Beauty, Goodness, and Growth | WT #165

The four criteria of a Q1 decision are more demanding — and more freeing — than any KPI.

Truth: The four criteria of a Q1 decision: it upholds dignity, serves the common good, adds beauty/goodness/growth, and integrates success with peace.

A friend runs a construction company. Last year, he could have cut costs by switching to cheaper materials that met code but weren’t beautiful. “Nobody would notice,” his project manager said. “It’s behind the wall.” My friend said: “I’d notice.”

He was applying a test most leaders have never articulated: Does this decision add beauty, goodness, and growth — or just efficiency?

The upper-right quadrant has four criteria. The first two — dignity and common good — are the axes. But Q1 asks for more. Does the decision add something genuinely good to the world? Does it integrate success with peace?

Beauty means: Does this create something worthy? Not just profitable — worthy. Goodness: Does it make things better for the people it touches? Growth: Does it create conditions for continued flourishing?

And integration: Does this produce both external success and internal peace? A decision that makes money but costs your integrity isn’t Q1. A decision that preserves your integrity but ignores reality isn’t Q1 either.

This is a higher standard than ROI. It’s also more honest.

This week: Apply the four-criteria test to a recent decision. Did it uphold dignity? Serve the common good? Add beauty, goodness, or growth? Produce both success and peace? The one it missed is worth examining

Photo: AI-generated illustration created with OpenAI image generation tools using prompt created By Darren Smith