the emotion of the person, but I haven't yet assigned an object to change... maybe one of those those Domo-kun monsters. I could imagine trying to reject one and then hugging it.