Building More Resilient Organizations Through Clear Beliefs
The first time I led a multiracial multicultural institution, I encountered a fundamental values rift.
Everyone shared the mission of supporting the people we served, but two distinct belief systems emerged about how to get there.
One group believed we needed to challenge broken systems directly, making systems change the price of admission for partnerships.
The other group believed the path forward was proving excellence—growing our program to become irresistible and change systems through demonstrated greatness.
Though both groups wanted the same goal, every small disagreement became an existential fight. These weren't just organizational differences but deeply personal beliefs about how to navigate racialized capitalism.
I've witnessed similar schisms in countless organizations over the years. Clarity and alignment on organizational beliefs is essential.
Last week, I introduced the concept of foundation building documents. I wanted to spend the next couple of weeks talking through each document. And as you might guess, this week’s foundational document is Beliefs and Values.
If you’ve read my work for any amount of time, you know that I believe we are in a moment of redrawing the economic and social contracts that govern our lives. It is clear to me we just don’t have enough intentional work that has gone to these contracts. At Brava, we believe that the way we write our organization values has to change, here are four ways we think that can happen:
Be controversial, not universal. Most value statements reinforce universal “goods” that nobody can disagree with—pride, equity, teamwork, honesty. Instead, beliefs should be controversial enough to clarify what your organization is and isn't, even if it means shrinking your talent pool. In fact, it is preferable to shrink the pool to people who want to work on what you want to work on, specifically.
Recognize diversity within identity and issue groups. Representational politics has created the false assumption that shared identity means shared beliefs. No common identity or issue affinity guarantees agreement on everything else. Clearly stating your beliefs about the issues you tackle helps people understand your institutional scope, limits, and aspirations.
Define aligned behaviors. Once you select beliefs, show how they manifest them in daily life. What does alignment look like in practice? What signals misalignment? These concrete examples make abstract beliefs and values tangible.
Acknowledge tradeoffs. Every belief comes with sacrifices. At Brava, our belief "Explore the system, hold the people" means everyone needs more tolerance for frustration since grounding in humanity can require lots of patience.
This clarity work creates alignment from the moment people join your project—a transparency we owe ourselves and anyone who works with or partners with us. It also creates more resilient teams that can wrestle with important questions. For an example of beliefs and values in action, see the Brava Beliefs here.
