Ben Franklin’s Performance Metrics
I’ve been re-reading Ben Franklin’s Autobiography for the “umpteenth” time. In his long journey of self-improvement, he came up with his own 13 “virtues”, which I will list below. This would be a great set of values for any company or employee! It comes from a man who was not of any religion, but established his own moral code. What I find as fascinating as the list itself, is the fact that he was measuring his performance against the list on a daily basis!
He made a little book, in which he allotted a page for each of these “virtues”. He ruled each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns (one for each day of the week), marking each column with a letter for the day. (S, M, T, W, T, F, S) He crossed these columns with thirteen lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the 13 “virtues”, on which line, and in its proper column, he would mark, by a little black spot, every fault he found upon examination to have been committed respecting that “virtues” upon that day. Then he went through examination of the results on a regular basis, using a specific system, on both a daily, weekly, and thirteen-week basis. Hmmm, what a great idea for us!!
According to his schedule, he examined the day right before bedtime, which appears to have been around 9-ish, and he arose at 5 each morning. His schedule is a wonderful topic for another post.
Here are the 13 Virtues Ben Franklin used to measure his performance:
1. TEMPERENCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid triflling conversation.
3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. SINCERITY. Use not hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, of you speak, speak accordingly.
8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much asyou think they deserve.
10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
11. TRANQUILITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. CHASTITY. Use venery for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
How different would the workplace be if we all worked on adherence to these principles? How different would the workplace be if we actually measured our progress toward these principles?
Mr. Franklin conceived the bold and ardous project of arriving at moral perfection. I believe that there is no such thing for us humans (apart from Jesus Christ), but that is not the point. The point is, he was willing to grow, improve, progress, measure his progress, and have a regular review of that progress. This sounds like sound business practice to me. There is a reason I carry a one hundred dollar bill (a “Bennie”) with me always, to remind me of his wise counsel, in this area and many others.
If you are in leadership, the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is an absolute “must”. Pick up a copy and read (or re-read) it today!
Tags: Add new tag, Autobiography of Ben Franklin, Ben Franklin, Business Principles, Corporate values, Executive Coach, executive coaching, Executive Performance Coach, human resources, Leadership, Metrics, Performance reviews, Progress Reports, Self-Improvement, Self-review, Success
