Session 04: Values

Hi there! Welcome to this session of CQ Vision, Mission, and Value Statements, the project that defines the big picture Cryptiquest is trying to achieve. The last session produced the vision and mission statements. This session will focus on building values from those statements.

Here is what’s been developed so far:

Cryptiquest’s Vision:
To responsibly unlock and inspire creators of any and every identity.

Cryptiquest’s Mission:
To INVENT believable worlds of fiction, to SHARE content creation tools with the world, and to MODEL corporate humanistic behavior.

I think a lot of the work for the value statements was executed during the last session. Specifically, a list of objectives had surfaced that I think can be consolidated into value statements. Here is that list:

1. Create quality media.
2. Create unique and believable settings.
3. Publicly share worldbuilding tools.
4. Hire diverse talent.
5. Create inclusive content.
6. Achieve global representation while avoiding tokenism, stereotyping, and cultural appropriation.
7. Serve as role model in conduct.
8. Serve as a role model in content.
9. Do not present a neutral voice that violates humanist based, social morality.

Each of these can be assigned to one of the three mission statement clauses, numbered as follows:

1. To INVENT believable worlds of fiction
2. To SHARE content creation tools with the world
3. To MODEL corporate humanistic behavior

And here are the objectives assigned to each clause:

1. To INVENT believable worlds of fiction
   • Create quality media
   • Create unique and believable settings
   • 
     
2. To SHARE content creation tools with the world
   • Publicly share worldbuidling tools
3. To MODEL corporate humanistic behavior
   • Hire diverse talent
   • Serve as a role model in conduct

There are some objectives that fit in both the first and third category:

1. Create inclusive content
2. Achieve global representation while avoiding tokenism, stereotyping, and cultural appropriation
3. Serve as a role model in content
4. Present a neutral voice without violating humanist-based social morality

Objectives 2 and 4 from that short list are more detailed than 1 and 3. Maybe “inclusive” should be part of the first clause in the mission statement after all. Doing so would enable the inclusive content objectives to fill under the first clause. Maybe I can highlight the top three values for each clause:

1. To INVENT believable worlds of inclusive fiction
   1. Quality: Content must be entertaining, professional, and understandable.
   2. Original: Content must be unique and consistent to itself.
   3. Inclusive: Content must strive for representation while avoiding tokensim, stereotyping, and cultural appropriation.
2. To SHARE content creation tools with the world
   1. Obtainable: Tools must be freely available for any would-be creators.
   2. Useful: Tools must be engineered for ease of use by the novice creator.
   3. Discussable: Tools must be open to feedback from users in order to increase tool effectiveness.
3. To MODEL corporate humanistic behavior
   1. Leading: Business must serve as an industry role model regarding culture, conduct, and professionalism.
   2. Diverse: Business must welcome diversity in talent and partnerships.
   3. Humanist: Business must adhere to humanist-based social morality.

So that’s the first crack at it. I think this is good though I’m concerned that the Humanist thing will be misinterpreted. I want to find a concise way to encapsulate the social morality that is part of the Humanist philosophy but not everyone knows what that is. I need to find a description with broader appeal. Ethical? Human-centric?

To MODEL corporate humanistic behavior

1. Leading: Business must serve as an industry role model regarding culture, conduct, and professionalism.
2. Diverse: Business must welcome diversity in talent and partnerships.
3. Human-centric: Business must treat people, regardless of relation-to-business, as people first.

I think that’s better. I also see how the tools I have listed to work on in the future help support (even define) some of these values. One thing that’s missing is legal protections. Navigating the defense and protection of content is crucial especially when content sharing is involved.

But should that be a value? Couldn’t that be chalked up as an administrative need, much the same as building a customer base (audience) or building capital? If there is such a need for administrative objectives, where does that fall in the vision/mission/value scheme? (Is that a problem with Cryptiquest – no real concern for the business side of things?) Or maybe these can be assumed under the “Leading” value in the MODEL clause of the mission statement? That sounds about right.

So I think that might be it? Here is the whole thing put together:

Cryptiquest’s Vision:
To responsibly unlock and inspire creators of any and every identity.

Cryptiquest’s Mission:
To INVENT believable worlds of inclusive fiction, to SHARE content creation tools with the world, and to MODEL corporate humanistic behavior.

Cryptiquest’s Values:

1. Inclusive, Original, Quality Content
   1. Inclusive: Content must strive for representation while avoiding tokensim, stereotyping, and cultural appropriation.
   2. Original: Content must be unique and consistent to the world it creates.
   3. Quality: Content must be entertaining, professional, and understandable.
2. Obtainable, Useful, Versioned Tools
   1. Obtainable: Tools must be freely available for any would-be creators.
   2. Useful: Tools must be engineered for ease of use by the novice creator.
   3. Versioned: Tools must be open to versioning based on feedback from users in order to increase tool effectiveness.
3. Diverse, Human-centric, Respectable Business
   1. Diverse: Business must seek diversity in talent and in partnerships.
   2. Human-centric: Business must treat people as people first (regardless of relation to the business).
   3. Respectable: Business must serve as an industry role model regarding culture, conduct, and professionalism.

I modified some of the elements. I think this illustrates what Cryptiquest is about, what kind of company it aspires to be. The next step is to present this to people and see what they think.