Role-Based Culture by Logical Deduction
Replace performative Mission-Vision-Values with a deduced 'role you play' that logically derives your standards
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 85%
LaPointe argues Mission-Vision-Values is a performative approach (hoping to inspire people well enough that they 'throw change in the guitar case') with a shaky track record. The alternative is logical deduction: start from the fact that a market is glad you exist, define the role you play, deduce the value you create, and let that redefine your definition of done. Culture becomes the macro-priming of the whole business, derived rather than performed.
Origin
Evan LaPointe / CORE Sciences; he reframes 'mission' as 'role,' cites Warby Parker and an OCR company as role examples, and uses 'bias to impact' as a deduced replacement for 'bias to action.'
Core principles
- 01Culture is what people believe is acceptable, permissible, and productive; it is the macro-priming of the entire business
- 02Performative (inspiration-based) culture requires artistic talent to pull off and mostly fails to reach its destinations
- 03Deductive culture starts from a fact: a market is glad you exist, and asks who is glad and why
- 04'Role' implies obligation in a way 'mission' does not, and neurologically activates the anterior insular cortex to consider affected humans
How to run it
- 1
Define the role you play, not a mission
Ask who in the world is glad your company exists and why. State it as a fact (Warby Parker: you used to choose between looking cool/expensive and looking dumb/cheap; now you look cool cheaply), not an inspiring slogan.
Pro tip 'Role' carries obligation; 'mission' only works if the inspiration hits powerfully, so default to role for reliable buy-in.
Watch out Don't try to be artistically inspiring; a fact people already believe beats a slogan you hope lands.
- 2
Deduce the value the role produces
From the role, derive the specific value created: save time, save money, open markets, unlock potential. This becomes shared vocabulary for both building and selling.
Pro tip Use 'bias to impact' instead of 'bias to action' so the team optimizes for value creation, not motion; 'hamsters have bias to action.'
- 3
Redefine 'done' as value delivered
Reset the definition of done so work isn't finished until it produces value, and bake quality standards in by asking whether your customer would be glad you exist if you shipped this.
Pro tip Apply it even to an email: a wonky reply that doesn't produce value for the recipient isn't done.
Watch out Some people believe a 2-out-of-10 shipped fast is fine; you need an explicit 'antibody' belief that a low-quality output isn't acceptable.
In the wild
LaPointe says if Mission-Vision-Values were an airline, you wouldn't let any family fly it 'because it does not arrive at most of its intended destinations,' illustrating the failure rate of performative culture.
→ He recommends building culture by logical deduction from the role instead, so beliefs and standards follow necessarily.
Common mistakes
Building culture on inspiration
Performative Mission-Vision-Values depends on being artistically inspiring enough that people buy in, and mostly fails to reach its intended destinations.
Negligently answering 'why should I do this'
Saying 'because it's your job' is a form of negligence that answers via the safety system rather than giving a purposeful why tied to the people counting on the work.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders and leaders setting or resetting company culture who want durable, logically-defensible standards
Not ideal for
Rare teams with genuine artistic ability to run a truly inspiring performative culture
From the transcript
“if Mission Vision Values was an airline you would not allow any family to fly on that Airline because it does not arrive at most…”
“Mission Vision Values is what we call a performative approach”
“shifting our mission into something that we call Your Role the role you play in the world around you who is glad you exist why…”
“we should have a bias to impact not a bias to action”
“because our work actually matters like there are people out there waiting on us to ship this product”
From the episode
Improve strategy, influence, and decision-making by understanding your brain
Evan LaPointe (founder of CORE Sciences)