The new Tao of Linden

If you spend a lot of time working for new corporations, you've probably been exposed to what office-workers often call the 'trio of doom', the Vision Statement, the Values Statement and the Mission Statement. These sometimes come with slightly different names. The Values statements (or company principles) during the late 1990's started to acquire names like The Dharma of [company name] or The Tao of [company name].

Linden Lab has maintained a corporate values statement called (unsurprisingly) The Tao of Linden. Values statements are actually often quite a bit more interesting than they appear to be — the process by which they are formed is itself quite curious — and the more so when they are changed. Linden Lab has just changed their own, leading to an immediate curiosity about the changes are, and what they might convey.

Usually the process of forming an initial values statement seems fairly simple. One or more company executives hover in the corner after introducing a consultant. The consultant explains to the employees that their input will form the basic terms of the Values statement.

That seems simple enough, but it generally leads to values like "Don't treat our customers like idiots", "Don't make shoddy products", "Have some idea what you're talking about", "Don't take long lunch-breaks on the golf-course" and "Don't lie to the employees".

That might be the genuine input from the staff, but it frequently doesn't look so great when it is printed and framed on every wall and in every cubicle, so the consultant generally 'guides' the discussion, and lays out a set of distillations like "Quickly resolve problems", "Endeavor to provide quality service", "Cheerfulness in the workplace" and so on, that quite coincidentally when arrayed in a vertical row spell out "QUALITY" or "EXCEL".

Quite frequently at this point, staff members notice that the values on the whiteboard don't seem to much resemble anything that they actually said. That's okay, the consultant tells them, these are just a draft to give you all something to think about. It isn't final.

The next morning, the version from the white-board is printed and framed on every wall and in every cubicle, and a delivery-man is looking for someone to sign for all the reissued business-cards with the values printed on the back.

Nevertheless, whether the process is employee-driven or subverted by management, the actual list of values ends up reflecting what the company believes that it doesn't do well. If honesty winds up in the list, it generally is because the management and staff believe that a lack of it is being exhibited. Ditto, excellence, quality, diligence and so on.

Things that the company already does well rarely actually winds up in the Values Statement — it's something nobody really thinks much about. It's the routine and isn't as highly valued as the things that the company doesn't do well.

With that out of the way, let's look at the Tao of Linden. It hasn't, to date, been one of the bland Values Statements, instead peppered with humor. It looks like it was employee-driven, though it is hard to tell.

The old version (in brief) was:

• Work together
• Your choice is your responsibility
• Be transparent and open
• Make weekly progress
• No politics!
• Might makes right (intended as a joke version of "Have a sense of humor" among other things)
• Do it with style

The new version reads:

• Work together
• Walk in our residents' shoes
• Good people make good choices ... and vice versa
• Be thoughtful and transparent
• No politics

The missing items are "Your choice is your responsibility", "Make weekly progress", the one about humor, and "Do it with style". If you're interested in line-by-line changes, you can refer to the Second Life Wiki.

Either these things have become so ingrained as to no longer require a statement, or they are no longer valued at the company, being overshadowed by the remaining principles.

"Be thoughtful and transparent" has now been clarified to indicate that it is transparency within the company (to co-workers) that is valued, rather than company transparency (to third-parties and customers), which is handled by Marketing and PR.

"No politics" itself is interesting. In interviews with ex-Lab employees whose non-disclosure agreements had expired, many told us that they had not worked for a more politically charged environment than Linden Lab. Others told us that there were no internal politics at all, that they were aware of. Respondents were approximately evenly divided on the topic, so we suspect that the actual state of affairs is somewhere in the middle. There's insufficient data to call the Lab politics-free, or a hotbed of political intrigue.

"Good people make good choices ... and vice versa" folds a couple of the dropped principles in as second-hand citizens, but really, the title seems to have little to actually do with the content. "There's love in the spirit of our mission, the enjoyment we take in each others' company, the style and humor we have at our best. We're here because we're open to all the wonders of the world and the goodness in each other; even the cynics among us harbor the begrudging belief that all things are possible. This is a place where you can be you, and we ask you to make the choices that enable your colleagues to bring out the best in themselves."

Yes, it looks like it was excerpted from the last five employee manuals you got from large corporations. But whether it feels a bit boilerplate or not, it all boils down to "make the choices that enable your colleagues to bring out the best in themselves" — which is laudable, if awfully vague.

We can pry and dig for meaning among the phrases, but probably the highlight of the new set is "Walk in our residents' shoes". An exhortation to consider how each employee's choices impacts the day-to-day and, indeed, minute-to-minute experiences of the Lab's customers.

"We are blessed by some of the most informed, passionate, committed customers imaginable. They are our reason for being, they are our world, and we call them Residents. They are an insuperable source of advantage and an awesome responsibility. In every choice you make, consider how your choice will impact their experience."

If there is any single statement that Second Life users can get behind, it is probably that one. No matter how much any single user may love and support Linden Lab, they love Second Life more.