Pristine is an organization built on the yin and yang of freedom and responsibility. Many organizations struggle to manage that delicate balance. We haven't figured it out, but we work towards it.
We've identified eight values that detail what freedom and responsibility mean.
Curiosity
Passion
Simplicity
Excellence
Selflessness
Communication
Respect
Accountability
This is the second in a series of posts that will explore what each value means at Pristine.
Passion, like most of our Pristine values, is cliche. "Passion" has devolved to mean virtually nothing. This post attempts to define and substantiate passion at Pristine.
To understand passion at Pristine, one must first understand Pristine's vision for the future of healthcare delivery:
In 10 years, why won't all medical professionals have wireless, handsfree audio, video, and text-based communications at all times?
Passion isn't a thing. It's not an act. It's not a thought. It doesn't exist at any particular point in time. Rather, passion is a guiding principle, a set of beliefs that act as the foundation for all of one's actions.
As a Founder and CEO, I make it clear to everyone that I interact with that I'm insanely passionate; in fact, many can be turned off by my over-to-top passion. That's fine. For everyone that finds me to be "too much" or too eccentric, there are five that love it. I am damn proud and don't care what anyone else thinks. I intentionally emanate hyper-passion at all times. It makes me, me.
We fight many uphill battles. Pristine's business is based on beta hardware, a beta OS, and a beta video stack; we must overcome new human computer interaction challenges, privacy concerns, and legal concerns; we must convince people to change behaviors. If the status quo has its way with us, we will fail spectacularly. It's our job to break the status quo across many dimensions.
Breaking the status quo is extraordinarily difficult. Only those who are guided by unwavering belief and vision will overcome the inertia of the status quo. Passion is thus the motivation to get up every morning and kick ass; to sacrifice now for later; to break the status quo; to substantiate dreams.
On a daily basis, passion manifests as many things. Most importantly, passion is embodied in acting in what you believe is in Pristine's best interest. Passionate people care too much to let the chips fall where they may, or to let the world happen to them. Instead, passionate people dictate the course of action to the world.
The world will not know you, remember you, or care about you unless you give the world a reason to. Passionate people are brimming with reason in everything they do.
I encourage everyone on the Pristine team to tell me that I'm wrong, even in public settings. Our best employees are those who tell me that I'm wrong most frequently.