Our Value:
Self-Actualize
Be all you can be. Identify, develop and apply your gifts and passions so you can best contribute in ways that are most meaningful to you. Be a lifelong learner.
Principle in Brief
Self-actualizing employees are essential to Koch’s success, where our Vision is to succeed by creating value for others and creating virtuous cycles of mutual benefit. Self-actualizing employees are motivated to contribute, create, face reality, take on new challenges, cooperate and help others succeed.
Abraham Maslow defined this as realizing one’s potential – what he described as “everything one is capable of becoming.” It is a deeply personal and unique journey of discovering your aptitudes, developing skills and using them in productive ways. Self-actualizing is not about reaching the peak of a mountain, but a series of peaks that you continue to climb as you develop, contribute and discover new possibilities. It is creating your own virtuous cycles on a personal level.
Self-actualizing goes beyond your basic physical and communal needs. It requires deliberately and persistently striving to improve, developing your aptitudes in ways that are beneficial to others. As Maslow put it: “Every person is, in part, his own project and makes himself. . . . We must constantly learn about our own strengths and limits and extend them by overcoming difficulties….If you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of becoming you’ll be deeply unhappy. You will be evading your own capacities, your own potential.”
This journey is all about experimenting to discover the work in which you can make the greatest contribution and have a passion for, and be a lifelong learner so you can continually transform yourself.
Helping each employee along this path is the most important responsibility of supervisors at every level. They must respect employees as individuals, continually evaluate and adjust their roles and responsibilities so they can best contribute, provide meaningful work that fits their talents and passions, combined with ongoing coaching and feedback to promote learning, development and growth.
In sum, our goal is for you to be all that you can be. That is not only the secret to success, it’s the secret to a life of meaning.
Understand it Better
Realizing Your Potential Is Not The Same As Climbing The Ladder - Unscripted
Leaders discuss how job title and hierarchy do not equate to worth and contribution.
Good Supervisors Coach Everyone on their Team - Unscripted
Hear more about the supervisor expectation to coach ALL team members--including those who are doing well.
Examples
- Realizing Your Potential
- Meaningful Work
- Lifelong Learning
- After reflecting on a recent project, Omar realizes he has an aptitude for data analysis. He works with his supervisor to see how he can develop and use this gift to contribute more in his current project management role.
- Braylen is an engineer. His supervisor points out that he has a gift for communicating technical concepts to non-technical people. This inspires Braylen to explore different possibilities and eventually he moves into a sales role.
- Marsha is a quality control intern. While talking to her supervisor, she realizes the most meaningful part of her work is identifying potential problems before they become serious issues. Marsha knows better what she will look for in a full-time job.
- Kerry’s co-worker encouraged her to apply for an open supervisor role, but she decides not to do it. She loves working on equipment and knows that being a supervisor wouldn’t be good for her or the team.
- After several months as a sales rep, Priya realizes this isn’t what she wants to do long term. She continues to do good work and takes on new assignments to expand her skills and contributions. Priya views her job as a chance to learn and develop while she explores other customer-facing roles.
- Liu has been a web developer for about ten years and enjoys the work – especially writing new code. Recently, Liu has been learning to use AI to start his coding. While part of him misses developing from scratch, he’s much more productive and is learning new ways of coding.
Personal Reflection Worksheet
Need a little help discovering your aptitudes and interests and determining how that can translate into meaningful work? Download your own copy of a simple, yet powerful, self-reflection worksheet. Consider discussing your answers with your supervisor.
Note for Koch employees: This replaces the “Discover” section of Journey of a Lifetime. All other aspects of it are accessible from this website or Koch’s intranet.
Click here for Other Languages
Give it a Try
The power of these principles happens through application. There’s no substitute for learning as you apply.
- Use the personal reflection worksheet to gain insight into your natural abilities, strengths and limitations. This can be the basis of productive discussions with your supervisor.
- Talk to your supervisor about something new you would like to learn or do. Work together to determine a mutually beneficial way for you to give it a try. Identify what you want to learn about yourself from the experience.
- Think about some of the barriers (internal and external) that prevent people from realizing their potential. What barriers do you face? Who can help you remove or overcome them?
Why is it important to view self-actualizing as an ongoing journey instead of a specific destination?
Why are self-actualizing people more likely to contribute, create, face reality, take on new challenges, creatively solve problems and help others succeed?
Why do you think being “a lifelong learner” is an important part of self-actualizing?