The Value of Principles

Camp Pasquaney is a summer camp for boys aged 12 to 16, located on Newfound Lake in Hebron, New Hampshire. Founded in 1895 by Edward Simpson Wilson, the camp aims to provide a healthy, structured environment for boys to learn to be their best selves, while interacting with other boys and counsellors. The experience is designed to foster strength, confidence, self-reliance, efficiency, and the ability to think about others as well as oneself. Pasquaney emphasizes the development of character through self-confidence, self-esteem, and other social skills. The camp's activities include camping expeditions, a "Long Walk", crew races, water sports, tennis, and baseball, among other events.

My first summer at Pasquaney was in 1991. My son, Nick, will start his first summer in 2024. Pasquaney is the most important institution in my life because it is where I found out who I was and who I aspired to be, deep down. It started me on a path of self-discovery and improvement that continues to this day. And it allowed me to establish my foundational values, leading to principles by which I live my life and conduct my work. The core values I embraced at Camp Pasquaney were:

• Be ethically good
• Help others
• Understand the world
• Impact the world
• Learn and evolve

Values represent what is important to us in life and when we live our values we develop traits that become how others view us. The traits that, in my best moments, others notice include:

• Integrity: Committing to honesty and strong moral principles in all actions and decisions.
• Thoughtfulness: Making decisions and interacting with others in a way that shows empathy and consideration for different perspectives and needs.
• Initiative: Proactively leading and taking charge to create positive changes, embodying a self-starter attitude.
• Innovation: Championing creative solutions, embracing new ideas, and constantly seeking innovative ways to approach challenges.
• Grit: Exhibiting resilience and determination, persistently working towards goals despite obstacles and challenges.

While I have had these values and traits with me for many years now, it wasn’t until I read Ray Dalio’s book “Principles”1 a few years ago, that I discovered the power of translating my values and traits into principles for life and work. As Dalio puts it,

“Principles are ways of dealing with reality to get what you want out of life…if you write them down, (1) you will think more deeply about them, (2) you will think in a more principled way, and (3) you will communicate better so others will understand you and you will understand them better.”

Most of us, including me for much of my life, hold a vague set of principles in our heads, but never write them down. You may not miss them until you’re faced with a tough decision, often where two or more of your values are at odds. Say, during the course of your work, you arrive at an innovative idea that could end up being a huge boon for your company (and your career) while at the same time harmful to a small group of people. In my case, this would pit my values of being ethical against impacting the world. For most of my life, my values and traits would help me navigate these murky waters, but sometimes the path isn’t clear cut, pressures and justifications are plentiful, and decisions like these can be agonizing. Not to mention time consuming. So I decided to write down my own life and work principles to make these kinds of situations easier. For example, I have a work principle of “Create a Culture of Transparency and Ethical Behavior” because I want the people around me to openly discuss such situations to make sense of them together. I also have another principle of “Adopt a Meritocratic Approach” because I want to hear all the ideas, even those we ultimately discard, because that’s required to make real impact, which I capture in a third principle, “Innovate to Make a Difference.” Getting to this clarity with my principles was eye opening because I can simultaneously encourage all the ideas and healthy, transparent debate on them to make principled, ethical decisions, that improve the world. My principles help me make better decisions, faster. And with today’s pace of information and decisions we face, I’m always seeking out high-leverage tools like this. Believe me, the act of writing them down is well worth the investment.

Here are my principles for work and life, but mind you, the ones I’ve chosen may not be right for you so I encourage you to come up with your own:

Life Principles

• Pursue Meaningful Work and Relationships: Align your actions and choices with being ethically good and helping others. Seek out relationships and work that resonate with these values.
• Commit to Continuous Learning and Evolution: Embrace every experience as a learning opportunity. Remain open to new ideas and perspectives to deepen your understanding of the world.
• Embrace Reality and Deal with It Effectively: Understand that challenges and obstacles are a natural part of life. Approach them as opportunities to grow and reinforce your commitment to your values.
• Practice Radical Open-mindedness: Be open to feedback and diverse perspectives. This will enhance your ability to understand the world and evolve your viewpoints.
• Balance Reflection with Action: Regularly reflect on your actions and their alignment with your values. Use these reflections to guide purposeful and impactful actions.

Work Principles

• Create a Culture of Transparency and Ethical Behavior: Foster an environment where honesty and ethical practices are the norm. Encourage open communication and integrity in all business dealings.
• Innovate to Make a Difference: Align your work with your value of impacting the world. Encourage creative problem-solving and innovation that seeks to improve lives.
• Collaborate Effectively to Help Others: Promote teamwork and collaboration with the goal of mutual growth and helping others. Recognize the strength in diverse skill sets and perspectives.
• Adopt a Meritocratic Approach: Create a work culture where the best ideas triumph and proactive thought leadership is rewarded, regardless of hierarchy.
• Commit to Personal and Professional Growth: Encourage continuous learning, self-improvement, and grit within the team.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to create your own principles I’d encourage you to check out Ray Dalio’s book and I’d love to hear what you come up with!

Happy Thanksgiving!