Raising our bar of ambition

Up: § 2023 Shareholder Letter Index

Throughout 2023 we systematically raised the bar for what we put out there and accordingly raised expectations across the team. The mission and strategy we have is lofty, and we've clarified with our operating principles that being ambitious is a key part of Buffer. Personally for me, I see hitting a higher bar overall as genuinely feeling proud of everything we ship, the service we provide, and the way that we work.

To hit our more ambitious goals, we need managers and leaders who are highly proficient in their craft. This means that those leaders can provide guidance for the team at a much more detailed and tangible level. This point also relates to the earlier one on leaders owning their team's results.

We’ve also firmly established an expectation of continual growth in every role, and that individuals are the primary ones leading their own growth. Self-led growth is aligned with our longstanding value to Improve Consistently. If we stand still, the world will change around us and we will fail. We therefore need everyone in the team to be continually leveling up and growing. This is not something we've been clear on in the past, and so we took some time to share this shift with the team.

We’ve introduce the expectation of an ownership mindset, rather than an entitlement mindset, to our flexible work practices such as remote work and the 4-day workweek. These practices are designed to enable all of us to do the best work of our careers and to sustain that high level for many years. It's imperative that we take an ownership mindset to this type of flexibility that we've offered for years at Buffer. Put simply, we have to keep earning these benefits. These benefits are not something that individuals should feel entitled to, but rather something that we work hard as a group to achieve outcomes that allow us to keep maintaining this type of incredible working experience. It is important that we all give flexibility in order to get flexibility back. This means making ourselves available at odd hours from time to time to jump on an early morning meeting or late night meeting in order to have the connection and level of collaboration with our team to achieve all of our ambitious goals.