Let's Talk About Values

Today, I’ll be talking about values. Values tell you so much about a person and I want to tell you more about some things that are most important to us, the things that make us tick. And I want to tell you about how we are designing our services to embody these values.

A few months ago, the Mastermind Adventures leadership team went through a number of exercises inspired by Brene Brown’s Dare to Lead to determine our personal values. It turns out that mine are adaptability and community.

Let me tell you why.

Mastermind Adventures has been around a while – this is actually our 8th year of us creating programming. Some of you that were with us in our early years can attest to how we’ve had to change to meet different challenges.

Our earliest days our mission focused on kids and teens in helping to teach real skills through play. We spent many years trying new programs, new markets and new ideas to bring us where we are today. Adaptability is one of my core values because it has allowed me to bend when others would break.

I come from a long line of community organizers. For those of you who know my mom, you know that she is the ultimate community builder! And for me, it just came naturally. I love helping people, connecting with people and bringing people together. It’s one of my truest passions, and a pattern that you can clearly see throughout my life.

So my question to you is what do you value most?

When we expanded the discussion with the Mastermind Adventures leadership team, we determined values for our organization. I’d like to tell you about three of these values in more detail, and what we’re doing to embrace them.

Those values are inclusion, connection and fun.

What are our values?

In Brene Brown’s book, Dare to Lead, she says,

“A value is a way of being or believing that we hold most important. Living into our values means that we do more than profess our values, we practice them. We walk our talk – we are clear about what we believe and hold important, and we take care that our intentions, words, thoughts and behaviors align with those beliefs.”

Here’s how we’re doing that.

Inclusion – We believe that RPGs are for everyone. You don’t have to pass any kind of experience test to be a part of our games. We are here to help you and we’re dedicated to design spaces that are safe for all players.
Connection – We believe that play is important and it can change lives, and the best kind of play is where you can connect with others. We try to match you with a Game Master who offers the style of game you’re looking for and other gamers who share your style of play so you can have the most fun, and truly connect with others in your group.
Fun – This is what it’s all about – everyone needs fun stuff to look forward to, especially now. We are dedicated to creating gaming spaces that offer a high quality of game no matter what your personal experience level is.

Your values are important

To wrap things up, I just want to say that, Adventurer – I know that your time and energy are precious and that you want to find experiences that make you feel important and respected. You prefer environments that reflect your values.

We have felt the frustration of trying to find our values reflected in the gaming community, and we’ve put a lot of effort into measures that make it easier for you to find what you are looking for. If you are new to the D&D world, looking for a combat heavy game, more role play or an epic narrative, we have what you are looking for.

You can read testimonials about each of our Game Masters from gamers just like you. Your needs are important, and you deserve to be part of a community that cares.