A couple of weeks ago I sat down with MarketLauncher’s management team for our quarterly planning session. I always leave these two-day sessions feeling simultaneously energized and exhausted. Any time you lock ten really smart people in a room together for two full days and give them an agenda of items they are passionate about, you are bound to end up with lots of lively debate, occasional “aha” moments, and, if you are really lucky, those gems of simple-but-brilliant new ideas that can be executed right away.
When we bring the team together we always reminisce about past sessions and some of those gem ideas that were born and had immediate impact on our company’s performance. One of our favorite strolls down memory lane is the year we came up with MarketLauncher’s core values. That meeting was ten years ago, and I am constantly amazed at how those initial core values we came up with that day have stood the test of time. I can’t share all of the details about the discussion that led to full agreement on our core values, other than to say there was a little more sun, sand and vodka than you might typically find at a company meeting.
Here is what I can tell you . . .those core values became “rules to live by” at MarketLauncher. They have been a guiding force when making decisions and have provided clarity in situations where the right choice wasn’t always immediately obvious.
MarketLauncher’s success over the years has in many ways been driven by our continued commitment to those values. And the evidence is there every time we lock ten managers in a room and ask them to find new ways to achieve success, commit to doing whatever it takes, focus on specific areas to improve, and most of all, have fun doing it.
You can read about our chosen core values on our web site.
I’d love to hear about yours!