The Code of ReCapturit - Integrity

IINTEGRITY.

I knew the "I” word would be the big one.

We have four other articles describing our Values as a company, and this was to be the fifth and last. But a funny thing happened on the way to the definitions. One identified itself as our Purpose, three of the five separated themselves out as our true Values, and this last one took the stance of being our Code.

The one that became our Purpose is Stewardship because that is what we stand for, stewardship of building resources.

The three that remained as Values were Hospitality, Craftsmanship, and Learning.

What surprised me was this natural differentiation. It led to the last of the five, Integrity, being called more correctly, our Code.

Our Code.

This article is about our Code, the Integrity of us as a company.

THE OUTLINE VERSION (TL;DR):

Here, stated, is our Integrity, our code as a company and as individuals within our company, the principles we strive to uphold and to build. These include:

Our Purpose – Stewardship of resources, specifically those resources that have been in use in the built environment and which would otherwise be disposed of and thus wasted.

Our Vision –We envision that by the year 2029 ReCapturit will be the central figure and the catalyst of transformation in the complete turnaround from waste to reuse of recaptured building materials in the United States of America and the world.

Our Mission – We are the engine of transformation, the marketplace and the community that become the go-to resource for Recaptured Building Materials, connecting demand with supply in ways that do not exist presently.

Three Core Values | Two Tenets | Ten Commitments

OUR THREE CORE VALUES -

1 - Our Value of Hospitality – how we treat people.

2 - Our Value of Learning – How we continue to grow.

3 - Our Value of Craftsmanship – How we build things, say things, and do things.

TWO IMPORTANT TENETS -

1 - We are a for-profit enterprise.

2 - We are a non-political company.

TEN COMMITMENTS – With examples of what we strive for in them.

1 - We Empathize.

2 - We demonstrate Courage.

3 - We are Honest. 

4 - We take Responsibility.

5 - We build our Emotional Quotient (Emotional Intelligence / EQ / EI).

6 - We are Unified.

7 - We provide Excellence.

8 - We build Character.

9 - We take Initiative.

10 - We embrace a Holistic view of things.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

THE STORY VERSION - with examples and explanations:

Most of our team has worked together for about two to three years. Startups are never easy, usually fragile, often part-time in the mix of life, and rife with operating in the unknown. Oh, and there has been a pandemic. These circumstances reveal a lot about people. We have amazing people.

My mother used to pour two parts milk into my one part eggnog to stretch it and make it last. She said it was just as good. That is not eggnog, and it was not just as good. Similarly, the word integrity holds such discomfort with me because it is frequently used in a much-diluted form. Implying someone has integrity by simply saying so does not make it so.

Definitions of integrity vary widely. This one below includes broadly most variations:

Integrity

noun

1.      Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code.

2.      The state of being unimpaired; soundness.

3.      The quality or condition of being whole or undivided; completeness.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

Others state integrity as essentially honest and fair. Seems like diluted eggnog to me. Why not say honest or fair and be the more accurate?

Definitions from my straw poll on LinkedIn, summarized: doing the right thing, even when no one else will see. This says clearly that it matters whether your actions when visible by others align with your behavior when no one else will know. Are you honest at work but not at home? Are you ethical in church but not in business? Do you clean up after your dog in the bright daylight with people around, but not on a rainy night? What do you think when you see someone leave their grocery cart out in the middle of the parking lot rather than put it away? Is that an integrity issue?  

Integrity is for us our over-arching code of behavior to which we all subscribe and by which we are measured. Stating that here and showing it in our behaviors make it easier to know us and for us to hold ourselves accountable.

In TV shows and in real life, the phrase "It’s not personal, it’s just business” bothers me. Was business a place to treat people badly? Was it a place to hide actions we would otherwise not do in our personal life? Or was it that we could openly do these things, because, hey, it’s just business. Seems like another shot of milk in the eggnog, maybe with a shot of something stronger to dull the wrongdoing.

Of course, as a child, I did and said things among my friends I would never say at the dinner table, and surely not in church. Even as adults, do we behave the same among our longtime, since-childhood friends as we do with someone whom we are meeting for the first time at an upscale professional setting? Not likely.

Years ago, my wife and I traveled with another couple for business several times and had great times together. On one such trip, on a highway interchange, I missed my exit and I let out a 4-letter word in disgust with myself. Our woman friend gasped! She said, "I never heard you swear!” Wow… To her, I had seemed to pierce my integrity.

With that same couple at their wedding: word got to me late into the reception that that same woman (the bride!) was looking for me, and that she was concerned. I asked why. This person was reluctant to tell me, but then meekly said, "Because she thinks she’s responsible for you falling off the wagon.” ”HA! Off the wagon?! I was never on the wagon! I guess she has never seen me drink, but occasionally I do.” Another wow.

It wasn’t that I never swore nor drank. In those years, I seldom drank and seldom swore, partly because it was not appropriate within the groups and activities I participated. I adjust for context and circumstance with consideration and respect for those present. That’s part of my personal code.  

Within my personal code, I did not prohibit drinking of alcohol nor swearing, but I did limit the settings in which I would do either. At a wedding celebration where wine was flowing freely, absolutely I had a glass. Was I a recovering alcoholic "on the wagon?” No.

Some imply integrity to be synonymous with honesty. Okay, that may be true in its most generic form, in some dictionaries. That to me seems to be the insidious creeping toward dilution of true meaning that invades language over time. Awesome is no longer awesome. Even language loses its integrity. The euphemism is bland management.

Some say integrity is character. It is not. Integrity, by virtue of adherence and habit, can become part of one’s character.

Some imply that there is a universal standard to integrity. They may want that, but there is not.

Integrity is consistent adherence to a (read: any) holistic behavioral code or creed, a code comprised of a mix of beliefs and values and morals and ethics, constructs for behaviors in all situations. But what is that mix? When does it apply? When does the adherence to one’s code of behavior intrude and contradict another’s? What if you attend a wedding that has no alcohol because of the religion of the wedding party? Do you attend and then gripe? Do you go to the wedding and sneak out and grab a nip outside? Do you breathe a sigh of relief because you believe alcohol to be evil, or simply bad?

Few ever talk about this "code.” It is assumed. Thus, it is elusive and nebulous and as such can evanesce in the wind or the wine. Frankly, it is difficult to codify. If it is not in contract or covenant form, and clearly delineated and agreed upon, well, who’s to be held accountable to such a non-code?

There is no single template nor standard for integrity, so what does one do? Generally, we don’t think much about it much and we loosely contain our behaviors around rules we have accumulated over years from a variety of sources and when we do go astray, we are not too disturbed if we did not stray too far from our nebulous boundaries. Usually, our straying is just for convenience or for lack of conflict, doing the expeditious rather than the right.

When we do stray far, what then? In so many situations, whether real or on-screen, we see people construct elaborate justifications for behaviors that they may have previously abhorred. Oh, but when they find themselves tempted, now is the time to craft why what was done this time is different and is absolvable, given the circumstances. Aah, the circumstantial breech. More milky eggnog.

Is it okay? Do you have to re-craft your code to allow for your behavior, stretch it out to accommodate more beyond blurred boundaries?

When we take that mentality at an individual level and then multiply it at a corporate level, what happens then? People watch and learn what is allowed and okay. What is okay? Oh, yeah: It’s not personal, it’s just business. Wrong. It is personal, and it is business.

Like a toddler playing hide and seek, crawling under a blanket, halfway exposed, thinking he is hidden from you: we see you under there. Business – at least our business – is not a place to hide bad behaviors under the blanket of business.

Integrity is an ideal, a set of constructs. Here, we are choosing to define it and embrace it as a principle to which we constantly aspire.

So then, if integrity is adherence to a code, what is our code? Our code is a recipe of ingredients we choose. In the simplest of terms, the Golden Rule is a great start: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Honesty is another excellent one. Remember, these are what we aspire to as individuals within our company, and, as a company together.

Here, stated, is our Integrity, our code as a company and as individuals within our company, the principles we strive to uphold and to build. These include:

Our Purpose – Stewardship of resources, specifically those resources that have been in use in the built environment and which would otherwise be disposed of and thus wasted.

We are building a marketplace as a resource and community to amplify the flow of recaptured Architectural Salvage, Used Building Materials, Construction debris and leftovers, recycled and upcycled Building Materials, and all the dead-ended seconds, discontinued, returned, and over-purchased Building Materials that lie languishing in dusty warehouses and weed-covered storage yards.

Beyond all these lies the immense prospect of "Urban Mining” which seeks to find and re-utilize dormant and decaying resources – like whole buildings - in cities everywhere.

Our Vision –We envision that by the year 2029 ReCapturit will be the central figure and the catalyst of transformation in the complete turnaround from waste to reuse of recaptured building materials in the United States and the world.

In that time, we anticipate a three- to four-time multiple of diversion from the dump of would-be-wasted Building Materials into reuse in new construction and other creative reuses.

Our Mission – We are the engine of Transformation, the marketplace and the community that become the go-to resource for Recaptured Building Materials, connecting demand with supply in ways that do not exist presently.

What the steam engine, wrecking ball, and dynamite did in the 20th century to encourage waste and eliminate reuse, we will counter in this century by modernizing industries, eliminating waste, and inspiring reuse.

ReCapturit will help foster the creation of new processes, new technologies, new supply chains, and new businesses as it helps to turn the tide from waste to reuse.

Three Core Values | Two Tenets | Ten Commitments

OUR THREE CORE VALUES -

1 - Our Value of Hospitality – how we treat people.

·        Above all we treat others as we would like to be treated, with respect as the individuals we all are.

·        We treat people with genuine kindness and courtesy.

·        We allow for people to pursue their own versions of happiness, fulfillment, or eudaimonia, while respecting the pursuits of others, providing those pursuits do not harm or infringe upon others.

·        We provide for diversity of humanity: age, gender, race, origin, religion (or spiritual belief, or lack thereof), creed, and thinking.

·        We strive for selflessness: give credit when due. Ensure the individuals and the team get credit. Share. Collaborate. Work as a team.

·        We allow for healthy, collaborative conflict, recognizing that at times, we will not reach consensus and must agree to commit to what is decided and act with commitment toward fulfillment of that decision. No Passive Aggressive behavior allowed.

·        We strive for Inclusivity: the true sense of belonging and participation as relevant and appropriate.

·        We value others’ time. We show up on-time. We end on-time.

·        We do not argue rudely or cruelly.

·        We do give second chances.

·        We strive to be fair and equivalent in how we deal with people and situations. No double standards.

·        We strive to be empathetic.

·        We strive to be generous.

·        We apologize appropriately.

·        We communicate well and often. 

·        We do not "name call” others.

·        We have fun, but not at a cost to others.

·        We provide an environment in which you can voice your opinion, questions, and ideas, and feel safe that you will be respected, even in disagreement or conflict.

2 - Our Value of Learning – How we continue to grow.

We strive to provide for and to build the whole person and the company. Learning grows our individual minds and the mind of our company. Human intelligence is fertile, malleable, and adaptable. Collective intelligence is multiplicative; we are much better together. We are at our best when we are always growing together. Minds are capable of learning until we are done and gone. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning give us a growing set of tools which are improving at an accelerating rate. Combining our collective human intelligence with better tools will be far more than multiplicative. Constantly learning not only keeps us fresh and vibrant, it keeps us able to adapt and able to use new tools. It will help keep us relevant.

3 - Our Value of Craftsmanship – How we build things, say things, and do things.

Craftsmanship implies excellence. We are always seeking to exceed the set standard, then set the standard higher. It is how we embody excellence into our products and our services and even our words. Something is crafted and not just done. We craft a phrase. We craft a web page. We craft a process. Craftsmanship endures.

TWO IMPORTANT TENETS -

1 - We are a for-profit enterprise. We earn money through our Capitalist system. If internal efforts or intents are bad, it is the people to blame, not the system itself. If the fruits of capitalistic efforts are put to bad use, again, it is not that the system was bad, it was that the will and behavior of those who use it for that were so. We are doing good for us all through our efforts, and we will do good with the fruits of our efforts. We are human; we may fall. We will always strive to be better.

2 - We are a non-political company. We are not an apolitical company; we do each have our politics. We are all part of our political system. Yet, we are a non-political company in that we invite all to be part of our movement to save useful resources from demise in the dump. Stewardship is not political. A person can be a good steward of their finances or animals, regardless of politics. A person or an organization can be good stewards of cherished places. With our company, anyone who wishes to help to extend the life of recaptured Building Materials by putting them into new uses is welcome. In fact, even those who would not think twice about tossing something they bought through ReCapturit will do a service by buying used rather than buying new. So come one and all. Using our service means you are doing a small service to us all.

TEN COMMITMENTS – With examples of what we strive for in them.

1 - We Empathize. We strive to…

·        Listen and learn with the other person in mind.

·        "Seek first to understand.” - Dr. Stephen Covey.

·        Be able to clearly see the other person’s point of view.

·        Use that ability to understand better and to elicit more, never to manipulate or erode.

·        Consider those who may be affected by what we may do.

 

2 - We demonstrate Courage. We strive to…

·        Boldly step into and through fear.

·        Persist even though scared.

·        Admit our weaknesses or ignorance.

·        Be vulnerable yet feel safe.

·        Determine risks and provide ample protection to knowledgeably proceed.

·        At rare times, in rare circumstances, we "burn the ships.”

·        Embrace ambition.

3 - We are Honest. We strive for…

·        Comprehensive truthfulness

·        Frankness

·        Facts

·        Clarity

·        Precision

4 - We take Responsibility. We strive for…

·        Ownership of actions

·        Accountability

·        Dependability

·        Timeliness

·        Consistency

·        Elimination of excuses

5 - We build our Emotional Quotient (Emotional Intelligence / EQ / EI). We strive for…

·        Mental toughness

·        Emotional toughness

·        Self-leadership

·        Self-control

·        Self-discipline

·        Self-awareness

·        External and situational awareness

·        Intuition

·        Perseverance

6 - We are Unified. We strive for…

·        Clarity.

·        Order.

·        Focus.

·        Understanding.

·        Structure where needed.

·        Effective Communication.

·        Holistic understanding.

7 - We provide Excellence. We strive to …

·        Serve effectively.

·        Create pleasant, memorable experiences.

·        Achieve bright spots – moments of brilliance and delight.

·        Provide unexpected experiences.

·        Provide quality Craftsmanship.

·        Create constant improvement.

8 - We build Character. We strive to be more…

·        Humble.

·        Genuine.

·        Trustworthy.

·        Patient.

·        Appropriately apologetic.

·        Accountable.

·        Selfless.

9 - We take Initiative. We strive to…

·        Experiment.

·        Test ideas.

·        Innovate.

·        Invent.

·        Be bold.

·        Push boundaries of thought and possibilities.

10 - We embrace a Holistic view of things. We strive to ask..

·        How does this affect others?

·        What are the downstream effects?

·        What might be the unintended consequences?

·        How do we extend that benefit to others?

·        How do we prevent that?

·        Who are all the stakeholders?

·        What do we need to include beyond simply "the product?” What else?

That is it. Our Code of Integrity. The work continues.