Go Slow To Go Fast

The Secret to Fast Business Success

Be deliberate in what you do. If you were an Olympic archer, you wouldn't fire your arrow without aiming first. To do things right the first time, go slow first before you go fast.

In business, speed is often equated with success. Leaders push to fill open roles quickly, launch projects yesterday, and drive results as fast as possible. But here's the paradox: rushing often leads to costly mistakes. A wrong hire can derail a team, sap morale, and burn through resources. A misaligned employee can drag down performance despite everyone's best efforts.

The truth is, the fastest way to build a thriving, profitable company is to slow down first—to plan, align, and act with precision.

(Yes, we know that those who have Builder as their primary core value energy will find it unnatural to slow down in order to get things done. Delegation can help.)

That's where the Core Values Index™ (CVI™) and the Top Performer Profile™ (TPP™) come in. Together, they give you a deliberate, data-driven way to ensure you're putting the right people in the right roles before you sprint forward.

Why Going Slow Matters

Think of the CVI like aiming your bow before you release the arrow. Without taking aim, your chances of hitting the target are slim.

The CVI measures the innate, unchanging core values of each person—their natural wiring for how they contribute, think, and act in the world. Unlike skills, experience, or personality quirks, these core values don't change over time. They reveal whether someone is naturally built to thrive in a role, or whether they'll struggle no matter how much training you give them.

When you skip this step and rush to hire, you're essentially firing arrows in the dark. You might get lucky occasionally, but the odds are against you.

The Cost of Going Too Fast

Every business leader has felt the pain of a mis-hire. A candidate dazzles in the interview but underdelivers once on the job. Or a long-time employee starts floundering after being promoted into the wrong role.

Training and coaching often can't fix the mismatch. That's because the problem isn't about skills, it's about fit. People who are "wired" for one kind of contribution won't thrive in another.

Sending someone to training for a job that doesn't align with their core values is a lose-lose: they won't succeed, and you'll waste time and money.

The result? Frustrated managers, disengaged employees, and underperforming teams.

The Power of Going Slow with the CVI

The Core Values Index helps you avoid those mistakes by showing you where someone will make their highest and best contribution. It identifies four primary value sets—Builder, Merchant, Innovator, and Banker—each representing a distinct way of seeing and acting in the world.

• Builders bring action and energy. They make things happen.
• Merchants thrive on relationships and vision. They energize people.
• Innovators excel at problem-solving and seeing new possibilities.
• Bankers value knowledge, structure, and precision.

Each role in your business demands a unique blend of these values. That's where the Top Performer Profile comes in.

Matching People to Roles with the Top Performer Profile

The Top Performer Profile (TPP) is built by analyzing your company's best performers in a given role. It identifies the core value patterns that consistently predict success. Then, when new candidates take the CVI, their scores are compared to the TPP for that position.

The result? You instantly see whether a candidate is a "high recommendation" fit for the role before you spend hours in interviews or risk months of onboarding the wrong person.

This is the deliberate, strategic pause that lets you accelerate later. Instead of rushing to fill a seat and hoping for the best, you ensure alignment from day one.

Going Slow with Existing Employees

The CVI isn't just for hiring—it's equally powerful for your current team.

Many performance problems come from employees being in the wrong seat. By assessing your team with the CVI and comparing their profiles to the TPP for their role, you can identify misalignments and make adjustments.

Sometimes that means shifting responsibilities. Other times, it means moving someone into a different role where they can thrive. The payoff is enormous: higher engagement, better results, and employees who feel truly valued because they're doing the work they're wired to do.

Faster, Smarter Growth

Here's the payoff of "going slow to go fast":

• Fewer bad hires. You filter out poor fits before they get on payroll.
• Higher engagement. People do work that energizes them.
• Stronger performance. Teams are built on aligned, top-performing contributors.
• Sustainable growth. You spend less time putting out fires and more time scaling.

As business leaders, we know the cost of wasted motion. Every wrong hire, every disengaged employee, every team misaligned with their work slows us down. Going slow with the CVI and TPP is how you eliminate that drag.

A Call to Business Leaders

Slowing down feels counterintuitive in today's fast-paced world. But deliberate alignment is the only way to truly accelerate.

If you were an Olympic archer, you wouldn't fire your arrow without aiming first. So why aimlessly place people in roles? Take the time to understand their wiring, compare it to what success in the role actually requires, and then make your move.

That's how you go slow to go fast.

Core Values Index™ and CVI™ are trademarks of Taylor Protocols, Inc.