Defining who we are. Why cultural values and vision are essential
I have built and managed several companies in different parts of the world over the last few years. Some have succeeded, some have failed. I have often made mistakes and realized that building a sustainable company is difficult in all aspects. But for a company to succeed, it needs an hyper strong mission shared by all team members with established values.
I founded Everoad two years ago. Our industry — the road freight industry — might not be sexy at first sight. But it is fascinating. More than 90% of the goods we consume transit — at some points — through our roads. The market size is larger than € 300bn. Close to 1/3 of trucks are driving empty. Historical players use archaïc tools. ‘ Bref ’ . Friction is everywhere in such an important industry — at the very core of our economies — with a huge impact on environment. To disrupt such an industry, one needs to be foolish, acharné, strong; but moreover it needs a clear purpose and strong values.
Strong established values and a shared mission that resonates in each employee is key to build a long-term economical, environmental and truly human project. Throughout my short career, I have had the chance to meet plenty of people that have built companies — some successful, others not. It has been truly helpful to listen from their stories, their success as well as their failures, so that I could build my own idea of what I wanted to achieve. Being humble is, I believe, the best quality not to forget that we can improve. Always.
I do believe that both youth & entrepreneurship can have a real impact on the world, by making it a better place.
Building a company is about changing a tiny piece of the world, by providing sense to yourself and the people that participate in the challenge along your side. This means that we need — we all need — to believe in what we’re building. It should be so clear that it becomes one of your top reason for getting out of bed every morning and hopefully gives you joy and pride to do so.
At Everoad, our mission is to ‘ Make the lives of shippers and carriers easier through technology while protecting our planet ’. Making it as loud & clear as possible is essential to bring people together. We reject top candidates with amazing technical skills that do not share our vision.
10 years ahead, I would love to look back and tell myself ‘we’ve done it together, and I’ve helped make some people love their job along the way’. And this is exactly what should make a company better, more efficient and successful.
Building a company is all about people. This is what drives me, every single day. Seeing people rushing through the doors, with energy and joy, doing the impossible for our customers and our partners. Seeing people learning from one another and flourishing through differences. What makes different people — with different backgrounds, cultures, educations, sensibilities, etc. — work together to achieve a vision is what I call values.
Values define who we are, how we should behave on a daily basis and where we’re heading. This is why we invested a lot of time and energy in creating our next set of cultural values. We read about them, we benchmarked the greatest companies that exist but most importantly we surveyed our team and discussed the kind of company we wanted to build. And after a company-wide exercise, we eventually came up with the following five:
- PEOPLE FIRST
- USER OBSESSION
- BOLDNESS
- ALL OWNERS
- WE DELIVER
People First
People will be the main reason for our success, and it’s also the reason why Everoad started and lives every day. Finding, hiring, developing top talents in all its forms is essential for us to succeed. Technology will lead us to disrupt the industry, but it’s only great people that turn technology into a profitable and sustainable business.
- We recruit the best talent
- We develop each other through mentoring and coaching
- We care for each other
- We don’t take ourselves too seriously, we smile and have fun
- We flourish through differences
User Obsession
We do what we do to make the lives of our users better, that’s why we want to change the industry with them. We strive to deliver an unrivaled experience and off the charts satisfaction.
- We listen to our users. All the time.
- We provide them with magical experiences.
- We solve, not only sell
Boldness
Our vision is ambitious and has no limits. To make it, we sometimes need to take risks and make difficult choices. “No” will never be a final answer for us. Even if we all remain humble regarding what we do, we challenge the existing status quo.
- We are unreasonable
- We don’t believe in impossible
- We look ahead & share a vision
- We are all in
All Owners
We’re not here for a 9 to 5. We share the passion for what we’re building and are all the way in. We act on behalf of the whole team, and go beyond our own scopes. There is no ‘someone else will’ because we are all owners.
- We are Everoad, You can make an impact at any level, anytime
- We are accountable
- We never compromise on integrity
We Deliver
Ideas might be good but they remain only ideas without execution. No matter what setbacks we encounter, we always deliver. It’s part of our DNA, we do the right thing, and we do what we say.
- We own things and stick to our commitments
- We finish what we start, fast
- We focus on impact and results, no matter what
- We do more with less
- We strive to improve, every day
OK so we have a set of values. What’s next? Well, as often with theory, the difficulty is to make it concrete and have these values truly reflected in our behaviors, in our feelings, in our actions. Interestingly enough, since we shared the values, I’ve noticed that people have started referring to them — sometimes in a funny context, sometimes in a very serious one — most important though, without paying much attention to it. I guess it is when it becomes natural that the culture starts to exist. Precisely because we managed to create a sense.
