Each club member can say exactly what is written below about himself. This is our behavior at closed conferences, and the culture within the Club, and the values that we promote. Yes, this list can be continued and we will be glad if you add more points to it together with us!
Take every point, every value, every behavioral norm personally. I do, I behave this way and that way.
Our values
Respect: I allow another person to have and express an opinion that differs from mine. Although I am not obliged to agree with their opinion. I do not consider myself smarter than others. Every person I meet can teach me something and they have something that I can respect, regardless of how I personally feel about them.
Think: I am evaluating whether what I want to say or do is helpful. Will it improve relationships or people’s lives? What would be the consequences? If they are good, I do it. I can work with statements and conclusions. Before expressing this or that judgment, I should analyze it for compliance with facts and reality.
Help: If a Club member needs my help, I will provide it. But only if they ask me. At the same time, I remember about the “fishing rod” vs. “fish”. In our Club, everyone can ask for help, advice and support, and if the request is justified, I will help.
Care: Sometimes you just need to cheer up a person, bring him coffee, do something pleasant and / or useful for him, even if the Club member himself did not ask for it. I try to understand the inner state of a person at any given moment and take this into account when communicating.
Collaborate: I do things together with other participants. We are doing a common thing and not competing to see who is better or faster. In group work, new meanings are born. The wisdom of a mature team is something worth striving for.
Respect the agreements: If I promised – I will make it. If I can not do or fulfill what I promised – I will warn you IN ADVANCE. I am responsible for my words and I stick to my promises.
Learn: I am learning new things. The more I know and can, the more mature I am, the better it is for me and for the Club. I love to study. There is always something that I do not know, and most importantly, I never know in advance who exactly will be the person from whom I can receive new knowledge from.
Teach: I help others to learn something new and useful. But I do not teach if not being asked. By teaching others, I also develop. And I am not stingy to share what I understood myself. I’m not greedy – I share my knowledge with those who want it.
Research: I try different things. Experimenting. Sometimes the answers are outside the standard frames of my world. I regularly test my own beliefs for correctness. Only by trying to learn new things can I expand the horizons of my knowledge and the world.
Share: The best way to experience a stronger emotion is to share it with others. All other levels are limited by my biology. I share – and I overcome this barrier. And if I don’t share, then why do I need everything that I understand, know and can? I do not close in myself, I share my thoughts, ideas, emotions with others. In our Club, people appreciate and respect what I have shared with them.
Improve: I improve everything I do. I improve myself, my skills, the results of my work and my environment. A better world will not build itself! And the best of myself will not appear without my actions! Nobody’s perfect. There is always a lot that I can improve in myself.
Influence: Can I name three people whose lives I have changed for the better? And ten? And hundred? I’m acting! Perhaps these people are waiting for me! Or maybe I live under someone else’s influence. This choice is mine. Each of us, whether they want it or not, influences the world and those around them, and, perhaps, it is better to a) be realized b) improve the world rather than vice versa.
Reveal my real self: Interacting with people, I share a part of myself, my personal experience, views, picture of the world. I absorb parts of other team members, their experiences, views, values. This is how I get to know myself through interaction with others In the Club I can reveal my real self.
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By becoming a part of the Benjamin Franklin’s Club community, members confirm that they share the values of the Club and are ready to be guided by their principles within interaction with clubmates.
To fulfill its mission, the Club organizes and holds events: closed conferences of the Club, public meetings, online discussions.
Various formats of public conferences and online discussions are possible. The program of such events is indicated in the announcements.