What I believe
I have to continually remind myself that the rest of the world doesn’t operate on the same principles that I do.
My principles are so entwined with who I am that I’ve internalized them. It’s “the curse of knowledge” but for business philosophy. So it’s a worthwhile exercise to write them down.
My principles
Do not lie.
Eschew corporate politics. Succeed by excellence, not by guile.
Don’t work for immoral companies or people. Only work for people you actually want to succeed.
Share knowledge freely. Be visible. Rewards will flow to you. (You could call this the content marketing principle.)
Be known for your work, not for your smiling and bubbly demeanor.
Start with quality. Work with quality. And don’t let up; finish with quality. Quality must be a constant and persistent force in everything you do.
Negotiate a fair price, then stick to it.
Every client should be a reference. This means every client must end up happy. To do this, 1) choose clients you can help and 2) help make them succcessful.
In the end, people will accept, pay for, and be happy with hard-nosed and honest criticism. But only if 1) they ask for it, 2) you back up the reasoning behind each criticism, and 3) you are hard on the work, but easy on the people.
If a client doesn’t leave the engagement smarter than when they started, you have not fully succeeded.
Whenever possible, charge by the job, not by the hour. This carries risks, but it attracts clients who want a predictable price, and reduces the chances of conflict at the end.
Only do quality work. Half-assed work for half as much pay is a bad deal for everybody.
Avoid any action about which you’d be embarrassed if it became public.
Meetings should teach me things, or teach my clients things. So: Prepare with meetings. Do work asynchronously. Follow up with meetings.
The analyst’s job is to use complex reasoning and mathematics to draw conclusions from incomplete and flawed data, but to explain their conclusions as clearly and simply as possible.
Oxford comma. One space after a period. And keep exclamation points to a minimum.
No bullshit.
This is not an invitation to disagree
If you find any of these attractive, steal them. If you disagree, that’s fine: these are my principles, not yours.
What have I left out?
Years ago, I came across a book in a used-book shop, titled “What I Know” by Adlai Stevenson. I neither bought it nor read it, but I was impressed by what I perceived as his humility, given how thin the book was.
Great principles!
Does the Don’t Lie one cause problems since everyone lies?
The problem is when everyone ceases to care if they are lying. Like all principles, “Don’t lie” is worth aspiring to even if it’s not absolutely possible.
Thank you for your reply.
Thinking about principles, are all aspirational or are some more concrete?
Ought we make it clear that we try or aspire or is that implied?
Do principles have other useful/real classifications?
What ought one do with the principles clash/conflict?
I am not a fan of goals-ish that cannot be achieved (like zero incidents) or goals that no one really wants achieved (like zero tolerance for bad action/behavior). Absolutes always cause issues.
Thanks.
All principles are aspirational.
For more detail ask a philosopher.