Action-Centric Values Guide Our Choices

In the early days of starting this company, I initially named it "Action Corporation". This was a calculated moniker to identify ourselves by the thing that I believed would be our defining principle. You see, "Action" is not only an operative word - it is THE single-most important operative word in our lexicon.

To me, seeing that word 'Action' on our signage, stationery, website and business cards became the intended constant reminder to myself and my team to be "action-oriented" in everything we did. Our work would be all about taking "action". Everything had to be 'in reference to' action or in short: "re:action". When it came to define our 'web-services' division, it was apropros to select the trade name: "ReAction Internet", now stated more simply as: Reaction Internet.

It then followed that our mindset would consistently be centered to: "re: Action":

This action-centric mindset, our "vitality", became a cornerstone of the company. It has served us well.

On a personal level, it was also a self-imposed clarion call to fight off procrastination. My mom, Libby was partial to sticky aphorisms: "Take the bull by the horns", she said. And "'Actions speak louder than words', Paul".

In our experience, we have seen firsthand that leaving things to chance rarely works out favourably. Hoping and wishing are often excuses for passivity. I used to take personal offense when someone would say, after a failure, 'It just wasn’t meant to be.' My response? "Let's not be too easy on ourselves - let's own the mistakes we made - let's own the errors of judgement." The corollary when things go well is just as important: "We solved a complex problem? We won a big contract? "Let's figure out what we did right", I would implore. "Let's not assign this win just to 'luck'". Retracing the steps and paths taken that have led to success and failure is of vital importance in learning what directions to take (and which to avoid) in the future.

The words of my high school gym teacher still echo in my mind:

"There are three types of people in the world," he said.

"Those who make things happen.

Those who watch things happen.

And those who wonder, ‘What happened?’"

Life, I realized, demands an essential choice: to act or not to act, to talk a big talk or take a big action. I chose BIG ACTION, and in doing so, the rewards and the pride of purpose have proven I made the right choice.

This journey led me to assess my values over the years. Were they genuinely my own? Or had I simply inherited them as a kind of blind, hand-me-down default?

Early on, I made a decision to live consciously so as to be the arbiter of all of my choices and values. Living consciously requires taking personal responsibility, but it also empowers autonomy and agency over one's life and work.

If I live and operate consciously both on a personal level and in my business dealings, then it follows that:

• being truthful is essential - seeing and telling things as they are, not as one wishes them to be.
• self-respect requires setting boundaries - a loyalty that extends beyond reason to others, requires disloyalty to the self.
• accepting that no one is coming to rescue us - we alone must choose rightly.
• acknowledging that we are a work in progress with many imperfections - honestly embracing where one starts in order to move forward.
• understanding that actions must align with words and thoughts - integrity requires ongoing effort and alignment.
• grasping that the rewards in life and business come from an exchange of value - there is no free lunch.

In business, values define the spirit of the organizaton and of the people who make up the team. In life, values define the spirit of the person, their motivations, their level of commitment, their level of honesty, the consistency of their integrity. This is why our company homepage - and every internal page - proudly displays the values we live and operate by. We are not here to strong-arm anyone into doing business with us - we are here to win their trust and to be deserving of that trust. We provide a compelling value proposition: Our efforts, competence, solutions, reliability, and performance in exchange for payment commensurate with what we deliver. Ultimately, to be beholden to no one - and have no one be beholden to us - this is the essence of living freely in a free country.

If this resonates with you, drop us a line. We look forward to working with like-minded people and companies.