Earlier this week, I was fortunate enough to meet with one of CTC Global’s potential customers on the east coast. The travel to and from the west coast took some effort but was well worth the time. During our meeting I explained that – in the last 30 days – 22 ACCC Conductor installations had been completed in ten countries (including two in the U.S.). I also explained that there are 42 ACCC Conductor installations going on at this moment – and another 28 slated to begin before year’s end. The engineers we met with were truly impressed. On the flight home, I reflected on this accomplishment and put a fair amount of thought into the challenges that lay ahead. This morning when I returned to my desk, I received an email from our CEO, on behalf of our management team. I found the message to be so inspiring, I thought I would share it with you.
Colleagues:
Our company exists for two important reasons. The first is to expand access to electricity – primarily to underserved people all over the planet. Accomplishing this improves literacy rates, enables better health care and removes key constraints to economic growth. And the second reason is to increase the capacity and reliability of power grids, mostly in developed countries. Doing each of these responsibly reduces greenhouse gas emissions and minimizes disturbances of land and people.
We are off to a great start and want to do much, much more of this. And in order to do so, our company’s culture needs to reinforce the need for action and responsible follow-through – our culture needs to be built on values that are relied upon to guide decisions and behavior. And these values need to be stated clearly and accepted broadly by each member of our team.
Over the past few weeks, we have revised the company’s values to make them clearer and more useful. And we have renewed our commitment to model these values personally and to be accountable for ensuring that our company’s actions demonstrate them as well.
Our values are:
• Integrity: we behave in a trustworthy manner in every situation
• Safety: we maintain a safe workplace and use safe work practices
• Quality: we meet our commitments and exceed expectations in everything we do
• Respect: we treat everyone how we expect to be treated
• Teamwork: we are in this together and no one wins alone
• Innovation: we create new and better solutions every day
Why are values important?
For each of us as individuals, values guide our actions and reveal what is important to us. The same is true for CTC – its values communicate what the world can expect from it. They guide how CTC treats its customers, employees, shareholders and suppliers. They define what CTC invests in and how it sells and delivers its products and services. CTC’s values shape its character.
Why should CTC have values?
CTC needs values because without them, anything goes. And companies that operate that way do not last.
What happens when we do not live up to these values?
C.S. Lewis wrote “Courage is not one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” A similar statement can be made about values – they only count when they are tested. No person and no company passes every test – the healthy response is to own and learn from our individual and collective mistakes and to get better, going forward.
How can we improve the company’s ability to deliver on these values?
If each of us commits to improving and growing every day and to doing so in a transparent, constructive manner, the company will reflect these efforts and will improve its ability to deliver on these values. You can help by joining us in making this commitment and by being accountable for doing so.
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I hope you find this message to be as inspiring as I do. We would appreciate hearing your thoughts. Thank you.
