Codes, Creeds, and Manifestos

Being promoted to the rank of Corporal when I was a Marine still remains one of the proudest achievements of my life. A Corporal in the Marine Corps is the first rank of Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) which seemed to me, at the time and maybe still today, the pinnacle of what it meant to be a leader.

Often described as the Backbone of the Armed Forces, NCOs are responsible for the day-to-day conduct of operations (i.e. doing the work) of being a Marine. In my case, as an Infantry Marine, this most often meant you were the senior leader on combat patrols. While Officers in air conditioned offices might set the overall strategy for fighting the war, in practice all battlefield decisions rest with the NCO given the speed at which decisions need to be made in a combat environment.

Newly promoted NCOs in First Battalion, Seventh Marines (the unit I served in) were all required to memorize the NCO Creed. Many institutions be them military, private companies, sports teams or others proclaim their own creeds, codes, and manifestos. As a leader, I find these creeds to be fascinating to study and emulate in your own leadership. Tactically, developing a personal code for yourself or a creed for your team is one of the best ways to build a unique identity for your team.

Here are 4 of my favorite Creeds, Codes, and Manifestos as well as key leadership lessons that can be gleaned from each.

1. The Marine Corps NCO Creed

2. Nike’s 10 Principles

3. Costco Code of Ethics

4. Toyota Principles from founder Sakichi Toyoda

NCO Creed

While there are various versions of the NCO Creed, the one I learned as a Marine was:

While pound for pound I think the above six sentences are about as good as it gets with respect to a brief primer on leadership my favorite line has always been, “dedicated to training new Marines and influencing the old” particularly the part about, “influencing the old”.

One of the biggest misconceptions I run into when speaking to others about leading teams in the military is the notion that in the military, “people just follow orders” which makes leadership easier than in the corporate world.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Effective military leadership, as leadership in any domain, is about leading through influence and context not control.

Leadership through influence comes when a bond of deep, mutual trust and respect exists between you and the team you lead. Over the long run this is the only way to be successful as a leader. I learned this approach leading teams in the Marines and it is perfectly embodied in the NCO Creed.

Nike’s 10 Principles

I know, I know we’ve been on a bit of a Nike kick recently, but between the release of Air and one of my favorite podcasts doing an in depth review of Nike it’s hard to avoid them in the cultural Zeitgeist.

While not technically embedded in Nike’s corporate culture today as these exact 10 Principles, legendary Nike Head of Marketing Rob Strasser penned the following memo in 1977 three years prior to Nike’s IPO.

While the entire memo is worth a blog unto itself, my favorite of these 10 principles has always been “We’re on offense. All the time.”

Much like an effective Scrum Half in Rugby or Coxswain in rowing, often times being a great leader comes down to controlling the, “pace of play” for your team.

There is a natural human tendency to kick the can down the road or shy away from committing to a course of action. The best leaders control the pace of their team to avoid indecisiveness. Being, “on offense all the time” is a great way to ensure your team consistently makes progress as opposed to spinning their wheels.

Frank Slootman, CEO of Snowflake talks about this notion of pace and tempo as a leader being key to Snowflake’s success. If it works for Nike and Snowflake, it will work for you and your team.

Costco Code of Ethics

To say I’m a Costco super fan is an understatement, in fact the largest Costco in the world is found in my current home state of Utah (though we’re about to lose the claim to a new Costco in Fresno).

Costco remains a consistent corporate powerhouse through a steadfast commitment to customers coupled with an unyielding pursuit of operational efficiency. Costco is famously one of Charlie Munger's favorite businesses boasting employee retention rate of 94% in a retail world where retention numbers like that simply don’t exist.

Add to retention their stunning financial success and Costco is a business worth study by an avid leadership nerd (aka anyone reading this newsletter!) They have four simple principles which guide their success.

1. Obey the law.

2. Take care of our members.

3. Take care of our employees.

4. Respect our suppliers.

Those four principles are well aligned with the Simple, Not Easy mantra that originally inspired this newsletter. Running through each Costco principle is an undertone of excellence which always reminds me of famous Pixar director John Lasseter's quote, “quality is the business plan.”

As a leader, strive to build a team focused on simple principles which lead to an obsession with excellence.

Toyota Principles

It’s safe to say there is no better example of the Process Power we discussed last week than Toyota.

While perhaps most famous for their Toyota Production System (TPS), "based on the philosophy of achieving the complete elimination of all waste in pursuit of the most efficient methods” Toyota founder Sakichi Toyoda also famously had 5 Toyoda Principles:

1. Always be faithful to your duties, thereby contributing to the company and to the overall good.

2. Always be studious and creative, striving to stay ahead of the times.

3. Always be practical and avoid frivolousness.

4. Always strive to build a homelike atmosphere at work that is warm and friendly.

5. Always have respect for spiritual matters, and remember to be grateful at all times.

The balance between principles 2 and 3 always fascinates me as the mandate any leader and their team should work toward, a team of dreamers governed by pragmatism.

What does it mean to “stay ahead of the times” while “avoiding frivolousness”?

On the surface, these items seem diametrically opposed, but as a leader this is just another example of walking the fine line between opposites which is balance. In the same way that Toyota works to stay ahead of the times while approaching their work with the pragmatism needed to execute consistently, you too must find in yourself, and cultivate on your team, a means of balancing execution with innovation.

Conclusion

Studying the creeds, codes, and manifestos of successful organizations is a practical way to inform your personal leadership philosophy.

1. From the Marines - lead through context and influence, not control

2. From Nike - control the pace and tempo of your team such that they consistently make progress

3. From Costco - an obsession with excellence which manifests as quality

4. From Toyota - the balance to foster innovation while remaining pragmatic

What other code or creed speaks to you? If you wrote your own, what would it say?

See y’all next week.