1) The document provides guidelines for anyone working with ALX, outlining the organization's values, mindsets, and practices needed to achieve its bold vision of developing 3 million African leaders by 2035. 2) Key values include doing hard things, having courage, humility, initiative and resilience. ALX believes in moving from scarcity to abundance by empowering frontline staff and continuous learning. 3) Employees are expected to learn through challenging experiences rather than training, and failure is seen as an opportunity to improve. The relationship with ALX is framed as an alliance to support employees' long-term growth.

1. DO HARD THINGS
A guide to finding your place in our
community

2. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things,
not because they are easy, but precisely because they are hard;
because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our
energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to
accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win …
US President John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962
2
“
”

3. Preamble
What is this document and who is it for?
This document brings to life the ultimate beliefs, practices, and mindsets that will enable us
to achieve our bold vision.
With this document, we aim to achieve three things:
1. Give anyone who is part of our team a deeper insight into how ALX works, what we value and
celebrate, and how you can thrive in our community;
1. Give anyone who wants to work with us insight into what it means to be part of ALX, what you
can expect and what is expected of you;
1. Provide guidelines and aspirations for everyone at ALX to live up to everyday and hold ourselves
accountable to.

4. Outline
1. DO HARD THINGS!
2. THE FIRE IN OUR BELLY
3. FROM SCARCITY TO ABUNDANCE
4. LEARNING BY DOING (AND FAILING)
5. THE ALLIANCE
6. HOW WE WORK

5. 1.
DO HARD THINGS.

6. At ALX, we have an ambitious mission to unlock human potential using an
unconventional, disruptive model. Our work is significant for 3 reasons:
1. By the end of the century, Africa will be home to 40% of the world’s population. We’re unlocking
leadership capacity for this 40%. We can't think of greater challenge to solve.
1. We’re creating a pool of innovators & entrepreneurs who will solve some of world’s the biggest
challenges and harness its greatest opportunities.
1. As the world grapples with how to prepare talent for the uncertainties of artificial intelligence,
automation, and the increasing pace of change, ALX is providing an answer—as our recent listing
on 2019 Fast Company's '50 most innovative companies in the world' (alongside Amazon, Alibaba
and Apple) demonstrates.
3 million world-class African leaders by
2035

7. What we expect the future of our organisation to look like (by 2035):
• 15,000 staff
• 3 million African leaders developed (and several million more globally)
• $18 billion invested cumulatively (since 2019)
“What Amazon did for retail, or what Netflix has done
for entertainment, ALX is doing for talent
development” —Fred Swaniker, Founder, ALX
We are a huge idea whose time has come.
Never before has talent been developed at such speed, scale, and quality - all
at a low cost. To pull this off, we need massive doses of talent, capital, and
energy. Above all, we need the resilience to ‘do hard things.’

8. DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?

9. 2.
THE FIRE IN OUR BELLY

10. Our ‘Table-Stake’ Values get us to the starting-line:
● Integrity
● Diversity
● Passion
● Respect
● Collaboration
But to achieve our vision, we need more than table-stakes to
succeed...
Our Values.
We consider certain values as ‘table-stakes’ -
everybody should embody them.

11. ● We have the boldness to speak up, even against popular opinion.
● We challenge the status quo and ask “how can this be done better“?
● We show up with our full selves and embrace vulnerability.
● We are not afraid of venturing into new endeavors, even if they might
fail.
● We don’t punish failure, but celebrate learning.
● We are honest about our mistakes, and admit them to each other.
Courage

12. ● We serve others and our larger purpose.
● We ask for help, even if we feel exposed in doing so.
● We know that we constantly need to learn and grow. We ask for
feedback - as individuals and an organisation.
● We celebrate each other’s successes.
● We do not let our accomplishments get to our heads.
● We are grateful for both our successes and our opportunities to grow
and learn.
Humility

13. ● We are not afraid to dream, and boldy venture where no one has ever been
● We believe it is better to fail while trying to achieve something
extraordinary,
than to succeed at something ordinary.
● We take on new & ambiguous responsibilities.
● We see life and all its twists and turns as a joyous opportunity to live.
● We set wildly ambitious goals.
● We believe that doing hard things is fun.
Adventure

14. ● When we see a problem, we do not just point it out. We fix it.
● We do not ask for permission, but might ask for forgiveness later.
● We go the extra mile and do what it takes to achieve our goals.
● We take ownership of our work, and don’t wait to be told what to do.
● We like to GESHIDO (we get things done)
Initiative

15. ● We tackle difficult situations with a can-do attitude (#dohardthings)
● We do not give up. Ever. Even if it takes time and is hard.
● We see challenges as opportunities
● We bounce back from setbacks with even more vigor than before
● We are optimistic and know we can only grow stronger
● We know we do not have it all figured out. But we give it our best shot.
Again and again.
Resilience

16. Did you notice what our values spell?

17. 1. Talent is equally distributed. Opportunity is not.
2. Leadership cannot be taught. But it can be learned.
3. Developing leaders - yourself or others – is a lifelong journey.
4. Scale doesn’t necessarily reduce quality - in fact, if done well, it enhances it.
5. We would rather fail trying to achieve something extraordinary than succeed at
something ordinary.
6. Doing hard things allows us to bring together our best minds, efforts and abilities.
7. We learn through experience and relationships. Not (only) by sitting in a (virtual)
classroom.
Our Beliefs.
We have certain core beliefs that underlie our
thinking.

18. 1. Are you excited about scale?
2. Do you want to build something radical and unconventional?
3. Are you thrilled about building a business that maximises impact and profit?
4. Are you totally comfortable with risk and failure?
5. Are you energized by building something global?
...Then ALX might not be the place for you. Read the full Medium Article from our
Founder here
Most organisations tell you why you should work for them. We believe it is
just as important for you to know the reasons why not to work at an
organization.
If you answer any of the following questions with “NO”...

19. 3.
FROM “SCARCITY” TO
“ABUNDANCE”

20. Research has shown that when done well, quality actually improves with
scale (think iPhone 1 vs. iPhone 10, or Emirates Airlines in 2000 vs Emirates
in 2019).
But only if 3 things happen:
• Above all else, scale culture
• Radical empowerment at the front lines—use your best judgement in
real-time interactions with the customers
• Continuous learning—feedback, experimentation, and learning by
doing
These key insights are captured in this book. Read it!
Most people believe that scale automatically
means lower quality. We disagree.

21. Since we’re in the business of identifying and developing talent, our ‘secret
weapon’ for scaling our culture is to hire talent we’ve nurtured ourselves,
from:
As we open each site, we must ‘seed’ it with staff/interns/graduates from
other sites. This talent fully understands our vision, our product, and
already has ‘AL’ in their DNA. In the long run, this will be an unassailable
competitive advantage, and more importantly, will ensure that our culture
scales well and maintains quality.
Scaling well: Factor #1
Our secret to scaling culture: hire the talent we
produce

22. “The stronger the culture, the less corporate process a company needs. When the culture is strong, you can
trust everyone to do the right thing. People can be independent, autonomous...entrepreneurial. Ever notice
how families or tribes don’t require much process? That is because...strong trust and culture supersedes any
process. In organizations (or even in a society) where culture is weak, you need an abundance of heavy,
precise rules and processes.”
-Brian Chesky, Founder, AirBnB
We trust our team members and give them responsibility, and expect innovation
and the maturity to practice self-discipline in return.
Use your judgment in real-time interactions with customers. Put yourself in the
customer’s shoes, and take action to delight them. Solve their problem. Use
your initiative. Don’t ask for permission.
Scaling well: Factor #2
Empower Front Lines (*as it relates to customer
experience)

23. Scaling well: Factor #2: Empower Front lines
Abundant Leadership.
Professor-Centric Model:
SCARCE RESOURCE
Student-Driven Model
ABUNDANT RESOURCE
Interviews
Books
Projects
ExpertsPeers
Internships
Mentors
Self-Learning
Developing leaders at scale, speed, low cost and
quality seemed impossible in a resource constrained
environment like Africa, especially since the
traditional learning model is centered around a scarce
resource: Professors.
We then flipped it around - and centered learning
around an abundant resource: Talented Youth.
We learned that scaling anything around a scarce
resource is impossible.
This led us to another insight--we needed to flip our
leadership model from being based on a scarce
resource (The Founder) to an
abundant resource (lots of entrepreneurial leaders).
We call this ABUNDANT LEADERSHIP.
The key to our scalable learning model was to move from scarcity (professor-
led) to abundance (student-driven)

24. Abundant Leadership Enables Scale.
Conventional model of leadership:
Funding
Talent
Resources
Ideas
Network
Partnerships
EmployeeEmployeeEmployeeEmployee
Founding
Entrepreneur
Funding
Talent
Resources
Ideas
Network
Partnerships
EntrepEntrepEntrepEntrepreneur
Founding Entrepreneur
“We need to go from one entrepreneur (myself as the Founder) to many entrepreneurs who drive each site--almost like how franchises work.
Founding teams must see their local sites as their own businesses”--Fred Swaniker
Abundant model of leadership:

25. Scaling well: Factor #3
Continuous Learning.
Lifelong learning is at the core of our what we do. We need to apply this to
ourselves. We must borrow principles of ‘Product Management’ that tech
companies in Silicon Valley have perfected (Think IPhone 1 vs IPhone 10--
continuous iteration and use of data to refine their products). At ALX, we must
constantly collect data from our users/members about what’s working well, and
what’s not working. We must then use that data to continuously improve our
products, services, and customer experience.
This includes information sharing across sites, documenting best practice,
constant review of customer feedback, working with our product team to enhance
our products, and use of dynamic (always being updated) playbooks.
Our employees must also be agile, constantly learning and growing. Read on to
learn how we approach learning and development.

26. 4.
LEARNING BY DOING

27. We learn best by doing. Don’t expect to be sent on
training courses at ALX.
-Research shows that only 10% of any skill can be learned effectively in the classroom
-Developmental relationships (mentors and peers) contribute 20% of your learning
-70% comes from practice
70%20%10%
Classroom
Devt.
Relationships
Experience/Practice
Your professional development at ALX will therefore happen mostly through the
challenging opportunities, difficult (and sometimes painful) tasks and stretch roles you’ll be
given (and that you must proactively ask for).. You’ll also get some coaching and mentorship
along the way. Don’t ask us about formal training courses. You’re missing the point.

28. How we think about Learning and Development.
We support self-improvement.
High performing people embrace the opportunity to develop themselves,
finding many different sources of development. This is similar to the
concept of student-driven learning that you read about earlier.
High performing
people
Grow through self-
improvement
Work on tough
problems
Throw yourself in
the deep end
Learn from
colleagues
Build your own
network
Read
Teach colleagues
Find a mentor
Be a mentor
Set your own
goal
Seek feedback!!

29. We celebrate failure at ALX. It’s how we learn.
Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.
- Elon Musk
Doing hard things means stretching into the unknown, beyond the boundaries of what is
thought possible. Our path towards our vision does not only have stepping stones of
success; it also has moments of failure, which we see as opportunities to learn and
continuously improve. Those who attempt great things will inevitably fail some of the
time. We don’t fear failure at ALX - we experiment boldly in pursuit of our audacious
vision.
“I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.” - Benjamin Franklin

30. 5.
THE ALLIANCE

31. Employment at ALX should be an alliance.
Here’s the deal. We ask that you care about ALX’s success and growth. In turn,
we will care about your own success and growth. Not only while you work at
ALX, but for your long-term career.
The relationship between ALX and you is symbiotic. We encourage
transparency on both sides about goals and timelines. We’ll tell you how well
you’re doing, and if it’s time for a change. You should also tell us openly when
you’re thinking of a change in career, and we’ll help you find another great
opportunity at ALX. If we can’t find a great fit for you, we’ll use our best efforts
to help you find something outside.
With this alliance, we will support you as you explore opportunities
at ALX and beyond. No manager will ever get mad at you if you feel like
exploring other opportunities.

32. 6.
HOW WE WORK

33. “Just Decide” - when it’s a Type A decision
• We want managers to make as many decisions themselves as possible.
• Not deciding will hold us back. With less than 6,000 days until Africa has
the largest workforce in the world, we have a lot of work to do - and a lot of
decisions to make - in a short amount of time.
• Most of the time, you will need to “just decide”
• A helpful framework for knowing when to “just decide” is dividing decisions
into either Type A or Type B decisions - Jeff Bezos articulated this
framework in a letter to shareholders

34. For ‘Type B’ decisions, take your time
TYPE A - “JUST DECIDE”
Most decisions you face will be “Type A“
Characteristics of Type A decisions:
● Changeable and reversible
● Little to no impact on reputation,
finances, people
● Two-way door--
If you have made an unsuccessful Type A
decision, you can reverse it - and gain
learnings in the process
TYPE B - Use a decision-making
framework
Characteristics of Type B decisions:
● Not easily reversible
● Massive impact on reputation, finances,
and people - such as shutting down a hub
or spending say $100k or $1m
● One-way door
For those decisions, we must move slowly,
consult widely, and take the time to map out
a clear decision making framework (i.e.
RACI). You compile all necessary information
to consider the decision, share with your
peers / team / Manager, and go through a
robust decision-making process

35. We LOVE Data.
Data informs better decision-making.
Data helps paint a clear picture of performance.
Data allows us to see how we track versus goals.
Data gives us insight into customer preferences.
Data provides feedback.
Data ___________...
The power of data is endless.
The ability to evaluate a situation’s data and determine the most
effective and efficient way to approach it is crucial. Let data
support your insights and takeaways when presenting to
colleagues or customers.

36. We LOVE Rhythms.
Rhythms and routines help us stay connected and coordinated as a
team.
Some examples of rhythms (and your team may have more):
● We check-in about priorities, progress, feelings, and roadblocks.
Daily.
● We gather as a community in Friday Late Discussions (FLD) to
dance, celebrate wins, and learn from challenges. Weekly.
● We have 1x1’s with our managers.
● We welcome new people to our community during ‘Karibu’
...You will continue to learn the rhythms from your team and site

37. We trust you to do the right thing. We don’t have
formal policies for everything.
We expect employees to treat ALX resources -- including our
physical space, and money -- with the utmost care, as if they were
their own.
We trust that employees will act in ALX’s best interest.
We are transparent with our employees about developments at ALX,
and strategy - and we expect employees to respect the
confidentiality of this information.

38. We hope you learned something about how
we think about people, leadership and
growth at ALX.
Thank you!