
We make the world a little better every day.
We’re not perfect; we’re very conscious of that fact. But that doesn’t mean we give up. We keep at it. We’re here to make a contribution. We try to make the world a little bit better every day with what we do. Naturally we can’t stop global warming, but we can all do little things that have an immediate influence on life around us. If we inspire many other people with this idea, little things can bring about big things.
We’re megalomaniacal! We’ve decided to grow. Not in order to increase revenue, but so we can continue to work the way we do. It takes a certain company scale to do all the things that set us apart that are described here.
We trust each other. We don’t control and are not controlled. If we criticize, we do it openly and in an affirming way. Envy and jealousy have no place here.
Errors are allowed. We understand mistakes and consider them learning opportunities. We talk about what happened in the team and share what we learn.
We look at abilities, not academic titles. Everyone is different, everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and there is a place for everyone.
We hate borders! The door isn’t just open inside the company, it’s also open to the outside. We don’t like company boundaries or national borders! We glady share our knowledge and experience with others.
We’re not a DIY store! “That’s not my department” is not something you’ll hear from us. Co-determination is a privilege here, and also a responsibility. If it turns out that something is boring or unnecessary, we change it or just drop it.
We aim for consensus. Wherever possible we try to avoid decisions by individuals. We make decisions as a team. We accept other opinions within and without APUS, including when we don’t share them. But if a team makes a decision that we as an individual do not agree with, we still support the team.
It’s OK to laugh! We enjoy our workday. Sometimes it might get loud, and you might run into people playing table tennis or goofing around. We actively encourage it! You can only do good work if you shake out your head once in a while.
We don’t like complainers. We believe that bad thoughts bring bad actions. So we believe in joy and a positive attitude. If we feel the need to complain, we know that it’s because we urgently need to change something, and it’s time to act.
Family and friends are part of it! We’re all embedded in social systems, and we take that into consideration in daily life as much as possible. A sick child is a very good and obvious reason to not have to show up at a meeting.