Phase I – Part I – Your Core Values

First, I apologize for not posting sooner.  We launched our Charter Subscriber program last month and between phone calls, meetings and webinars, I quite frankly, lost track of time in relation to my ‘Beyond Blue’ blog posting.

In fact, one of the weekly webinars we launched is our ‘Beyond Blue Roundtables’.  These roundtables are open to anyone registered as a WindoTrader Community member and are held on Tuesday’s at 1:30 PM (Pacific Time).  The Beyond Blue Roundtable webinar registration links are e-mailed to the WindoTrader Community members the week prior to each webinar.

Beyond Blue Roundtable webinar topics are based on Community member requests and suggestions.  The topics range from finding and capitalizing on key resources to finding your ‘right fit’, based on your principles, goals, present position, options, plans, support teams and performance.  These topics are applicable to everything from timeframes to markets, educators to brokers, and trading plans to trading performance.   Please note that these webinars are NOT designed to teach you proven trading principles and concepts. For those we recommend several qualified educators and resources.  On the other hand, these webinars are about learning from each other, based on each person’s experience.  The community members participate in facilitated discussions that challenge the status quo; ‘pat’ answers and quick fixes are not given.

Enough about the webinars; soon there will be a webinar section on our website.  Stay tuned.

In making up for missing October’s post, I am going to write about the individual and how individuals can clarify their values.  This can be applied to companies also.

The Power of Defined and Lived Culture

In my August 5th post, I referenced Corporate Cultures and Performance by John Kotter and James Heskett of the Harvard Business School and their study on how “Corporate culture has a significant impact on a firm’s long-term economic performance”.  

Interestingly enough, I only received a small number of comments and they focused on how the information I referenced was a study covering the period between 1977 and 1988.

In my introductory post I wrote about the potential value of a defined culture, by definition, as “how and why we do, what we do”.

I also noted that what we’re embarking on a process, a simple, proven, and effective process the will provide a return commensurate with the mobilzation and investment of your TEAM (Time, Energy, and Money).

To define process, think of it in the context of a trading methodology.  Methodology, according to Webster, "is a set or system of methods, principles and rules for regulating a given discipline, as in the arts or sciences."  In other words, think of it like a a set of blocks, of many disparate sizes and meanings that you, and only you, understand how all of the pieces will come together to complete the structure that best works for you on your learning journey.

Welcome to ‘Beyond Blue’ – The focus of this blog and supportive online RoundTables, is on developing, advancing, and capitalizing on ‘Trading Cultures’.  While there are many definitions of the term ‘culture’, we believe none defines it better than Marvin Bower’s definition – “it’s the way we do things around here”, or, in other words, “it’s how and why I do, what I do”.