Core Values
rBux Core Values and Culture Traits
The stock market returns of companies chosen as "the best companies to work for" tend to be higher than their counterparts. There is real power in companies treating their employees well and developing a strong culture.
To create culture, you have to start with the leader of the company. You need to ask what values are most important to him or her? You need to understand what makes him or her tick, what people they like working with and what drives them each day. These traits were crafted after many conversations with founders and early employees to establish the personality of rBux.
Culture Traits
- #1: Make Healthy Lifestyle Choices
- #2: Embrace and take advantage of change; be an early adopter
- #3: Being Light-hearted is Important
- #4: Be Positive-Dominant
- #5: Be a Mountain Climber
- #6: Be like James Bond
- #7: Don't be Normal
- #8: Have a "Pleasure in Work" Mindset
- #9: Being Social Sells
- #10: Think Big | Go Big!
- #11: The Ridiculous Can Work
- #12: Be Adventurous and Daring; Break Rules and Records
What These Culture Traits Mean
Make Healthy Lifestyle Choices – Your body is fueled by the things you put into it; healthy food and healthy habits can make you feel stronger, more confident and have a clearer mind. How you feel has a direct impact on how you think, act and behave. Healthier habits may lead to better performance, not just in work, but in life.
Embrace and take advantage of change; be an early adopter – The only constant in life is change. Get used to change or fall by the wayside. Change brings with it new opportunities. We encourage everyone to embrace change, seize these new opportunities and adapt to the future ahead!
Being Light-hearted is Important – Being light-hearted allows you to weather and overcome difficult situations and view hardship as an interesting challenge. Light-heartedness is about recognizing the positives in the midst of a negative situation; it’s also contagious and rubs off on people around you, causing them to be in high spirits.
Be Positive-Dominant – Positive-Dominant means to consider both the negatives and positives, but place emphasis on the positive aspects. There’s a line by Vice Admiral James Stockdale, “Never lose faith that you will prevail in the end while confronting the most brutal facts of your current reality.” This line is the essence of Positive-Dominant; consider the negatives, but believe in the successful outcome.
Be a Mountain Climber – Problems are the modus operandi of startup life. If you don’t embrace problems and view them as challenges, you will be overwhelmed. We like to view problems as “mountains to be climbed” and obstacles to be overcome and conquered. You're either a climber who acknowledges the weight and scope of the problem and then searches for a solution or you are a "naysayer" who is unwilling to risk the treacherous journey of climbing to the solution's peak.
Be like James Bond – Startup employees need to act quickly, be decisive, creative and ready for anything. It turns out that there’s a model for this in pop culture. James Bond. We need someone that behaves like James Bond more than we need someone that is an expert in some particular domain. Tough and calm are prized traits.
Don't be Normal – Bruce used to ride a unicycle two miles to school with books under one hand and an umbrella in the other hand. Entrepreneurs do things differently than others. Entrepreneurs invent products and methods, which are different from the norm. As a result, there’s a side of every entrepreneur that is not normal. Normal contrasts invention and innovation, two characteristics at the core of a startup.
Have a "Pleasure in Work" Mindset – If you love what you do, you’ll try harder at it and you’ll do it more. Having a built-in mindset of finding pleasure in work is an incredible asset; it causes you to be more passionate about your work, take more risks, be more inventive and perform better. Practice makes perfect, as they say, and if you make “work” a hobby, you will excel at it and generate more beneficial opportunities.
Being Social Sells – Relationships with other people are one of the most fulfilling things in this world. But relationships have pragmatic purposes beyond emotional connection and entertainment. People are resources and information sources with specialized and distinct skillsets, talents and mindsets. No person is an island and there is power in numbers; we encourage our team members to harness the power of their relationships to further their visions, ambitions and fulfillment.
Think Big | Go Big! – Bruce remains to this day, the only person who has rented out the CN Tower and had it closed to the public as a result of his private function. His 500-person “Frosty Frolic” engagement party is a testament to the magic and power of thinking big – CN Tower big! People respond to and remember big events whereas normal and average get lost in the mist of mediocrity.
The Ridiculous Can Work – Ridiculous is synonymous with wildly unreasonable. However, there was a time when airplanes, computers, and robots were looked at as wildly unreasonable. Invention is based on materializing the ridiculous. To us, ridiculous is a mixture of unconventional and big-picture thinking – both good things. A person attempting the ridiculous is always labeled “crazy,” until they succeed, and then they are labeled, genius. We strive to find solutions by thinking big and in an unconventional way.
Be Adventurous and Daring; Break Rules and Records – Bruce and Blake met after Blake had completed a Guinness World Record for the longest TV-watching marathon in history. Startup culture is founded on changing and improving the status quo; sometimes taking risks and breaking rules (and records) are what's called for. Doing things differently is the essence of a startup's mission. Good things happen when you push your limits and do something you have never done before. (This is not professional advice. Please consult a lawyer or risk-taking professional before acting.)