Values

Croxford Consulting Manifesto

Creator

Rob Croxford is a local government specialist who assists and advises clients to deliver the right services at the optimal costs because he believes this is the key to improving community satisfaction levels.

Purpose

The manifesto word cloud sets out what Croxford Consulting stands for.

Manifesto

“I believe that your communities deserve to receive excellent local government services.”

Source

Rob Croxford’s Linked In Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-croxford-180521126/

Comment

This is a simple and effective way to quickly create your manifesto.

The Croxford Consulting Manifesto is a mix of values, business offers and principles simply listed and presented as a word cloud.

Word clouds present a series of words with a hierarchy of their importance. Words are displayed at different sizes depending upon their importance or how often they are used.

Here are some quick steps for creating your own Word Cloud Manifesto:

Write down a list of the things that are important to you – your values eg Learn, Give, Pragmatic
Write down principles or strategies that guide what you do eg Rise Early
For business, write down a list of the services you provide eg Service Reviews
Do a search for ‘Word Cloud Generator’
Type your words into the generator and arrange them so the most important ones shine through. Use colours that reflect your brand or personality.
Save your manifesto as an image file
Share it on your website, blog, social media, Linked In profile etc.

One thing that can lift your manifesto is to give it a distinctive title – we want to call it something.

This may be as simple as ‘Rackspace Core Values’, which can be useful but is also generic.

Another angle is to take the title from the key words like Emily McDowell has done in her Let’s Get Real manifesto.

This starts to take your manifesto from being just about you to being a double-sided vision that your clients and community can also buy into.

Notice how you relate to ‘Rackspace Core Values’ versus ‘Let’s Get Real’. For me, ‘Let’s Get Real’ is more inclusive.

For Rob, I think the next level manifesto would be his philosophy around how to provide ‘excellent local government services.’

Rackspace Core Values

Apple Corporate Values

Emily McDowell – Let’s Get Real

Rackspace Core Values

Creator

Rackspace provide IT services

Purpose

“Company values provide the guiding light for our vision”

Manifesto

“Rackspace accelerates the value of the cloud. We meet you where you are and get you where you need to go, helping you realize the power of digital transformation without the complexity and expense of managing it on your own.

We deliver unbiased expertise through our comprehensive portfolio of managed services — across applications, data, security and infrastructure on the world’s leading cloud platforms — with proven results.

And we wrap all of our services in Fanatical Experience™: the proactive, results-obsessed approach to serving customers that has driven us for two decades.”

Fanatical support in all we do
Results first, substance over flash
Committed to greatness
Full disclosure and transparency
Passion for our work
Treat fellow Rackers like friends and family

Source

http://slides.com/caillouet/rackspace-core-values#/8

https://www.rackspace.com/en-au/about

Thanks to Bill for sharing this manifesto

Comment

I’m a fan of having values and identifying what’s important to you.

I’m not a fan of the way they are typically used – particularly in organisations.

Too often I see a handful of words written on a website or even in the foyer of the main office that say grand things like: We value integrity, honesty, self-reliance…

But that is all. The values are never seen or heard of again.

If you simply leave your values at the level ‘a word’ then the meaning and benefit of having them is lost because no one knows what they mean and nobody lives true to them.

The Rackspace values are at least a short phrase. They provide greater context and sharper intent than a single word. For instance, ‘fanatical support’ is a clear intent. It’s not just ‘support’; it’s fanatical.

Also, I love the naming of their community: Rackers. It might not be the most elegant name and it is a strong call to identity. By having a name for your people it’s more likely you can call to them and ultimately unite them.

Apple Corporate Values

Zappos Core Values Frog

Helen Reddy – I am woman (a classic call to identity)

Apple Corporate Values

Creator

Apple CEO Tim Cook shared the following when he was Chief Operating Officer (COO) under Steve Jobs.

Purpose

During the period when Steve Jobs was unwell and on medical leave, financial analysts asked Tim Cook how Apple would operate without Jobs. This was his reply.

Manifesto

There is an extraordinary breadth and depth in our more than 35,000 employees, who are all wicked smart. And that’s in all areas of the company from engineering to marketing, operations and sales and all the rest. The values of our company are all extremely well entrenched.

We believe that we’re on the face of the earth to make great products and that’s not changing. We’re constantly focusing on innovating. We believe in the simple, not the complex.

We believe we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.

We believe in saying no to thousands of projects so that we can focus on the few that are meaningful to us. We believe in deep collaboration and cross pollination in order to innovate in a way others cannot.

We don’t settle for anything other than excellence in any group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we’re wrong and the courage to change.

Regardless of who is in what job, those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well. And I would just iterate a point Peter made in his opening comments. I strongly believe that Apple is doing the best work in its history.

Source

https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apple_coo_tim_cook_lays_out_apple_manifesto_with_or_without_steve_jobs/

Comment

If we top and tail this comment we have four distinct phrases that epitomize a manifesto as a set of corporate values.

They can be summarized as:

Great products (goal)
Innovate
Simple not complex
Focus on the few
Deep collaboration
Cross pollination
Excellence
Self-honesty
Courage

If you want a shortcut to writing your manifesto, then start a series of statements with the words: ‘We Believe’.

Apple: We Are the Crazy Ones

Mike Markkula – The Apple Marketing Philosophy

Zappos Core Values Frog

Emily McDowell – Let’s Get Real

Creator

Emily McDowell is a writer and illustrator.

She is the name behind Emily McDowell and Friends – a community or artists and writers.

Purpose

The Let’s Get Real manifesto is their pledge and commitment to be a better-than-average human. It speaks to their essence and the things they care about.

Manifesto

Let’s get real.

Let’s make friend with our imperfections, because they’re the side effects of being human, and there’s medicine in “Me, too.”

Let’s laugh at ourselves: It sure beats the hell out of the alternative.

Let’s agree that normal isn’t a thing, and unlovable isn’t either.

Let’s not be dicks. There are already enough dicks.

Let’s reframe our mistakes as lessons and start kicking ass at learning.

And let’s use honesty and humour and heart to leave this place a little better than we found it.

Source

Emily McDowell Studio Manifesto Print: 8 x 10

Comment

At the end of the day, if it’s your manifesto you can write whatever pleases you.

But, if you want other people to resonate with what you have written it must have a congruency. In other words, your message needs to be consistent with the way you say it.

That’s the strength of Emily McDowell’s Let’s Get Real manifesto – it’s real.

Compare her language with the Customer Centricity Manifesto. Both fit their intended audience. One is academic intended for corporates. The other is open-hearted and intended to open hearts – it uses real everyday, heartfelt words.

Also, it employs a simple structure that makes it easy to create and read. There are seven lines and each one starts off with the simple word: Let’s.

This call to action is gentle and inclusive… again consistent with it’s message.

And the handwritten font used in the visual, completes the real picture.

Customer Centricity Manifesto

Zappos Core Values Frog

Miyamoto Musahi – 21 Rules to Live Your Life

Zappos: Core Values Frog!

Creator: Zappos sells clothing, shoes, bags, etc and is renowned for its customer service.

Purpose: To define the Zappos Family culture.

Manifesto : Core Values Frog!

The best thing about the Zappos Family is our unique culture. As we grew as a company, we didn’t want to lose that culture, and we wanted a way to share it with all employees and anyone else who touches Zappos.com.

We created these ten core values to more clearly define what exactly the Zappos Family culture is. They are reflected in everything we do and every interaction we have. Our core values are always the framework from which we make all of our decisions.

When searching for potential employees, we’re looking for people who both understand the need for these core values and are willing to embrace and embody them. To help us along, every day, in every situation we ask ourselves: What would Core Values Frog do…?

1. Deliver Wow Through Service

2. Embrace and Drive Change

3. Create Fun and a Little Weirdness

4. Be Adventurous, Creative and Open-Minded

5. Pursue Growth and Learning

6. Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication

7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit

8. Do More with Less

9. Be Passionate and Determined

10. Be Humble

Source

Zappos Core Values on their Website

Community Engine Culture, People and Core Values

Creator: Community Engine: provides social media, membership management & community engagement technology, products and services for all types of organisations, including business, government and the not-for-profit sector.

Purpose: To build a successful organisation.

Manifesto

Our Culture and People

We’re a smart, creative and agile group of people, with a relentlessly positive culture that supports rapid change and fast growth.

We have a track record of achieving big things. How do we manage it? By openly recognising and addressing the challenges that face us.

Get used to learning by doing. We keep our business agile by practicing the art of achieving clarity through action – by acting, reflecting and reacting rapidly.

We believe simplicity is everything. From the way we engage with customers to the way we design, build and support our software – we look to simplify. We even made it a verb: to ‘simplicate’.

Our core values, simply stated

We make software with a purpose.

Social networking software has the power to improve the way we live, work and play. Our mission is to put the power of social network publishing into the hands of the community, for the benefit of all.

We work with – not for – Community Engine.

We make software for collaboration and we collaborate at work and with our customers.

We seek to ‘simplicate’ everything.

From the way we engage with our customers to the way we design, build and support our software; we look to simplify. Simple is strong, easy to grasp and quick to learn. Simple scales rapidly, and we grow fast.

We seek clarity through action.

We believe in the power of doing, so get stuck in and have a go. Through experimentation, risk and measurement we learn more, faster, about what works better.

We are relentlessly positive.

We believe every challenge contains an opportunity. It may be wrapped in many layers of cheap, nasty paper, but it’s in there.

We employ self-sustaining people.

We employ the brightest talent, provide them with a collaborative and supporting environment and allow them to grow.

Customers matter.

Our customers give us their time, money and trust. In return, we owe them great service, intuitive products and respect.

Source

Website: http://www.communityengine.com/careers/culture-and-people/

Atlassian : Corporate Values

Creator: Atlassian – software developers and collaboration tool creators.

Purpose: Core values describing what the company looks for in their employees and the cultural guidelines to keep Atlassian from being just another ordinary company.

Manifesto

What we value

Open company, no bullshit

Atlassian embraces transparency wherever at all practical, and sometimes where impractical. All information, both internal and external, is public by default. We are not afraid of being honest with ourselves, our staff and our customers.

Build with heart and balance

Everyday we try to build products that are useful and that people lust after. Building with heart means really caring about what we’re making and doing—it’s a mission, not just a job. When we build with balance we take into account how initiatives and decisions will affect our colleagues, our customers and our stakeholders.

Don’t #@!% the customer

When we make internal decisions we ask ourselves “how will this affect our customers?” If the answer is that it would ‘screw’ them, or make life more difficult, then we need to find a better way. We want the customer to respect us in the morning.

Play, as a team

We want all Atlassians to feel like they work with Atlassian, not for Atlassian. We think it’s important to have fun with your workmates while working and contributing to the Atlassian team.

Be the change you seek

We think Gandhi had it pretty right when he said “We need to be the change we wish to see in the world”. At Atlassian we encourage everyone to create positive change—we’re constantly looking for ways to improve our company, our products and our environment.

Source

Atlassian Website: http://www.atlassian.com/about/values.jsp