What are values worth if we're not willing to stand by them? | Issue #5
In this week's Leadership Bulletin, I look at values, prioritising tasks, our use of emails, trade deals, and more.
There are moments in life when our usual concerns seem utterly trivial. This past week, as Russia invaded its neighbour Ukraine, offered a horrifying example of such a moment. In this week’s Leadership Bulletin, I draw on the Ukraine crisis to talk about the importance of values in politics and business.
Please feel free to share this bulletin with your colleagues and, as ever, if you have any feedback you can email me via lee@edfolio.co.uk.
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL.
When dramatic events unfold, it’s easy to feel like there is nothing you can do. And in terms of the grand scale of war, none of us are capable of solving that problem. But even the unlikeliest of people and organisations can often do something to help. The key thing is focusing on what you have the resources to do.
It’s in that spirit that I’ve been impressed by phone companies, such as BT, O2 and EE, making all phone services to and from Ukraine free of charge, meaning that people can get in touch with their friends and family at no cost. Similarly, Airbnb has announced that it is working with its hosts to house up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine. These are just a few examples of how major international events should not leave companies feeling useless, but instead make us ask what is within our capacity to make a difference.
TEMPLATE OF THE WEEK.
Last week, I shared Edfolio’s template for performance reviews. This week, I’m sharing something simpler and more usable on a day-to-day basis, a model for Eisenhower Boxes. Named after former Supreme Commander and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Eisenhower box is a simple method of prioritising tasks.
To use it, start by listing all of the things that you need or want to get done that day on a piece of paper. Then look at each one and ask yourself “is this urgent?” Next, ask yourself if it’s important. The answers to these questions determine which part of the box that task goes in and whether it’s something for you to do today, decide when to do, delegate to someone else, or eliminate from your day. I’ve found it especially useful for focusing on the 2-3 most important things that need doing. Click here for the template.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE.
Once the UK left the European Union, it set itself the objective of signing new trade deals with countries around the world. Two new deals have now been agreed with countries that did not enjoy trade deals with the EU: Australia and New Zealand. Both are countries with close, historic ties with the UK; we share a language, similar cultures and effective legal systems that make trading much easier.
Is it time for your business to start thinking about trade with the other side of the world? You can find out more about the Australian trade deal by clicking here, or click here to read more about the newly signed deal with New Zealand.
IN FOCUS: THE IMPORTANCE OF VALUES.
As a rule, I’m not a fan of drawing similarities between business and politics. Whilst both are important and require significant skills of the people who practice them, they are fundamentally different things. Business is about investing to provide a product or service, at a profit, to create value. Politics is about managing and executing the affairs of the state. But there is one similarity I want to focus on: the importance of values.
Businesses today love to display their values. The usual sign that this is part of their advertising strategy is if they tell you little (or nothing) about what they do, but instead associate themselves with a cause or set of widely praised values. See this advert from Facebook during the pandemic, or this 2017 advert from Nike. The first one tries to link itself with the emotion and compassion shown in the pandemic; the second with the fight for racial equality in America. Both noble causes impressively articulated in the ads - so much so, you could almost forget that they are trying to sell you social media and trainers.
Do either Facebook or Nike live up to their values? Each of us will have to make our own judgements. Both companies have been impacted by scandals that might lead us to question how deep these values run; it’s in their response to such scandals, and the actions that they take as corporations, that the weight of their values will be found. After all, values only find their meaning when they are put in to practice. At the level of words in a corporate document or advertising campaign, values are next to meaningless.
I see a striking similarity in the way some western leaders operated after Russian troops first crossed the Ukrainian border. Political leaders were united in their condemnation of Putin’s invasion as a violation of the values we all hold dear. But when pressure began to build for sanctions, grumblings of reluctance could be heard in some European capitals. Germany, which buys a lot of Russian coal and gas, did not want Russia excluded from the SWIFT banking system; ultimately, it conceded some, but not all, Russian banks could be kicked out. The Belgian government demanded an opt-out for its diamond industry and Italy’s Prime Minister insisted that Italian luxury goods were excluded from any sanctions package. As one source told a Telegraph reporter, “Apparently selling Gucci loafers to oligarchs is more of a priority than hitting back at Putin.”
The question for those leaders is: what do your values really mean if you’re unwilling to make sacrifices to put them in to practice?
Most of us don’t run major corporations or powerful governments and it isn’t usually big decisions of geopolitical importance that we face, but the smaller business decisions that demand we do the right but awkward thing over the wrong but easy one. Perhaps that means maintaining a transparent working environment when secrecy may save embarrassment, including to yourself. Or maybe it means maintaining your commitment to corporate social responsibility, even when budgets are tight. It might even mean choosing a more expensive product for your supply chain because of the ethics of the supplier, rather than the cheaper, less ethical alternative.
If we are to be good and authentic in either politics or business, our values demand action, not just words. Whether we’re the CEO of Facebook, the Prime Minister of Italy, or run a small high street store, there is an important lesson there for each of us.
FACT OF THE WEEK.
How much time do you spend in your inbox? A 2018 survey of over 1,000 white-collar workers in the US conducted by Adobe - of PDF fame - produced some eye-watering figures about our use of email. It found that workers were spending an average of 3.1 hours every day checking work email. 3.1 hours per day. 15.5 hours per week. 744 hours, or 31 whole days, across the working weeks of the year. What’s more, the amount of time spent looking at emails was growing by 17 per cent year on year. [Source: Adobe]
IF YOU ONLY READ ONE THING THIS WEEK…
Last week, I looked at whether working from home is really all that progressive for workers. There are, of course, arguments in favour of home working, and the Harvard Business Review is currently running a piece on how flexible working is good for diversity, equality and inclusion. You can read it here.
1 March 2022