Experimenting with Values:Finding your Meta-strategy
Somik Raha
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Jul 23, 2014
Poll
When you hear the term “values”, what are you primarily hearing?
Pick the one that applies the most:
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Values as measures: Value functions, utility functions
Value-focused thinking: Distinguishing between means and ends
Values as norms: Cultural norms that are upheld in society and organizations
Values as Meta-Strategy
This is NOT a talk about these three:
This talk is about a fourth kind of listening:
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Values as meta-strategy: Your values are your highest-level strategy
Values as measures: Value functions, utility functions
Value-focused thinking: Distinguishing between means and ends
Values as norms: Cultural norms that are upheld in society and organizations
What brushing our teeth can teach us about values
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Systemic Value: Count of # times we’ve brushedPractical Value: Dental HygieneIntrinsic Value: Personal well-being
Two startling conclusions
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What can be counted does not really count
What counts cannot really be counted
In the Q&A box, can you share examples from your life that illustrate this?
The great poets of the world speak of this
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The one who confuses the label water for water is naïve indeed. Repeating “water, water,” such a one is destined to die of thirst.
Repeating “fire, fire” produces not a scratch on the lipAn ember on your lip will immediately burn it.
Sufi poet, Zaheen Shah Taji
Note: He is criticizing the conflation of the label with the experience, not the use of labels themselves
Intrinsic values are about finding your deepest values, and there are signs to recognize them
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ShakeEmotional
Silence
The small truth has words that are clear. The great truth has great
silence.… Rabindranath Tagore
Intrinsic Values have a quality of uniqueness
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Test: Are most people likely to say “me too” for your intrinsic value? If yes, we need to keep looking.
The focus here is on those values that stir you in an odd and unique way
What’s your music?
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Under the sky studded with the sun and myriad stars,In a universe throbbing with life,I've received my little space.In sheer wonder, music springs from the depths of my soul.
Rabindranath Tagore
We got stuck while doing a traditional DA consulting workshop
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Our remit: Help us double our revenues from $500M to $1B
XXX
Three slides that went to the board
META-STRATEGY (or Purpose)
M&A Strategy
Check opportunity for fit with packaging “traits”
Only if there is fit, let’s look at the numbers
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Quote from hard-nosed M&A expert: “I have never seen a soft tool work this well”
Observation
Human mind shuts down when faced with numberse.g. goals like double market share, revenues, etc.
Creativity springs forth with inspiratione.g. Indian branch story, going from $2M to $30M
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Applying this at home
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Having fun making
organizations Smarter
People co-creating Magic
Prudential
Intrinsic
Systemic
Making a Difference
that MattersAmazing
Capabilities
Awesome Software:
That inspires, enables and empowers
Professional Experience:
Practical knowledgeable staff who can do and coach
Thought Leadership:Show the way to solve real
problemsImprove:
Build Customer’
s Capability
Service: Proactively
and responsively
serve the real need
Excellence:High quality
practical rigor
Great Relationships:
Among ourselves, with vendors, with
clients
Whole Person: SmartOrg is where personal passion
meets the productive world
Situational Leadership:
Follow & lead, with
responsibility and accountability
VALUES as NORMSe.g. SmartOrg
Complete Integrity:Honesty,
openness, trust and
trustworthiness.
Ongoing Learning:
Ongoing Personal, Professional and
Team Development
Impact:Empowering customers to
achieve their most important objectives
Financial Stewardship:
Sustain the business and
the people in it
Prosperity
Performance:Accomplishing
what we set out to do
Enjoyment:Work enlivens
Mapping your values (as meta-strategy)
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?
?
?YOUHEAD
The professional field you count
yourself in
HEARTA goal that is
deeply inspiring and an end in itself
for youHABIT
You show up and this shows up
Finance-Business
Partnership
Agile Decision Support Systems
Restoring dignity to economic
evaluations
HEAD HEART
HABIT
EXAMPLE: Somik’s lens on SmartOrg
Find your purpose (meta-strategy) is an act of deep listening
Things that have worked for meYou can be a friend to someone
Look for silence, emotion, shuddering
Test the values – if any one is missing, is something big missing
Look for uniqueness, not universality
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Story: Couple’s values
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Hospitality
Celebration
SpacesJOHN
HEAD HEART
HABIT
M&A ?
Detachment
HealingMARY
HEADHEART
HABIT
Story: Couple’s values
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Celebration
SpacesJOHN
HEART
HABIT
M&A Therapy
Detachment
HealingMARY
HEADHEART
HABIT Before: Mary wondered about helping John in his hotel business. After: Mary is working on a transition to becoming a therapist
Hospitality
HEAD
CEO’s Values
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Energy Efficiency
Visionary Change
Building Ecosyste
m Solutions
DOUG/RETROFIT Company
HEAD
HEART
HABIT
Helped CEO get clarity on messaging for company
Shin-Gi-Tai
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Thanks to Kentaro Nakamichi
In Summary
Values as Meta-Strategy is upstream of all practical considerations
This is about the mountain you want to climb (distinct from how you want to walk on the road)
The highest given in a decision
All DA value calculations are Systemic values
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GIVEN
We commit to Strategic Fit of (e.g. Safe, Natural, ..)
CURRENT
FUTURE
Decision Hierarchy
Systematizing to get to the value is essential, but it is not the value
Systems drive action. (police story)
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Public Safety
Dignity of Client
EducationSUDPS
HEAD
HEART
HABIT
EXAMPLE: Somik’s lens on SUDPS values
SYSTEM: Hire highly educated people who resonate with “dignity of client”
Systematizing to get to the value is essential, but it is not the value
Systems drive action. (police story)
Criteria for fit is one example of a system. It can get us to realize the values, but is not equal to the value.
Making multi-attribute models to trade-off these intrinsic values kind of misses the point (oil and gas story)
Analysis is good when we are confused (Amazon story)
Affects how we view decision quality© 2000-2013 SmartOrg. | Confidential and Proprietary.24
Decision Quality is largely head-focused in its articulation
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Head
Frame Appropriate
Alternatives Feasible
Information Relevant, Material
Preferences Trade-offs, Metrics
Logic Clear
Commitment to Action
High-quality commitments
Most of us actually prefer a balance of head-and-heart
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Head Heart
Frame Appropriate Meaningful
Alternatives Feasible Inspiring
Information Relevant, Material
Decisive
Values Preferences (Trade-offs, Metrics)
Noble Purpose
Integration Clear Logic Community Narrative
Commitment to Action
Action Plans Leadership, Followership, Laddership
Let’s unpack the heart dimension from the perspective of meta-strategy
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Head Heart
Frame Appropriate Meaningful
Alternatives Feasible Inspiring
Information Relevant, Material
Decisive
Values Preferences (Trade-offs, Metrics)
Noble Purpose
Integration Clear Logic Community Narrative
Commitment to Action
Action Plans Leadership, Followership, Laddership
Plastic Packaging Story
Plastic Packaging Story
Oil & Gas Story (Safer and Cleaner)
Most of us actually prefer a balance of head-and-heart
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Head Heart
Frame Appropriate Meaningful
Alternatives Feasible Inspiring
Information Relevant, Material
Decisive
Values Preferences (Trade-offs, Metrics)
Noble Purpose
Integration Clear Logic Community Narrative
Commitment to Action
Action Plans Leadership, Followership, Laddership
Plastic Packaging Story
Plastic Packaging Story
Oil & Gas Story (Safer and Cleaner)
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helps individuals, families, and communities struggling with alcohol abuse, substance abuse, and drug addiction transform their lives
Capital investment projects had been carefully selected to improve facilities. This caused a backlash, with employees asking why funds weren’t used to give pay raises.
e.g. redesign spaces to be welcoming, comfortable chairs for clients to feel at home. It takes a lot for people in that position to trust and reach out for help.
When the decision was explained in the context of their core value of bringing respect and dignity to the lives of those who have suffered from substance abuse and addiction problems, employees understood and supported it.
What stories do you have on Integration?
Was there a time when you found the numbers weren’t sufficient, and you had to share a narrative connecting your insight to values?
Please type your stories into the Q&A
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Most of us actually prefer a balance of head-and-heart
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Head Heart
Frame Appropriate Meaningful
Alternatives Feasible Inspiring
Information Relevant, Material
Decisive
Values Preferences (Trade-offs, Metrics)
Noble Purpose
Integration Clear Logic Community Narrative
Commitment to Action
Action Plans Leadership, Followership, Laddership
Plastic Packaging Story
Plastic Packaging Story
Oil & Gas Story (Safer and Cleaner)
Hazelden Foundation story
Leadership: protecting your meta-strategy
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Guardian of Apple’s core value of beautiful design
“insanely great products”
Somik’s version:
Think Different
Zen Minimalis
m
Insanely Great
Products
APPLE
HeadHeart
Habit
Video
Followership: Embracing the meta-strategy
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Our culture places too much emphasis on the leader, and not on the first, second, third, seventh or the seven hundredth follower.
Gandhi VinobaSomik’s version:
Meta-strategy for Sarvodaya (Upliftment of all)Head: Satyagraha (Insistence on Truth)Heart: Upliftment of allHabit: Ahimsa (nonviolence)
Meta-strategy for Sarvodaya (Upliftment of all)Head: Daan (Voluntary giving)Heart: Upliftment of allHabit: Love
Bhoodaan
Was Vinoba just a follower? Was he a leader? Perhaps, he was a ladder.
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Macho lone hero who saves the day
Leaders are best when people barely know they exist. When their work is
done, their aim fulfilled, people say, “we did it ourselves” .. Lao Tzu in Tao Te
Ching
Laddership.org
In business, ladders have been called “Level 5 leaders” (Jim Collins)
Ladders undertake guardianship of the organization’s meta-strategy
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Can you share stories of laddership (in the Q&A box) you have seen in your career?
Most of us actually prefer a balance of head-and-heart
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Head Heart
Frame Appropriate Meaningful
Alternatives Feasible Inspiring
Information Relevant, Material
Decisive
Values Preferences (Trade-offs, Metrics)
Noble Purpose
Integration Clear Logic Community Narrative
Commitment to Action
Action Plans Leadership, Followership, Laddership
Plastic Packaging Story
Plastic Packaging Story
Oil & Gas Story (Safer and Cleaner)
Hazelden Foundation story
Apple, Gandhi, Vinoba stories
Meta-strategy redefines the purpose of a business
The purpose of business IS to be a business of purpose
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The old business leaders understood this
Walt Disney said, “We don’t make movies to make money, we make money to make movies.”
Henry Ford said, “Business must be run at a profit, else it will die. But when anyone tries to run a business solely for profit ... then the business must die as well, for it no longer has a reason for existence.”
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Trusteeship and Meta-Strategy
You are the self-declared trustee of your meta-strategy for society
If you drop the ball on executing on your intrinsic value, society won’t get to experience that intrinsic value
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What are your reflections on being a guardian of your intrinsic value for society? What is an intrinsic value that moves you to guardianship? Type into Q&A.
Where do we go from here?
I don’t know, but…
Knowing our meta-strategy can help us become aware of misalignments between strategy and meta-strategy
Perhaps clarity on our meta-strategy values can help us do inspired work
The Neuroscience of Values
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Acknowledgments
Robert Hartman – for his work on “Formal Axiology”
Ronald Howard – connecting me to Hartman, and supporting research on Values
David Matheson – supporting exploration of values in business, and being a great co-conspirator/collaborator
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“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because
what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
– Robert Thurman
Q&A
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Appendix
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Fundamental Values and Intrinsic Values“Values are the criteria that we use to evaluate outcomes. Fundamental values are those that express our most important concerns.”
Jonathon Baron, Biases in the Quantitative Measurement of values for public decisions
Intrinsic values are about “states of being,” not outcomes. There is a difference between what we value and how we value. How we value can be mapped by the emotional affect:INTRINSIC: Inseparable from who we are. If it is truly intrinsic, you cannot even begin to describe the value.EXTRINSIC/PRACTICAL: Separable but we show an everyday-interestedness in these values. You can talk about this.SYSTEMIC: The land of objectivity. All of DA’s constructs are Systemic because they are clear.
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In MA, the way fundamental values get used is to quickly turn them into metrics and establish tradeoffs. My use of intrinsic values has been as a generative force for ideation and strategic fit, not tradeoffs.
The method of getting to intrinsic values is of great interest to me. Involves listening for silence.
From Values to Valuation…
Amazon story
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3 Periods
1. Colombia2. Brazil3. Peru
1. Brazil2. Peru3. Bolivia
1. Brazil2. Peru3. Bolivia
1. Brazil2. Peru3. Bolivia
1. Guyana 2. Peru3. Brazil
Linda
Mike1. Colombia2. Peru3. Brazil
1. Brazil2. Peru3. Bolivia
1. Brazil2. Peru3. Colombia
1. Brazil2. Peru3. Colombia
Brad1. Peru2. Brazil3. Colombia
1. Peru2. Brazil3. Guyana
1. Brazil2. Peru3. Guyana
1. Peru2. Brazil3. Colombia
1. Peru2. Brazil3. Guyana
Jenny1. Brazil2. Peru3. Colombia
1. Brazil2. Peru3. Colombia
1. Brazil2. Peru3. Colombia
1. Colombia2. Brazil3. Peru
1. Brazil2. Peru3. Colombia
BEST DECISION
1. Brazil2. Peru3. Bolivia