ESSENTIALS MANAGEMENT Notice that all the values are commandments and nearly each one begins with a verb. They contain ifve words or less, none of which are $10 vocab words. “The language you use here matters a lot. Use human, actionable words — especially verbs. That way, they are action-oriented, resonate better and feel more implementable. That was very intentional for us,” says Lawson. “We landed on these words because we felt that the people at Twilio and really any human being can understand and act on them. It’s the only way they’ll be lived.” How to draw an owl 1. Draw some circles 2. Draw the rest of the fucking owl One strong example of using human, actionable words is “draw the owl.” This Twilio value originated as an internet meme that coursed through the company like wildifre in its early days. “Yes, it was a meme, but it’s a great representation of our job. There is no instruction book and no one is going to tell us how to do our work,” says Lawson. “It’s now woven into our culture and used as a cheeky, but encouraging reply to those who email colleagues at Twilio asking how to do something. It reminds them that they have — or are empowered to ifnd — the answer. Plus, part of the opportunity and the fun of a startup is ifguring it out yourself.” Now juxtapose these with a more corporate example of values: respect, communication, integrity and excellence. “If you haven’t guessed, these were the corporate values of Enron. This goes to show that on paper all values look good,” says Lawson. “These values are tempting to choose because they look perfectly reasonable. I’m sure you can apply them to all your companies and want these attributes, but living them starts with articulating them in a livable way. Enron didn’t do that.” 101