We are annoyingly curious. We notice clues to issues or opportunities when others may not. We ask “why” and “how” many times in a row with the intention to get to the root of a problem or situation, because we really want to understand it deeply from first principles. We continually challenge our own understanding of our customers, our market, and our business. We avoid unexamined assumptions and think through our actions from first principles starting with the end goal in mind. We actively look for clues to disconfirm our deepest held beliefs and are continuously updating our mental model of the world. What was the reason, and what may have been right yesterday, is no longer so today.


‍

We take full responsibility and accountability for our domain areas and our results, and we own the outcome. We believe that we have agency over what we do, and that no one else is to blame. We own up to where things fall short, and we figure out how we can improve our world through our actions alone. We seek and fix problems beyond our immediate designated areas, so nothing falls “between the cracks.” We fix problems we see quickly, and put processes in place to make sure they stay fixed and don’t happen again. We are proactive - we 1) notice subtle clues that may portend more systematic issues, 2) dig to find out the root issue, and 3) fix the root issue that improves our business for the long run.

‍

We have a bias for action. We know many decisions are reversible, and take calculated risks daily to deliver results today rather than tomorrow (much less next week) because our customers are suffering today. We are scrappy & self reliant, stretching ourselves to “get the MVP out the door today” rather than wade through meetings and coordination just to get a first version out. When we are a stakeholder, we don't just say no; say yes to something else; we try to push forward towards a solution rather than just push back against a proposal with “but what about…” sentences. We will never have all the information we want to make a decision, and analysis paralysis can kill us as a startup. We are proactive & deep: when something goes wrong we ask, root cause it deeply and extract all the learnings we can personally and for our team. We learn by doing, not by discussion in a committee. Speed matters. We don’t worry about “stepping on toes” - we don’t have toes here, nobody has a monopoly on work they’re not doing.

We’re low ego. We care about getting to the best results, not about who is right. We care about how much we learned, not how much we know. We care about doing what’s best for the team & mission, not what’s best for ourselves today. We are gracious to each other. We look for ways to encourage and help when possible, even if it doesn’t fall in our “designated” domain. We readily admit it when we don’t know something, and act swiftly to rectify. We want to become better versions of ourselves, so we actively search for our own faults. We cherish feedback, seeing it as the gift it is to help us improve, and acting on it as appropriate with haste & vigor.
‍

We have uncomfortably high standards for ourselves, our teams, and our peers. We believe in quality and speed. We surprise and delight our customers and each other with outcomes that are far better than expected. We imagine what a magical outcome would be, and aim for that, executing with exceptional effort and creativity. We set the standard for our industry in Operational Excellence. We push ourselves & each other towards something that seemed impossible just weeks ago. We are proud of what we create and our reputation with our customers, our industry, and our community. When customers work with us, or when a new employee joins us, we want them to say: “wow, every part of their organization is excellent."

We have the courage to do what’s needed even if it’s uncomfortable; especially if it’s uncomfortable. Need to jump into analytics but know you’re weak at math? We put in the extra time to learn it and jump in with both feet. Need to tell someone their work wasn’t up to your high standards? We don’t look away or delay despite discomfort and instead act quickly & decisively without sugar coating it.

‍

We Dive Deep. Touch reality yourself. We stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdotes differ. We start at the lowest level of detail. We touch reality by seeing for ourselves:

‍
- We talk to customers, not just read other people’s customer conversation notes.
- We listen to support calls, not just read reports or look at metrics.
- We pull random (or particularly bad) ops & support tickets and read what happened, who said what, look at timestamps. We read pull requests, not just ask managers how the project went or what happened.
- We secret shop the experience our team is giving customers, i.e. by calling our own support number and asking for help on our own Clipboard account. 



Our managers know their metrics deeply & are excellent at the craft they lead. They obsess over metrics and customer conversations to better understand their business “to the metal” and make well considered data driven decisions when possible. No task is beneath them, or “above their pay grade”. We realize the one customer complaint they happened to hear about probably isn’t unique, and take it as a clue to seek out the truth at scale.

The more senior your role, the more you have to rely on your own self awareness (in addition to humility, and asking for feedback). Though not necessary, most people will stop giving you the critical feedback needed to improve if you’ve been here longer, are their manager, or simply are perceived to be “respected” by others. Do you have a list of your own mistakes? Do you acknowledge them publicly so others can see & learn from your humility? Are you accurate in your self assessment? (Because generic humility or needless self deprecation is also unhelpful). If I asked you what person A, person B, or person C who works with or for you thought were your strengths and weaknesses, would you get it right? Have you asked them? (You don’t have to agree with them; self awareness is understanding how you’re perceived separate of whether you agree).

‍