This page is not buried, and that is the point. The fastest way to work well together is to know up front what kind of firm this is. If it sounds like home, we should talk. If it does not, we just saved us both some time.
We are honest, forthright, and never malicious. Those are not in tension. The whole reason to be kind is that you take someone seriously, and the whole reason to be candid is the same. Candor is a form of respect, not the absence of it.
At GigaOm, my team had a phrase: "Howard won't say that." They used it to kill a rumor, because they knew what I would and would not put my name to. That is the reputation we build here. When we say something, you can trust it, the criticism and the praise both.
When a vendor earned praise from me, they knew it was earned, because I do not hand it out. Same with the people who worked for me. Praise is only worth something from someone who will also tell you the hard thing. We would rather mean what we say than be easy to please.
I work hard so I can play hard, and I mean both. We hold a high bar and we keep it, and then we enjoy the win we earned. People matter here, more than ever in a world where the easy move is to let the machine phone it in for you.
Caring about people and demanding their best are not opposites. They are the same respect, pointed two ways. We are not interested in working with people who do not understand that, on either side of the table.
Leadership beats management every time, and leaders lead from the front.
Picture Washington at the front of the boat crossing the Delaware. He is at the most exposed point, pointing at what is next, trusting the people behind him to row. He is not watching the rowers. He is not gripping an oar. He gave the order and trusted his team to do what was needed.
That is the job. Set the direction, take the risk first, and trust good people to get it done. The strategy to win and the tactics to deliver belong to the team, not to one person at the front. Which is why the team matters more than any one of us, mine included.
When Washington won, they wanted to make him king. He said no. He had done what was needed, and someone else would do what was needed next. The work served the mission, not the man holding the title.
We build the same way. Team is greater than the individual. We are making something meant to outlast any one of us, and nobody here is too important to do the next right thing.
None of this is separate from the work we sell. Phronia's product is independent, honest judgment, and a firm cannot sell honesty it does not practice. The way we treat each other is the same standard we bring to the analysis: sponsored, never controlled, and true even when it is inconvenient.
If you want to see how that holds on the outside, read how we stay independent. It is the same promise, pointed at clients instead of each other.
We are picky about who we work with, teammates and vendors alike, and we are at peace with that. If you read this and felt at home, write to howard@phronia.co.