Not all the ideals that companies often commit to are equally useful. Some are too vague, others are too disconnected from people’s daily lives, and others are simply too different from the reality of how people currently behave to take hold. This observation led me to wonder if there are some essential values—values that absolutely must be in place if you’re going to build a high-performance organization.
I believe there are.
Just as you can’t have life without water, and you can’t have water without the atomic elements of hydrogen and oxygen, I believe there are a few atomic values that are foundational to achieving the consistently high levels of productivity and positivity that underpin high performance. Here they are:
Intellectual humility
Intellectual humility is the deep conviction that neither you nor anyone else has, or can have, a monopoly on the truth. No one can ever be 100% right because no single person can see the complete picture. No matter how confident you are in your perspective, you remain humble enough to recognize that you might be partly wrong or be missing a piece of the puzzle. This doesn’t mean you don’t form strong views or advocate passionately for them. It means you articulate your views as hypotheses, invite others to test or challenge them, and remain open to hearing disconfirming evidence. This approach is best summarized by the phrase “strong opinions, loosely held.”
