Our Second Core Value: Stay Humble

At Stoic ProjectWorks, our Core Values provide a shared foundation that helps guide how we show up, collaborate, and lead. As a refresher, here’s a quick list of our values:

• Be Human

• Stay Humble

• Bring Your Best Self

• Ensure Quality

• Anchor the Team.

If you work with us, I promise you’ll see these values in action.

Last week, I discussed our foremost value, the one that grounds all the others: Be Human. This week, I want to share my thoughts on the next value in our set:

Stay Humble.

In almost all workplaces, there’s a lot of pressure to be the smartest person in the room. To have the idea, the plan, the answer, the fix. This unspoken expectation of ourselves, however, can lead to competing voices and a lack of strategic unity across projects. When everyone is trying to be heard, no one actually gets heard, because all that occurs is a messy battle of egos.  

I’m sure you’ve experienced meetings like this. Everyone on the call or in the room is a stakeholder, and they all believe they’re the most important stakeholder. Within five minutes, the meeting’s agenda has been cast aside, and people are talking over one another. Some attendees pull back and disengage, which robs the team of their valuable insight. At the same time, others in the room begin to speak louder — and then louder still. The result is a meeting that either failed to move the project forward or, worse, set it back.

At Stoic ProjectWorks, we believe great project execution comes from curiosity and a willingness to listen and learn. It comes from being open to better ideas, no matter where they originated. It means being open to learning, even when the topic being discussed is squarely within your area of expertise. And it means listening to feedback and, perhaps more importantly, seeking it out.

Stay Humble means creating space for others to shine.

We stay humble by:

• Asking questions before offering opinions.

• Listening more than we speak.

• Checking our assumptions at the door.

• Remembering that our job isn’t to be right, but to get the project right.

By incorporating Stay Humble with our other values, we create working environments where people feel safe, respected, and heard. Because that’s where the best teamwork occurs.

If you’re interested in working with us, please reach out to us at will@stoicprojectworks.com. I promise we’ll listen more than we speak.

7.22.25