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GOALS AND VALUES can be tough to deal with. Their very nature makes them hard or impossible to attain, especially on a consistent basis. And when you have idealistic values as the foundation of your business, it’s possible to feel that your foundation is shaken when you’re unable to hit those high ideals.
For whatever reason, we humans tend to focus on failure more than success. And we tend to be most critical of ourselves.
I was pondering this morning how close we are to eradicating Polio from the planet. It’s an astounding goal, actually, because we rarely get to declare a 100% victory on anything. Read the rest of this entry »
B-CORPS (Benefit Corporations) are a new kind of business structure which is sweeping across the US. Its official name is now Public Benefit Corporation, which defines a legal structure in which a company can balance profit-making with other important business goals.
We’re particularly lucky in Colorado to be on the leading edge of this opportunity, which might be of great interest to readers of this blog.
I’d like to introduce to you Ariana Friedlander, who has been following these developments. I asked her to give us some insight into this news, so here goes!
On May 16, 2013 Colorado Governor Hickenlooper signed Public Benefit Corporation Legislation into law making Colorado one of 20 states to pass such a bill. Starting April 1, 2014, companies in Colorado may begin registering as a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC). But what does this mean for business?
GREEN RIDE COLORADO is a well-known local award-winning leader in shuttle buses to and from Denver International Airport. For such a commodity service, people are constantly surprised at how they give a special experience of customer service and professionalism.
It all starts with the culture.
I had a chance to speak with Bob Flynn recently, who started Green Ride with Ray Schofield, and is a wonderful friend. He wanted to start this company because he was tired of working for bosses who treated employees like generic machines. 
And he really didn’t like being a manager in that environment.
So Ray and Bob went out and started their own company, to create the kind of employee culture that they would love.
YOU SEE this all the time: A company once respected and admired has become a shell of its former self. Employees wonder why they’re still around, other than to pull down a paycheck. Customers turn cynical because there’s no longer any credibility behind the high-minded words.
You can probably name as many examples as I can. But why would we struggle to name even one company which has gone the other direction?
HRISTUS RESURREXIT! Christ is risen!
But this is a business blog – why would I want to bring Easter into the picture?
Because every one of our companies needs vitality. It’s a living organism, which means it will either be nourished or die. Easter is a time when we focus on renewal in the Christian faith, so it would be very appropriate to also spend a few minutes thinking about whether the foundation of our business is growing – or dying.
TOMS SHOES is another great example of a company that has a much deeper foundation than just selling products.
They sell shoes and eyewear. Ho hum, right?
If that were the case, you’d never hear about them. They’d just be some little specialist internet shop, indistinguishable from thousands of others.
Blake Mycoskie started the company in 2006 after a deep personal experience in Argentina, where he developed a passion for selling products and benefiting those in need. Read the rest of this entry »
ODAY marks the beginning of Lent, a Christian period of reflection and renewal leading up to Easter.
If your business is based on Christian principles – either implicitly or explicitly – perhaps this would be a great time to reflect on how well it’s living up to those ideals.
FOR my professional and spiritual development, I listen to a number of podcasts. One of those is Get-It-Done Guy, presented by Stever Robbins. A recent episode entitled How to set unplannable goals addressed situations where the normal goal-setting doesn’t work.
This idea strikes me as similar to what we’re talking about with creating a business which is values-oriented.
Normally, setting goals wouldn’t be terribly hard to do. Read the rest of this entry »
IAM a member of a local group called Bridge Networking. I enjoy this as an asset for growing my business, but more important, doing good in the community.
It’s a values-based organization, which is a primary reason why I stay engaged and contribute.
It was a lot of fun to have a great discussion with the group this morning around what values really look like. Here’s the structure I introduced:
HERE’S the honest answer to today’s question: Anywhere and everywhere!
OK, I realize that’s not especially helpful.
With my clients, I tend to distinguish between VALUES and GOALS. Read the rest of this entry »
The Values-Based Business 