"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.
- Brand
- Creativity
- Fun
- Inspire
- Integrity
- Journey
- Learn
- Meaningful
- Passion
- Superior
- Wealth
- Jay Rudman, CEO, Paperly
