Today begins a series of discussions titled “Best Practices.” We’ll be exploring in detail what that means in the coming weeks and how these practices are incorporated into our daily work.

I believe we’ll find that as we focus on these practices, we’ll become clearer about how we conduct our business for the “long-haul.”

Though I can not put my hands on the source of this data, I’ll go ahead and give the quote; “Less than 2% of companies make it to their 10 year anniversary and those that do are supported by a strong corporate culture guided by first be its values.”

Alethes’ corporate values of Trustworthy, Respectfulness, Uncompromising, Teamwork, and Healthy form the acrostic Truth. Hopefully, since you are all employees, you are all aware that Alethes is the Greek word for Truth and have read and agree with our Core Values Statement. When we were forming the corporation in 2001 and choosing the name, there was a serious “uh-oh” when I realized how convicted I was about this name. I was convicted to the point that I knew if I was serious about being grounded in values that I had to go with such a name.

Mortgage fraud is the #1 white-collar crime in America. It is my determination that we uphold the truth in all of our endeavors, small and large, and we can stay above this stigma.

There are many resources for how values play out, but the bottom-line is we should follow values because they are right, not because they make us money. David Moore, in his book “The Last Men’s Book You’ll Ever Need,” talks about this issue. I invite you to pick up a copy and read the two chapters about work; great lessons titled “Loose Your Job Everyday,” and “Be More Impractical.”

Best practices start with values. Obviously I can not know all of your personal values, yet hopefully, you have all paid attention to Alethes’ corporate values and know how important it is to keep those values in mind as you practice your work.

Let’s be the best in the business together,


Danny