Operating principles

Most companies fail from the inside out. Frustrated employees keep asking about the firm’s strategy, ridicule mutually agreed vision and mission statements, and behave with disdain towards their clients.

We believe that team and company culture are the foundations of success. They should determine who you hire, who you promote, and how you behave when no one is looking. We recruit for attitude first, and skills second. And we believe that brand positioning, public relations, and selling can be much more effective if they are based on good governance, and flawless internal communications. When a potential client comes for a visit, the attitude of the person sitting at your switchboard can be more important than any presentation given by your hotshot colleagues.

This thinking extends to our client relationships, by the way. Where there is trust and respect one does not have to rely on clauses in a contract.

‘Focus’ means concentrating on what we do best. And it is in contrast to all the full-service providers out there. Deep expertise and narrow positioning are what we prefer to be known for. Don’t be surprised if we introduce you to what you thought were our competitors.

‘Automate’ means letting repetitive tasks take as little human bandwidth as possible. So we can focus on our strengths and passions. As much as we prefer cloud-based solutions, many times clearly defined processes, executed by motivated people, do make all the difference.

‘Delegate’ means externalizing everything that is not a core competence and cannot be eliminated or automated. Such as getting external help with administrative tasks, for example. Or boosting our skills so our clients enjoy world-class execution in every phase of a project. This is also why we make use of proven freelancers that we personally select, hire and supervise.

To us, this means that, while we may be early in the market with something, there has to be at least an emerging trend that supports our belief. This is our definition of pragmatism.

Before actively implementing and advocating it as a credible and powerful business tool, Alexander observed social media evolve out of its playful origins. This may sound atypical for a pioneer of the internet 1.0 era. The same patience is applied to web-based freelance platforms, marketing automation, artificial intelligence, and agile project management methodologies.

For you, this means not having to deal with unproven concepts or technologies. No self-actualization with your money.

We believe in giving away ideas you can immediately put to use. This is also why you will find occasional free offers on this site. There are three reasons for this.

One, we use discussions with existing and future clients to improve our thinking. We are all subject to cognitive biases. There is nothing more valuable than an industry expert challenging your assumptions. This applies both ways.

Two, while ideas are valuable, most people and organizations fail at the execution phase. This is particularly relevant in the field we work in. Of course, we hope you’ll like our ideas and task us with their implementation.

Three, an initial free consultation with a potential client will give both parties a good indication of how it will be to work together on a future project.