A Symbol of Our Values

Carrying The Jaynes Way Forward into Another Year of Excellence

We talk a lot around here about The Jaynes Way, which is our guiding philosophy. They’re principles that describe not just what we strive to be but also who we are, way down deep in our bones. The Jaynes Way started as a simple list of values and has grown into the backbone of our company culture.

There’s a lot of value in having a strong symbol and shared language for a big idea. Values might be something we all feel, but putting words to them allows us to communicate and pass them on to the next generation of workers. That’s how we’ve stayed true to who we are for more than 75 years, and it’s how we’ll know that Jaynes Corporation will still be recognizable long after our current team has retired.

Bigger than the Sum of its Parts

The Jaynes Way is a collection of 10 values, each one represented by a different symbolic component:

• Home, symbolized by a partial Zia symbol to show our roots in New Mexico and growth into neighboring areas.
• Raise, symbolized by a pilot’s attitude indicator to show that we’re permanently aiming higher.
• Build, symbolized by a nail, the most fundamental element that allows structures, communities, and cultures to take shape.
• Lead, symbolized by a true north indicator, representing the direction of good leadership.
• Grow, symbolized by an exponential growth curve, showing that our growth compounds and expands.
• In, Out, Up, Down, symbolized by the four cardinal directions that guide us forward.
• Passion, symbolized by a plumb bob, representing the passion for perfection.
• Focus, symbolized by crosshairs to represent a laser focus on our goals.
• Staying True, represented by a truing gauge for spotting deviations.
• Grounded, symbolized by the grounding symbol to show the importance of closing the loop.

Together, they form a unique symbol that serves as a reminder of our values. But maybe the strongest message of The Jaynes Way is that each piece contributes to a greater whole. That’s something that’s true for the work we do, too: as long as each team and individual does their piece perfectly, success is inevitable.

From Good to Great

In his book Good to Great, researcher and business consultant Jim Collins describes “The Flywheel Effect.” Essentially, the idea is that when confronted with a huge, heavy wheel, it takes a lot of combined effort to get it moving at all. But as it gains momentum, it will begin to spin more quickly and easily, until it eventually starts to move faster than the hands pulling it along.

According to Collins, this moment of momentum is what people often focus on when measuring success. But in reality, there is no single big push or heroic action. Instead, the flywheel moves because of many, many small actions adding up toward something great. So it goes with business.

We aren’t finished talking about The Jaynes Way. But as we continue to discuss it and share our perspectives, we’ll be shifting our mindset from simply explaining the language and symbolism of our values to showing them at work in the projects we complete. By focusing on the individual efforts and the greater whole they add up to, we hope to make it clear what we’ve always known: that The Jaynes Way isn’t just words on a page. It’s who we are, and how we’ll continue moving forward.