39 Beliefs

This is the list of beliefs that Vince Grealy and I wrote for an earlier Foden Grealy Ltd website; although the business has changed, I thought I would leave them here.

Here are thirty nine things we believe...

  1. Helping folks to work together is pretty much the answer to everything.
  2. Organisations are organisms not mechanisms (the clue being in the word).
  3. It's better to trust first and ask questions later.
  4. Rules are guidelines.
  5. Treating symptoms will almost always make things worse.
  6. Networks are ultimately more powerful than hierarchies.
  7. You can't go wrong with plain English. Innit?
  8. It's better to cook from fresh (in the kitchen and in life).
  9. Emotional intelligence is much more important than IQ.
  10. People should have a great, great time at work.
  11. The guidance for getting out of the box is written on the outside of the box.
  12. Change happens one conversation at a time.
  13. Learning beats knowing.
  14. Laughter promotes learning.
  15. Iteration is properly cool.
  16. It's important to be the change you want to see. What Gandhi said.
  17. It's always better to follow your instincts...
  18. ...discovering your instincts are wrong improves them immeasurably.
  19. Cynefin is important. (Go Google.)
  20. Complex situations are improved through action not thought.
  21. Grey hair is cool... well, we would.
  22. Communities can only be grown (not built).
  23. It is more important to connect people with people than people with information
  24. You can, if you think you can.
  25. All conceptual models are wrong but some are useful.
  26. Everything has a life-cycle.
  27. Sitting people in rows in meeting rooms is a criminal waste. See blog post.
  28. Openness is crucial.
  29. Our customers are everyone.
  30. Complex problems can only be eased not solved.
  31. It's important to do the right thing; and if we can't, we should step away.
  32. Meetings are social events.
  33. Belief in abundance breeds abundance.
  34. We don't have to compete with others to be successful.
  35. Everyone can do great things.
  36. We should add value far beyond what we charge.
  37. It's dead important to be nice.
  38. Actions speak louder than clichés.
  39. Tea is the lubricant of change.

And we would have said that odd is generally better than even but that... would have made 40 things.