Typically I don't engage all that much in V2MOM discussions because, to be honest, the second we leave those meetings we never look at those things again.
This week I engaged and fought for things I previously never would have believed would be voted on because they don't map to business outcomes. The reason I fought for them this time is because (to me) they are culture changing. Nothing can steer culture like an agreed upon value.
There were about 30 single words that were submitted from our marketing team to describe our 3 core values. I submitted the value Beautiful. I thought about pushing for creative or excellence... but those words were falling flat. The reason I believe work should be beautiful is because beauty is what inspires us. It's what drives an unnatural energy to build, make, create, perfect, and inspire others — because we all have a creator on the inside waiting to express itself.
Now, of course, I did get quite a few weird looks when I raised my hand after someone shouted out "Beautiful!??... what the hell... who wrote that!?" As I explained I watched the faces of those around me searching to find value and being persuaded of my explanation — that beauty truly is something we can identify with. Someone piped up and said "Well I'm not a designer, so how can I get behind this as one of our three values?"
Think of it this way. You have hours and hours of work ahead of you no matter what your role or expertise. You can only use those hours once to make something. Some will spend those hours trying to get noticed by managers or executives — they'll overproduce and rate their work by quantity over quality. Others will clock in and out without really caring what they produce — they'll give up if criticized or they'll give projects a "pass" when it should be burned and learned from.
The reason why beauty becomes a course-changing value for everyone is in the setting of teamwork aligned by believing that we can make beautiful things together.
Now if you don't care about your work, or if you're only concerned about what other people above you think of you then it'll be just another word in a google doc to you. But if our team embraces it... we're in for some significant change in the future. Beauty is the only quality that makes us pause and receive an impression. It becomes a marking on our minds and hearts. In the midst of all the marketing noise in society today that becomes something powerful.
So whether it's your latest presentation, your word-smithed subject line for your email blast, your well organized excel sheet (with multiple values of only ONE color instead of our corporate rainbow... I'm just dreaming here) we can all make beautiful things.
So go change your culture. Set something in motion in your team that inspires others to be proud of what they do. Spend time investing in others with different roles and skill-sets. Even at the speed of business, stop and share some beautiful skills. Be bold in your fight to make things beautiful.
Who knows — maybe in a few years your team culture will be so different you will never want to leave.
Now isn't that a beautiful thing?