Slides used for a class taught at Stanford for the Decision Education Foundation

1. Values
Somik Raha
Jul 29, 2014

2. Values as measures: Value functions, utility functions
Value-focused thinking: Distinguishing between means and ends
Values as norms: Cultural norms that are upheld in society and
organizations
!
Something else?
When you hear the term values, what are you
hearing?

3. There is a fourth kind of listening

4. Values as “meta-strategy”

5. What can brushing our teeth
teach us about values?
Systemic Value: Count of # times we’ve
brushed
Practical Value: Dental Hygiene
Intrinsic Value: Personal well-being

6. Let’s try it. Can you come up with anything you’ve counted that you think
represents what you were really after?
What can be counted does not really count.
!
What counts cannot really be counted.

7. The great poets of the world
speak of this
The one who confuses the label water for water is
naïve indeed. Repeating “water, water,” such a
one is destined to die of thirst.
Sufi poet, Zaheen Shah Taji
Note: He is criticizing the conflation of the label with the experience,
not the use of labels themselves

8. The great poets of the world
speak of this
Repeating “fire, fire” produces not a scratch on the lip !
An ember on your lip will immediately burn it.
Sufi poet, Zaheen Shah Taji
Note: He is criticizing the conflation of the label with the experience,
not the use of labels themselves

9. Intrinsic values are about finding your
deepest values, and there are signs to
recognize them
Shake
Emotional
Silence
The small truth has words that are clear. The great truth has great silence.
..Rabindranath Tagore

10. Intrinsic values have a
quality of uniqueness
Test: Are most people likely to say “me too” for your intrinsic value? If yes, we
need to keep looking.
!
The focus here is on those values that stir you in an odd and unique way

11. What’s your music?
Under the sky studded with the sun and myriad stars, In a
universe throbbing with life, I've received my little space. In
sheer wonder, music springs from the depths of my soul.
!
…Rabindranath Tagore

12. We got stuck while doing a
traditional DA consulting workshop
Our remit: Help us double our revenues from $500M to $1B

13. Three slides that went to the
board
Meta-strategy (purpose)

14. M&A Strategy
Check opportunity for fit with packaging “traits” Only if there is
fit, let’s look at the numbers
Quote from hard-nosed M&A expert: “I have never seen a soft
tool work this well”

15. Observation
• Human mind shuts down when faced with numbers
e.g. goals like double market share, revenues, etc.
• Creativity springs forth with inspiration e.g. Indian
branch story, going from $2M to $30M

16. Value Mapping
Finding your meta-strategy

17. Values of SmartOrg
Having fun
making
organizations
Smarter
People co-
creating
Magic
Prudential
Intrinsic
Systemic
Making a
Difference
that Matters
Amazing
Capabilities
Awesome
Software:
That inspires,
enables and
empowers
Professional
Experience:
Practical
knowledgeable
staff who can
do and coach
Thought
Leadership:
Show the way
to solve real
problems
Improve:
Build
Customer’s
Capability
Service:
Proactively
and
responsively
serve the real
need
Excellence:
High quality
practical
rigor
Great Relationships:
Among ourselves, with
vendors, with clients
Whole Person:
SmartOrg is where
personal passion
meets the
productive world
Situational
Leadership:
Follow & lead,
with responsibility
and
accountability
VALUES as NORMS
e.g. SmartOrg
Complete
Integrity:
Honesty, openness,
trust and
trustworthiness.
Ongoing
Learning:
Ongoing Personal,
Professional and
Team
Development
Impact:
Empowering
customers to achieve
their most important
objectives
Financial
Stewardship:
Sustain the
business and the
people in it
Prosperity
Performance:
Accomplishing
what we set out
to do
Enjoyment:
Work enlivens

18. Mapping your values (as
meta-strategy)
? ?
?
YOU
Head Heart
Habit
Finance-
Business
Partnership
Restoring
Dignity to
Economic
Evalautions
Agile Decision
Support Systems
Head Heart
Habit
The
professional
field you count
yourself in
You show up
and this shows
up
A goal that is
deeply inspiring
and an end-in-
itself for you

19. Find your purpose (meta-strategy)
is an act of deep listening
Things that have worked for me !
!
You can be a friend to someone
Look for silence, emotion, shuddering
!
Test the values – if any one is missing, is something big
missing?
!
Look for uniqueness, not universality

20. The
professional
field you count
yourself in
!
Intellectual
Energy
Let’s try it
? ?
?
YOU
Head Heart
Habit
You show up
and this shows
up
!
Unstoppable
Energy
A goal that is
deeply inspiring
and an end-in-
itself for you
!
Emotional
Energy

21. Couple’s Meta-Strategy
Hospitality
Welcoming
Spaces
Celebration
Head
Heart
Habit
John
M&A —> ? Healing
Detachment
Head
Heart
Habit
Mary
Before: Mary wondered about
helping John in his hotel business.
After: Mary is working on a
transition to becoming a
therapist

22. CEO’s Meta-Strategy
Energy
Efficiency
Ecosystem
Solutions
Visionary
Change
Head
Heart
Habit
Doug/
Retrofit Company

23. Shin-gi-tai
Thanks to Kentaro Nakamichi

24. In Summary
• Values as Meta-Strategy is upstream of all practical
considerations
• This is about the mountain you want to climb (distinct from
how you want to walk on the road)
• The highest given in a decision
e.g. We commit to strategic fit
(safe, natural, etc.)
• All DA value calculations are
Systemic values
Given
Current
Future

25. Systematizing to get to the value
is essential, but it is not the value
Systems drive action. (police story)
Public Safety Education
Dignity of Client
Head
Heart
Habit
SUDPS
Somik’s lens on SUDPS
SYSTEM: Hire highly educated people who resonate with
“dignity of client”

26. Systematizing to get to the value
is essential, but it is not the value
Systems drive action. (police story)
Criteria for fit is one example of a system. It can get us to
realize the values, but is not equal to the value.
Making multi-attribute models to trade-off these intrinsic values
kind of misses the point (oil and gas story)
Analysis is good when we are confused (Amazon story)
Affects how we view decision quality

27. Head and Heart in Decision Quality

28. Decision Quality is largely
head-focused in its articulation
Head
Frame Appropriate
Alternatives Feasible
Information
Relevant,
Material
Preferences
Trade-offs,
Metrics
Logic Clear
Commitment to
Action!
High-quality
commitments

29. Decision Quality is largely
head-focused in its articulation
Head Heart
Frame Appropriate Meaningful
Alternatives Feasible Inspiring
Information Relevant, Material Decisive
Preferences Trade-offs, Metrics Noble Purpose
Integration Clear Narrative
Commitment to
Action!
High-quality
commitments
Leadership,
Followership,
Laddership

30. Meta-strategy perspective
on Heart
Pkg Story
Pkg Story
Oil & Gas
Head Heart
Frame Appropriate Meaningful
Alternatives Feasible Inspiring
Information Relevant, Material Decisive
Preferences Trade-offs, Metrics Noble Purpose
Integration Clear Narrative
Commitment to
Action!
High-quality
commitments
Leadership,
Followership,
Laddership

31. helps individuals, families, and communities struggling with alcohol abuse,
substance abuse, and drug addiction transform their lives
Capital investment projects had been carefully selected to improve facilities. This caused a
backlash, with employees asking why funds weren’t used to give pay raises.
e.g. redesign spaces to be welcoming, comfortable chairs for clients to feel at
home. It takes a lot for people in that position to trust and reach out for help.
When the decision was explained in the context of their core value of bringing
respect and dignity to the lives of those who have suffered from substance
abuse and addiction problems, employees understood and supported it.
Decision Analysts:
Never a time when we didn’t need a narrative

32. Meta-strategy perspective
on Heart
Pkg Story
Pkg Story
Oil & Gas
Hazelden
Head Heart
Frame Appropriate Meaningful
Alternatives Feasible Inspiring
Information Relevant, Material Decisive
Preferences Trade-offs, Metrics Noble Purpose
Integration Clear Narrative
Commitment to
Action!
High-quality
commitments
Leadership,
Followership,
Laddership

33. Guardian of Apple’s core value of beautiful design
“Insanely Great Products”Steve Jobs
Think
Different
Insanely
Great
Products
Zen
Minimalism
Head Heart
Habit

34. Followership

35. Mahatma Gandhi
Satyagraha
Upliftment
of all
Ahimsa
Head Heart
Habit
Sarvodaya
Daan
Upliftment
of all
Love
Head Heart
Habit
Sarvodaya
Vinoba Bhave
Bhoodan

36. Leader. Follower. Ladder.
Leaders are best when people barely know they exist. When their work is done, their aim fulfilled,
people say, “we did it ourselves” .. Lao Tzu in Tao Te Ching
In business, ladders have been called “Level 5 leaders” (Jim Collins)

37. Reflections. Stories.
What does laddership mean to you?