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If “Be excellent” is on your wall too, and you still give in to a client who threatens to leave, you're not alone.

Where you are now

Could the problem be not the values, but the way you wrote them? Most of what gets written about “business values” tries to fix this with a poster on the wall. You can't break “Be excellent”, so you can't keep it either.

And it costs you. You know the budget won't cover it, and you say “we'll manage”. Someone who compromises with what they see loses the ability to trust what they see.

And trying to enforce values on the team makes it worse: the step taken in the name of the values is exactly what breaks them.

Axel Jedlitschka

Who's talking to you: Axel Jedlitschka

I sold internet provider services by phone. I felt the industry was exhausted, and I didn't feel “ethical” toward the customers. I felt I was deceiving people, and I left.

That is why I'm against a values poster on the wall. A poster only says. What counts is what you decide in advance you won't do.

Axel Jedlitschka

What to demand

  • What makes a rule yours

    Know what turns a list of rules into a personal code, and why you already have one even though you never wrote a line.

  • Enforce it, and it breaks

    Understand why the moment you enforce your rules on someone else is the moment they stop being yours.

  • Before the pressure

    Know why a decision made before the pressure hits is worth more than the same decision made inside it.

  • Truth in the data

    Know what is required of the data you rely on, and why the rules themselves must never be allowed to go stale.

  • Five lines

    Five to ten written lines, and one test that checks whether they hold.

There is a way

A poster only says. What counts is what you decide in advance you won't do. The booklet calls these lines a code, not in the software sense, but as “a code of certain restrictions indulged in to better the manner of conduct of life”. In plain words: restrictions you take on yourself. And if you can't break a line, it isn't a line in the code.

  1. The separation.Write down everything you call values in your business. Mark each line: applies to me, or applies to the business.
  2. The five lines.Five lines in the negative. Each one can be broken, and you can know the moment you've broken it.
  3. The symmetry.For everything you demand from your team, write what you give back in the same direction. A line with no other side will break.
  4. Once a quarter.For each line, ask: did I break it this quarter? Once, or as a habit?

Say you have a line: “we don't talk about a client behind their back.” An employee breaks it, and you dress them down in front of everyone. The step taken in the name of the line is what breaks it. You apply your lines to yourself. On others, you apply procedures.

The way, in one booklet

Your Code · a booklet by Axel Jedlitschka

Five lines, a clear separation between what applies to you and what applies to the business, and one test that checks whether they hold.

  • Every quote in the booklet is anchored to a line in the source: 93 anchors, checked in the original Hebrew edition
  • The source of the three codes was not used in any earlier booklet in the series
  • In the original Hebrew edition, findings of the translation review were checked against the source before the fix, and one finding was checked and rejected
  • 10 chapters, from the code already running in you to writing your own
  • Three written codes: for a member of a group, for a manager, and for a person facing themselves
  • The distinction between what applies to you and what applies to the business
  • One test that checks whether your lines hold
  • Practice and application, with five exercises
  • A self-check at the end of every chapter
  • A glossary and a summary in ten lines
The cover of the booklet: Your Code. Five lines written before the problem

The comparison

Free

Your Code

What is written
Lines in the negative, where you can know the moment you've broken one
Who it applies to
You alone. On others, you apply procedures
When you decide
Before the pressure, in writing

A values poster

What is written
Aspirations, like “Be excellent”
Who it applies to
The team, and you enforce it
When you decide
In the moment of pressure, facing the client

The offer

60 pages, 10 chapters, three written codes, and five exercises

Price: FreeNo credit card, and no chapter is held back for payment

Get the booklet

The booklet is free and you get it right away. You only get marketing messages if you tick the box, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

As soon as you leave your details, a thank-you page opens with a button to download the booklet.

By Axel Jedlitschka

What you get

Promised

  • The full booklet, free, as soon as you leave your details.
  • No chapter is held back for payment.
  • Your details are not sold, and are not passed to anyone except the infrastructure providers that run the site.
  • A question about the booklet? Send a message on Instagram to @theonlyaxelj.

Not promised

  • A result. The booklet teaches you to diagnose and fix, and the result depends on how you apply it and on your business.
  • Personal advice. The booklet is general knowledge, not advice for your business.

There is no purchase and no payment here, so there is nothing to cancel. You can withdraw your consent to marketing messages at any time.

Questions?

How do I get the booklet?

You leave your details, and a thank-you page opens right away with a button to download the booklet as a PDF.

Is it really free?

Yes. No credit card, and no chapter is held back for payment.

I don't have time to read 60 pages.

Five lines in the negative, in a place you see in the morning, not where your team sees them. You can start there.

Will I get spam or phone calls?

Your details are used to send you the booklet and to follow up on it. Marketing messages are sent only if you ticked the consent box, and you can unsubscribe at any time. You can also ask to see, correct or delete your details.

A free booklet, so it must be an ad?

The booklet is complete, and no chapter in it is held back for payment. Every quote in it is anchored to a line in the source: 93 anchors, checked in the original Hebrew edition.

We already have our values written down.

You can't break “Be excellent”, so you can't keep it either. The lines here are what you decide in advance you won't do.

How do I get my team to keep them?

You don't enforce them on the team. You apply your lines to yourself, and on others you apply procedures. The step taken in the name of the lines is what breaks them.

Where can I get help?

A question about the booklet: send a message on Instagram to @theonlyaxelj.

What now

You can hang one more values poster on the wall, or you can write five lines in the negative and hang them where you see them in the morning.

A 60-page PDF booklet: 10 chapters, three written codes and five exercises, free.

Price: FreeNo credit card

Get the booklet

The booklet is free and you get it right away. You only get marketing messages if you tick the box, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

The booklet is ready to download as soon as you leave your details

The booklet is free and you get it right away. You only get marketing messages if you tick the box, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Your details are used to get back to you. What is collected, why, and who receives it: see the Privacy Policy (opens in a new tab).