A recent Harvard Business Review article featured a summary of an Apple quarterly conference call from the period just after Apple paragon Steve Jobs announced he was stepping down due to his advanced stage pancreatic cancer.
During the call an analyst asked incoming CEO Tim Cook how the company would be different if he took over. Cook's response was inspirational:
"We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products, and that's not changing," Cook declared.
"We believe in the simple not the complex...We believe in saying no to thousands of products, so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us," he added.
"We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in ways other cannot...And I think that regardless of who is in what job those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well," he concluded.
Normally we might take this type of proselytizing with a grain of salt. It sounds like the type of childish enthusiasm usually reserved for Silicon Valley startups - but with one important difference: The most recent analyst targets for Apple market capitalization include twelve zeros, and the company is already better than half way there.
So maybe it isn't so hokey to clearly announce, for all to hear, the mission and values that consume every waking hour of one's professional existence. Maybe that's a constructive exercise, and perhaps its important for all current and potential customers to know unambiguously what you stand for.
So let us be the next in line to proclaim our values for all to hear:
- We believe that we can change the way people think about investing
- We believe in evidence
- We believe in repeatable and testable process
- We believe that the only constant in markets is human nature
- We believe in the investment analog of evolution, not intelligent design
- We believe that process trumps outcome in the short term, but outcome trumps process in the long-term
- We believe in transparency and extreme candor
- We believe there is a better way
- We aren't here to leave a footprint; we are here to cause an earthquake.
