Do You Give a Damn?

It’s November in Wisconsin. The walls of the lodge living room are covered with lists, sticky notes, flipcharts and drawings. The space smells like coffee and dry-erase markers. For four hours, nine distinct voices have been exchanging cerebral, aspirational and impactful opinions about values—the values held dear to each individual, and the values that should be personified by the collective, Plenty.

It’s annual retreat time, and on this morning, creativity is flowing, energy is building, alignment is forming. Then, suddenly, things get sticky.

Two factions of the team disagree on whether or not a word appropriately embodies the intention and applications of one of the company’s values.