Paperly’s Core Values

This past week, I went through an interesting exercise to identify Paperly's Core Values. The business coach who guided me through this exercise, Neil Phillips, defines Core Values as follows:

"Your Core Values express [Paperly’s] company's character and non-negotiable principles. They are the elements of your culture that unite you and your employees. When you make the day-to-day decisions, you align your actions with these qualities. If you consistently adhere to these qualities, [Paperly] will eventually be known for these traits."

To get to Paperly’s Core Values, I first had to prioritize 120 words (such as Triumph, Comfort, Maintain, Socialize, etc.) as either a "1" indicating it might reflect a value of Paperly or a "3" suggesting the word does not appeal to me/Paperly in any way. If unsure about a word, I could mark it as a "2". I was also able to inject 20 of my own words that would be a "1" but didn't exist on the initial list.

Then, came the hard part...

• The next email from Neil asked me to delete everything that wasn't a "1" and then pare down the 1's so only 20 remained.
• After informing Neil that I had finished, he then asked me to narrow the list to only 10.

Gulp! All of a sudden, the easy became hard. How could I narrow down the list – which once again had started at 120 – down to only 10 words that represented Paperly's Core Values. Well, below is the list I decided upon, listed alphabetically. As you'll see, I cheated (and no, cheating is not a Paperly Core Value ;) I couldn't cut to 10, so I went with 11.

1. Brand
2. Creativity
3. Fun
4. Inspire
5. Integrity
6. Journey
7. Learn
8. Meaningful
9. Passion
10. Superior
11. Wealth 

I'd love your thoughts. Do you think these 11 words accurately reflect Paperly's Core Values? Remember, these need to encompass the business, its employees, contractors, Consultants, Hostesses, and customers... basically anyone that interacts with Paperly in most anyway. So again I ask, do you think these 11 words reflect Paperly's Core Values?

- Jay Rudman, CEO, Paperly