Do you have a framework for making decisions? How do you know which opportunities to take and which to pass on? Can someone take a look at your work - how you lead, write, talk, collaborate - and see what matters to you?

In my 2015 book Louder Than Words, I wrote about the value of having a personal manifesto (or team manifesto) that can guide your work and help you do work that is personally meaningful and uniquely valuable. It’s not supposed to be an in-depth playbook, but is more of a set of guiding principles by which you make decisions and invest yourself in your work. It helps you in three ways:

1. It reminds you of your core values, and what you're unwilling to compromise for short-term gain.
2. In a complex world, it gives you a simple set of rules by which to live.
3. It shows others what matters to you, and helps you be more consistent in how you approach your work.

I also realized when I released the book that I’d never made my own personal manifesto public.

So, on this episode I offer a few thoughts about how to craft your own manifesto, and I share the guiding principles that I use in life and work.

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