My Values

I don’t leave my values at the door when I go to work. There are four key principles that guide what I do - and more importantly, why I do it:

Kindness & Empathy

I believe in doing business in a way that treats people with respect. My motto within Think Productive for years has been “People first, work second. Always”. When you work in a way that puts people first, you build trust, loyalty, empathy and with it,the right team spirit. Screwing people over, or working in a transactional way is short-termist. I passionately believe that the best businesses and leaders in the next century will be the ones that act with consciousness and kindness.

Ideas & innovation

Ideas are my playground. I love doing things differently, messing with the norms and breaking rules. One of the 9 characteristics of the Productivity Ninja from my book is Unorthodoxy. Whether it’s doing weird productivity experiments on myself or challenging the hidden rules and status quos of business and society, I’m always curious on how things can improve or how assumptions can be changed.

Freedom & Autonomy

I have a need for autonomy. I’m an entrepreneur primarily because I hate being stuck in stifling bureaucracies. Beyond a small core, adding more people to a project team often slows down the creative process and can leads to ideas being muddled or compromised. In a personal sense, I’m well on my way to financial freedom. I want to show up to work because I choose to work, not because I have huge bills or mortgages to pay. The chances are I’ll still work til I’m too old not to, but knowing that I could walk away and retire is a useful way of confirming my loyalty is to the work itself, and I’m not compromising myself for money.

Efficiency & Simplicity.

I hate waste. For as long as I’ve worked, I’ve been obsessed with maximising what I can do with my time and reducing the waste that comes from procrastination, sluggish systems or mindless busyness. My company, Think Productive, grew out of helping others to work in the most efficient way - anything else just seems silly to me. I also hate the wasteful attitudes and over-consumption that seem so fashionable in today’s capitalist economy. We need to change the conversation away from permanent economic growth and conspicuous consumption and focus on how we can be happy living on a sustainable planet.