It’s a new and exciting time at Verge with lots of growth on the horizon! Verge has been implementing an EOS system (Entrepreneurial Operating System) over the past few weeks and a key exercise of the implementation has been defining core values for the business. After much discussion, we settled on five core values that will now animate the rest of our business activities – marketing, recruiting business development, operations, etc. It is our belief now that every member of our company should share a passion for these values so that we can be a unified front in our unique mission.
1. Craftsmen of Mission Experience
We are Craftsmen of Mission Experience, creating solutions to enhance the end-user’s use of systems. In today’s age of intelligent machines and automation of the traditional military “kill chain” processes, Mission Experience is the sine qua non condition to ensure the operator of lethal effects can take quick, responsible, and humane actions to preserve peace while performing national security missions. Mission experience is a category of technology that seeks to equip human operators with decision-making tools and experiences to remain engaged in the use of intelligent machines. Mission experience combines User Experience (UX) processes with mission systems to create decision-making tools and solutions for the end-user.
2. Stewards of Breakthrough Technology
We are Stewards of Breakthrough Technology. What does it mean to be a steward? A steward is not a passive bench player, but an active participant in a specific mission. It is an ancient term that denoted a higher-ranking servant who was entrusted with the protection and care of something of value. Through the biblical parable of the talents, Jesus of Nazareth shows that when a master entrusts something to a steward, he should not only protect it but cultivate and enrich it. In our industry, stewardship of technology is becoming an increasingly important task. For example, Large Language Model (LLM) envisioned to increase a person’s knowledge by summarizing lengthy texts may result in the person understanding reality only through the lens from which the LLM was trained. Knowledge creates awareness. It is only from a position of awareness that operators can exercise their moral faculties in decision-making.
3. One Team, Strengthened by our Families
We are One Team, Strengthened by our Families. Like many other defense tech companies that offer competitive salaries, comprehensive benefits, paid vacations, and performance incentives, Verge Defense treats employees as the primary reason and purpose for its success. However, Verge Defense goes the extra step to recognize and support employee families from its paid family leave plan to its emphasis on work-life balance and annual events that celebrate employee spouses and children. It is due to the sacrifices and generosity of our families that we can come to work every day to create, build, design, and be a steward of our talents. At Verge Defense, we want every employee to know that their families are supported and their time at home is more important than their time in the office.
4. Clarity, Transparency, and Trust
We are a people that relentlessly pursue Clarity, Transparency, and Trust. The defense industry is clouded with buzz words and jargon – digital twins, data fusion, zero trust – that sound great on paper but leave customers with more questions and less certainty. We break technology down into clear descriptions of what we are doing and how we are implementing it today and again in future deliveries. We require every employee at Verge to be an effective communicator, able to explain and inform the customer of the product or service they will receive. Clear discussions lead to transparency – openness about the limitations and capabilities of Verge solutions. We value tech demonstrations over tech descriptions or catchy phrases. We want customers to see and experience what they are buying and making their voice heard. Trust follows clarity and transparency. When our employees speak with clarity and transparency, they forge a culture of trust and interdependence to solve challenges that seem impossible for any one person to conquer.
5. Verso L’Alto
Over a hundred years ago, the motto of a young man echoed as a rallying cry for young people around the world. The phrase “Verso L’Alto” was first written by Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young man with a passion for the outdoors, his Catholic faith, and the pursuit of excellence. Little did he know that a few scrawled words on a photograph of him mountaineering in the Alps would become a thunderous battle cry spanning generation, peoples, and languages. The Italian phrase translates “to the heights” – a call to incite greatness and excellence. At Verge Defense, we embrace the mission set before us with the grit and perseverance to see it to its end. We strive for magnanimity – greatness of soul – which should animate our everyday activities. Everything we do seeks to reflect Pier Giorgio’s call to action, not fearing the unknown or the limit, but searching for the next mountain to summit as we steward our talents and deliver technology to our customers.
