Not long after launching Change, we realized our company was starting a new chapter. We had finally built and launched our own product, but knew the key to our long-term success wasn't going to come from just good code and design. In order for us to become the company we wanted to be, we all needed to get behind the same "big idea."
So we took a step back, dug deep, and started to think about what we value as a company and what our customers value in us. What shared beliefs have helped us get to where we are now? What has hurt us? What will remain important as we grow?
This process wasn't completely new to us. Back in September 2010, we published The Field Guide to Modern Business, a set of values that outlined how we wanted to do business and how we wanted to change the perception of our city and community. While we still believe in many aspects of The Field Guide, it has become more of a snapshot of what we wanted to achieve back then–when we were a mere 18 months old.
Since then, we've changed, both as people and as a company. The Field Guide served its purpose during those early years, but our focus has shifted. We're still solving problems for our users, but our users are now different. We're working less with tech companies and marketing agencies, and more with small-business owners. They are often tiny but mighty (like us) and the stakes are often higher for them (like us).
Over the course of several months we crafted our new credo, keeping our new customers in mind the entire time. After working through hundreds of ideas, stories, phrases, and anecdotes, we finally started to connect the dots and condense everything down into a few common themes. These became the foundation of our credo, but we still hadn't quite nailed down that "big idea."
It wasn't until one day, an idea was blurted out in the office and someone responded with "make it happen." A phrase that continued to pop up all the time after that, so much so, it became a common part of our dialect.
From this, the "Make It Happen" mantra was born.
Turn your vision into a reality.
Tackle the problems no one else wants to face.
Leave all excuses at the door.
Embrace constraints.
Take what you’ve been given and push forward.
Just... make it happen.
Now we realize "make it happen" is a common phrase, often uttered by athletes and other popular go-getters. But from our standpoint, it perfectly embodies the spirit of what we're trying to accomplish with Change. If someone on our team wants to see something come to fruition, we don't want to get in their way. We want to empower them to make it happen.
“Make It Happen: It’s about harnessing the power of all the people involved, including the customers, to drive Change forward.”
Once "Make It Happen" fell into place, the rest of our credo followed suit. Each element supported the various ways we want to make things happen.
- Make It Count
- Make Mistakes
- Make It Fun
- Make It Human
- Make It Together
Overall, our credo represents our approach toward our craft, our colleagues, and our customers. It's less of a guide or manual, and more of an attitude or philosophy. Of course, a credo doesn't mean much if kept to one's self.
So after five years in the making, we're officially sharing our new credo with you. We hope it inspires you to create your own. Through conversations with your team, it can help you figure out what makes you… you. A process that builds a foundation for your company and provides you with something solid to grow upon–even if it might change a bit in the future.
Join us over the next few weeks as we explore each element of our new credo on the Change Blog and explain why it's important to us. You can see the entire Change Credo on our About page.