Core Principles

What We Value

Trust is the essential ingredient in everything we do and all we envision for Chicago. We regard trust as something that must be earned, continuously, with both those who support and those who are skeptical of the potential for achieving our goals. We commit to acting with RADICAL TRANSPARENCY in all we do and all we are working to achieve.

Results must be valued not merely as outcomes, but also based on the processes and motivations through which they are pursued and achieved. Only INTEGRITY makes government worthy of the governed and without integrity government is merely management. We give enormous respect for honesty and will seek dependably accurate, trustworthy people and organizations in all the work we undertake. We insist that Chicago’s government act with unwavering integrity in all its services, rules and procedures.

How We Behave

Approaching our work with EMPATHY, we proactively seek input from and apply the perspective of our peers, partners, and stakeholders, including those who are skeptical or critical of our endeavors, in making our strategic decisions and setting priorities. We keep as our north star the City of Chicago as a complete ecosystem that must work for all people living in, working in and visiting our city. 

We bring humility and open-minded intentions for collaboration to our endeavors as we strive for INCLUSIVITY in our work and aims for Chicago.  We must regard any undertaking that does not incorporate the foregoing as at risk in both perception and possible reality of carrying some of the same top-down thinking that has brought the City to its present challenged state.

How We Make Decisions

With steadfast optimism, we bring CURIOSITY to all our endeavors, embracing and being open and proactively acknowledging and exploring what we do not know. We take time to reflect and to master objective information as we imagine the future we are working towards. We bring equally open curiosity to our exchanges with our peers, our partners, and stakeholders, for and skeptical of our aims.

We are forward-thinking and steadfastly focused on positive, transformational IMPACT for residents, businesses, public servants, our future as a thriving, driving city of industry and civic richness. We are working to give Chicago the tools and rules to be a model of active citizenship, resourcefulness, and good governance far into the future.