Make Your Values Mean Something: Our New Core Values Do. We are Lumavate Proud.

Stephanie Cox Picture

by Stephanie Cox | Last Updated: Jan 24, 2022

We’re in for a tremendous year of hypergrowth at Lumavate. As we prepare for this growth, we felt it was time to rethink our core values. We wanted to create core values that reflected the culture we have created and the culture we wanted to create. Sounds easy, right? It’s a lot more time-consuming and intense than you can imagine because core values are not just words. Core values are about what you expect from the team every day and describe the types of people you want to hire. After numerous conversations with the Executive Team and obsessing over every word, we were finally ready to share them. So I announced, during our 2022 virtual kickoff, our new Core Values:  Here’s a snapshot of each value and what it means to us. Move Fast. Deliver Results.  The world moves fast and we aim to move faster. We empower our team to take action every day to drive results. We understand the value of constant iteration rather than perfection. And we know our success is solely measured by the results we deliver to our customers.  This core value is probably the most obvious one for any tech company at our stage of growth. Success in tech is often driven by how fast your team can move and how quickly you deliver results. And while both of those statements are true about Lumavate, we strongly believe that successful companies need to do more than just move fast.  That’s where constant iteration comes in. As a recovering perfectionist for many years, this one is personally hard for me at times because we’re often taught that we need to strive for perfection. The truth is that perfection doesn’t exist no matter how hard you try. So instead of chasing something, you’ll never achieve, why not focus on constantly learning through iteration. Getting comfortable with iteration means that you know what you “ship” the first time isn’t the final product, and you’re OK with that because you recognize that the only way to learn if something is going to work is to get it out in the real world. So ship it and iterate > perfection every day of the week.   We also wanted to recognize with this core value that Lumavate’s success is solely tied to the success of our customers. We want our customers to look like rockstars in their respective companies because of the business results they deliver by using Lumavate. We want to be known for being the partner that helps your career skyrocket. Be Bold. We don’t play it safe. We push boundaries, solve problems previously thought unsolvable, and exceed expectations every single day. We constantly ask “what’s next” and don’t worry about the competition. You have to be incredibly bold to build a business. It can’t be something you just talk about. It has to be something that your entire team does every single day. And it’s not boldness for just the sake of being bold; it’s a boldness that you believe could work and believe in enough to try.  For us, it means that we listen to customer feedback and don’t immediately assume the solution is what they have told us. Instead, we take a step back and ask if the problem we’re trying to solve is the right problem or is it something much bigger than they haven’t realized yet. It’s about solving previously thought unsolvable problems and doing it in a way that no one expected. I love watching the expressions of customers, analysts, influencers, etc., when we show them how our product solves a significant problem they didn’t realize they had and in a way they couldn’t have imagined.  We also included a West Wing reference into this core value because of my love for the show and how the phrase “what’s next” fits our team. While we celebrate each time we achieve a goal, we’re always looking ahead to “what’s next” because we have bigger ideas and plans that we’re excited to get started on. Be Amazing to Work With. We have a no-a**hole policy, and we’re serious about it. We hire exceptional talent and provide them with the resources to be successful and do what’s right for customers. We strive to delight our customers, team members, vendors, partners, and the broader community. When we came up with this core value, we wanted to encompass the feedback we often hear from customers about how much they love working with our team. There are countless reviews about our product that even mention some of our team members by name, which is a testament to the partnerships we have built with our customers and our constant drive to delight them. In addition, we want everyone that works with us or knows about us to have the word “amazing” come to mind when they think about us. It’s a high standard that we hold ourselves to, but it’s what makes us unique. Now, let’s talk about the “no a**holes” rule. We are extremely serious about this one. Prior to Lumavate, most of us have worked at other companies that hired them, and it wasn’t enjoyable. We don’t want that to ever happen at Lumavate, which is why the “no a**holes” rule came into place. We don’t want to work with a**holes, so we don’t hire them no matter how talented they might be.  Prioritize Your Life. We recognize we can’t do our best work without having strong personal relationships. We encourage each other to prioritize family, friends, and mental health and accept that this may look different for each member of the team. This core value probably took the longest to get right because we wanted to make sure it was inclusive and authentic. Working at a company in hypergrowth is exhilarating and exhausting, and we recognize that everyone handles this environment differently, which is entirely ok. We wanted to tell everyone that their personal life comes first.  And how each team member chooses to prioritize their personal life is up to them. We accept, support, and trust that they’ll do what’s best for themselves. We want to create an environment where they know they can do this and be supported no matter what.  Going through this process was exciting and an overwhelming responsibility because you want your team to embrace it. It's only been a few weeks after launching our new core values, and I’m so impressed with how much the team has leaned into it. Using our core values as we innovate our platform, collaborate with our enterprise customers, be fearless when solving a problem, and most importantly, have balance, what’s good for people is good for our business!  And, I know as we scale, we will keep our shared values alive through the many stages of growth.  If our mission excites you, get in touch and visit the careers page to learn more.  
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