Principles of Learning Values

Have you ever opened up Netflix and found yourself scrolling for 30 minutes, agonizing over what to watch? When there are +15,000 movie options, the scale and volume of choices can be paralyzing without frameworks and criteria to assist with the decision making.

Business school and marketing experience gave me binders of frameworks for navigating small choices in my day-to-day job. The Ps…the Cs…strategy diamonds…and many other well worn frameworks were tools I used to evaluate options and make smart and quick customer and brand choices. But I soon realized these frameworks would only take me so far.

I was missing a guiding principle when it came to making decisions about my life.

I realized the Ps and Cs fell short when I came to a career crossroads. X brand was more “prestigious” - should I go there? Y brand offered more money - was that the best option? I am the first to admit, I was facing some bourgeois problems, but the decisions were important and no less vexing. If our choices tell us who we are, I needed to go deeper and unpack my values.

Kedric George, a Director at MillerCoors (now MolsonCoors), was one of the first people in my career to help me understand and develop a framework for making career choices, and he was the first person who contributed to shaping my current point of view on navigating a career through the lens of values and principles (great NYT article from ‘84 on the difference).

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Kedric played this role. He, like me, began his career as an educator. He, like me, made it a point to invest his time in developing others.

He began his career as an educator and he invested his time in developing others.

It was over lunch that he shared how he had made career choices and then proceeded to ask me a series of questions that started to mine my values. He didn’t give me direct answers, but he did provoke me to go deeper. Spending the time reflecting on my values helped me crystalize my beliefs and opinions on specific issues and ideas. I found I valued:

  • Toughness

  • Responsibility

  • Impact

  • Accuracy

  • Debate

After some more homework, I realized that if I was going to get tough, I needed to learn from people more fierce than me. If I was going to learn, I needed a place where there was active debate and strong marketing fundamentals. If I valued accuracy, I needed a place that cared about research and data. If I was going to have an impact, I needed a big national brand. If I valued responsibility, I needed a place where I would be held accountable for the wins and losses.

Suddenly I had a compass and it became clear what my career principles would be -

  • I’d go where I’d learn the most and have the biggest impact and responsibility…

  • I’d leave the place better than how I found it…

I opted to return to MillerCoors (now MolsonCoors) after my MBA internship because I saw opportunities to learn, get tough and make an impact. I saw opportunities to be responsible for decisions and manage agencies and budgets. I picked Miller because I saw active debates between distributors, the field and the brand teams. I picked Miller because I saw a chance to make an impact at a national level. I also picked Miller because people like Kedric worked there. It had people that would help me learn.

I am still in a learning mode, but have shifted to learning how to better manage and inspire teams and lead through others. I am a learner at heart so I don’t think I’ll ever stop seeing and finding learning opportunities, but I do think a career has stages and values can evolve. However, one thing that won’t change is Kedric’s influence on me.

corporate culture, businessJordan Williamsleadershipshoutout