My name is Zachary Yates, and there are a few simple truths I believe in. One is that everyone should have a personal mission statement. It’s a north star for when the GPS for my life fails, or when the road-signs of my project are confusing. Here is the long version:
1. I believe there is no greater goal than the betterment of the human race. When choosing between companies, projects, or making other life-altering decisions, the question: “Will this make all of us better somehow?” is always my highest weighted valuation method.
2. I believe that action always trumps inaction. To me, this is simple math. I define success rate as the number of wins divided by the number of tries. (Success Rate = Wins / Tries) Zero tries makes you infinitely unsuccessful.
3. I believe I am not the person I was yesterday, nor am I the person I will become tomorrow. I learn and change in small ways every day, tacking towards where I want my life to go. I can’t change all at once, and I don’t expect this of others. Movement in a positive direction is always a success.
The last two are professional in nature:
4. I believe that technology is for people. Drawing from number one, all technology, software, or processes should be designed to make people’s lives better. All decisions on standards, features, and implementation should be weighed on how efficient and beneficial the result will be to people. This frame of mind can be lost easily when the going gets rough.
5. I believe that high quality leadership creates success. That is to say, many factors contribute to success, but leadership is the most potent and valuable. I believe in the inverse as well: when encountering a failing endeavor, look first to the leadership.
Do you have a mission statement, an outline, or some sort of compass? I think it’s important because it makes every decision easier, trivial and titanic. If you don’t, I encourage you to write a simple one and try it out on some simple decisions. For me, it quickly made the harder decisions easier. As a video-game dragon once told me, (paraphrasing) “Discipline against the lesser aids against the greater.”
Your Thoughts?
Bravo!
ReplyDeleteLouie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!
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Zach:
ReplyDeleteWell said! You have shared a powerful personal life map and captured the essence of MyLeadershipPractice in your post.
Wonderful start to a meaningful blog.
Excellent overall credo, Zach. As a co-founder of a software startup, I can tell you that we focused heavily on #4. I have actually focused on that once I first became involved with technology. It's very easy to lose sight of (what should be) obvious principles. Better features before more features.
ReplyDeleteYour last point on leadership is well put and valid, but it is important that people don't use it as a scapegoat for lack of personal responsibility for smaller-scale issues. The simple truth is that some people just don't fit a particular job, no matter how good or bad the leadership is. For large-scale issues, leadership is certainly the first place to look to.