Could ‘cheeky’ be a good core value for your business?

In the first of a new series of articles about core values, good and bad, I highlight one that you never see but maybe should: ‘cheekiness’.

Cheeky is a term normally reserved to describe children — and monkeys, of course.

It’s a low-grade version of ‘disrespectful’. It’s a word used to describe someone who speaks without invitation or pokes fun in an irreverent way.

A little unwelcome. But not necessarily unpleasant. Just a jolt.

Cheeky seems inherently negative. But, when you think about it, cheekiness can be a good thing.

For example, a stand-up comedian can make us laugh by being cheeky, forcing us to not take ourselves too seriously or diminish a problem by humouring it.

Cheeky means ‘anti-establishment’, a challenge to the status quo.

And I think it can also be a sign of intelligence.

Yes, cheeky can be smart-arsed and knee-jerk — like crude graffiti — but it can also be witty and well-considered.

You have to be bright to make a joke.

Which will come as a shot in the arm for fans of Jim Davidson.

Cheekiness can be synonymous with ‘delivering smartness on the fly’.

As a core value, cheeky seems to favour the start-up, the fighter brand, the upstart. A business that wants to upset the apple cart and confront stuffy business practice.

Lots of fintech companies fit this description — Lunar, Starling, Pleo and so on. All buck the trend and make people in oak panelled banking offices rightly nervous.

But maybe one prime example of cheeky is Uber, of only Uber realised it.

Until the present CEO came along, Uber had 14 core values, which anyone in the front or the back of a cab will tell you is just plain daft.

Anyway, not these have been culled to 8, in a merciless attempt to achieve clarity.

Most of them aren’t values but, interestingly, there is a statement that jumps out as cheeky: ‘we value ideas over hierarchy’.

Cheeky is not a catch-all for this statement, with its many nuances.

Bet you one thing, though. It’s certainly more memorable. And a cheeky taxi driver? You kind of expect that.

However…choose cheeky with care.

Do you want to encourage back-chat in your organisation? Is the CEO up for a bit of banter? And how will you keep cheekiness positive and fun?

Maybe the Cheeky Girls have a consulting business and can advise you on this.