On My Personal Values

Make the world better.

Be a positive force in the world. Work on things that matter. Don't exploit or manipulate people. When you see something going wrong, don't just look the other way or assume someone else will handle it. Try to fix it. The world is worse when we all allow it to be worse. The world is better when we make it better.

Do the right thing, even when it's hard.

Honesty, integrity, transparency, accountability. Honor. Follow the rules if the rules genuinely promote a functional society or a greater good. If one or more of these values needs to be temporarily suspended, be transparent and communicate why.

Play people up, don't tear people down.

See the best in people. Advocate for the best in people. Gossip about the best in people. Celebrate wins. Learn from, but don't criticize, losses or failures. The only way we learn is by making mistakes.

Understand, tolerate, forgive, trust, improve.

People will make mistakes. People will have slip-ups of character on bad days, when they're tired, when they have stress in their personal or work lives. Even when someone behaves in a way that seems poor, trust that we don't have all the information, and that they're doing the very best they can in that moment.

"People" includes ourselves. Don't beat yourself up, but genuinely apologize when you've made a misstep. Try to set things right.

We're better together than we are apart.

We can accomplish more as a team than as individuals. We're more effective as a team when that team is healthy, respectful, and aligned. We're stronger as a team when we help one another get through the burdens of life and work. We're wiser as a team when we share in good faith the diversity of our backgrounds and ideas.

Be deliberate.

Be intentional about action, whatever course we choose. Move forward with eyes open, in full consideration of the tradeoffs we make and the side-effects we incur.

Aspire. Aim to do better than we're doing. Aim to be better than we are. Believe we can do it.

Don't settle for something half-baked when we can do better. Don't keep doing the same thing just because it's what we've always done. Ask: Is "good enough" really good enough? There might be good reasons to not do something, but "it's too difficult" is rarely one of them. We'll make missteps in life (especially with respect to these values) and that's okay. Do better next time.