The 3 HUMs.

I shared a post a few days ago (KRC 26^th August) on Creativity and Humanity.

For five years or so I have been measuring the success of every meeting I’ve attended on the participants’ assessment of how much Humanity, Humility and Humour was apparent during the meeting.

These values / practices have proven to be a speedy and accurate guide to how successful and impactful the meeting had been.

These values – when adopted practiced and lived – are at the heart of sustainable success in today’s VUCAA world.

Here’s an extract from a letter from Luis Martins – an inspirational leader from Sogrape Portugal which made me smile.

Dear Kevin,

In the beginning of the year I visited one of our most important label suppliers. They are Eurostampa! 

Eurostampa is a multinational label producer based in Italy, with factories in Italy, Scotland, USA, Mexico, and India.  They have been growing significantly throughout the past years.  They are a family-owned company (the Cillario family), who shares and practices family values (being caring and demanding) with their employees.  They are very close to us in terms of culture and long-term approach.

During the visit and the commercial meetings with the Cillario Family, they wanted to know more about our culture (why we were so passionate about Sogrape).  I shared our Purpose and, because we were having a meeting, I talked about the way we assessed meetings, independent of the number of participants or the seniority of the meeting.  I mentioned the Three Hums.  After that meeting, they took us to the entrance of the factory and showed us their motto: “Umiltà! Umiltà! Umiltà”.  

To my surprise and joy, in a recent contact with Giuseppe Cillario (Chief Commercial Officer) he told me that they had adopted as the new motto: “Umiltà, Umanità, Umore… buono” – “Humility, Humanity, Humor”!

Bravo Luis.  Bravo Giuseppe.