The Things That Guide Us

As part of a recent strategic planning retreat, our team was tasked with revisiting our guiding principles. To be clear, we’ve had guiding principles in place for 36 years, and we weren’t looking to replace them, make them part of a marketing campaign or plaster them on a wall. The point was to ask – do they still ring true, are they still guiding us appropriately, are we adhering to what we say, and does it matter to us?

We knew long ago that if we were going to grow, we had to do it the right way. But what exactly is the right way? All we knew was to commit to paper some basic truths about how we would conduct our business. While we have several guiding principles, three of them have truly defined how we work since our inception:

Appreciate our clients – This isn’t reserved for big-budget clients, repeat clients or the nicest clients. We show appreciation no matter what the client or situation is. We exist to serve clients – and when given the opportunity, we must serve to the best of our ability.

Provide the best service – As simple as it sounds, we do our best work. Top the standards. Exceed expectations. There is no substitute for great work.

Set high ethical standards – We believe if we act ethically in all situations, everything else will fall into place. Environments change, markets shift, and there will be temptations. But there are no shortcuts. Remaining steadfast and doing the right thing means taking the long view, which will be worth it.

Certainly, there’s more to running our business than this, but to answer the question above: Yes, our guiding principles still matter and continue to guide us appropriately. If you want to know more about what guides us, I’d welcome sharing more with you. But I’m equally curious to know – what’s guiding you and how has it helped your business?