The Une, Weekly #9 — The Interview

Hi there, welcome to The Une Weekly #9. We're exploring how agentic AI can help put the Value Compass into action. This week we asked the Value Steward — or Stewy, because everyone needs a nickname — to interview us on our own compass. Take it away, Stewy.

We'd like this Weekly to be a little different.
Instead of writing about the Une Value Compass...
We'd like you to interview us.

Love that.

One question before we start.
Who's reading this?
And when they close it... what do you hope stays with them?

Mostly people building impact-driven organisations.
Founders.
Strategists.
Consultants.
Designers.

We'd also love this conversation to show what it could feel like to work with the Value Steward.
Not another AI that gives polished answers, but that stimulates new persperctives, invites deeper thinking, and identities blind spots.
Something more... human.

Perfect.

Then this conversation has two jobs.
Help you think.
And quietly show people how the steward thinks.

Let's not try to impress anyone.
Let's work on something real.

What's a decision you're sitting with at the moment?
One where doing the right thing and doing the practical thing don't quite seem to line up.

We have a potential client.
They're growing internationally and need help translating strategy into something every department understands.
That's exactly what we do.
And the kind of question we would love to help with.

The thing we're wrestling with...
They don't really think about their social or ecological impact.

They genuinely care about the wellbeing of their own teams.
But beyond that, those conversations aren't really happening.
And integrating commercial, social and ecological value is fundamental to how we work.

Interesting.
Commercially, this feels like a strong fit.

I don't think Everyone Clarity is the tension either.
Helping organisations create shared direction is exactly what UNE exists to do.
The question I keep coming back to is Everyone Stewardship.
Not because they're failing at it.
Simply because... we don't know yet.

Exactly.

I noticed something else.

You didn't say:
"I'm worried they'll reject our approach."

You said:
"I'm worried we'll compromise ours."

That's a very different conversation.

Haha.
You're right. We hadn't realised that.

Before we go further...
Maybe this is a good moment to explain the compass.
Otherwise the rest of this conversation probably won't make much sense.

Good point.
Would be nice for you to introduce it to our readers.
How would you explain it?

Pretty simply.

Une exists to help organisations move as one, for the benefit of all.
To make that practical, we use three principles.

Everyday Clarity (Commercial Value)
Bring clarity to how the organisation creates value in daily practice.
This helps everyone to understand how their daily work contributes to the whole.

Everyone Meaningful (Social Value)
Unite everyone through the shared meaning of their work.
This turns individual effort into shared purpose.

Everything Stewardship (Ecological Value)
Embed responsibility for life on earth into every decision before it is made.
This make sure impact becomes intentional rather than accidental.

The interesting part isn't getting three perfect yeses.
It's noticing where one of them starts asking harder questions than the others.

Like it is now.

Exactly.

We think we'd tell them about another client.
Someone who had never really thought about their social and ecological value.

Working with the compass completely changed how they looked at their organisation, because they suddenly recognised value they hadn't seen before.

We'd use that story to explore whether they're open to working that way.

I like that.

You're leading with curiosity.
Not correction.

Can I push one thing?

Please.

Being open to hearing about the compass...
...isn't the same as being willing to let it change something.

Those are two different things.

That's exactly what we need to find out.

We've got a few ideas about how to approach that.

But out of curiosity, how would you?

I don't think I'd start with another client.

I'd start with Une.

What do you mean?

You're a young company.

This project genuinely matters.

And here you are asking yourself whether commercial success is enough.

That's your compass working.

Not afterwards.

Right now.

That's interesting.
Hadn't thought about it like that.

Imagine saying this to them.

"Can I show you something?"
"We've actually been discussing whether we should take this project."

"Not because of the work."
"Because we're trying to understand whether we can do it without leaving part of ourselves outside the room."

Then stop.

Why stop?

Because what happens next tells you almost everything.

If they're curious... you probably have something to build together.
If they immediately explain why commercial goals simply come first... that's useful too.

Not because they're wrong. But because now you know what conversation you're actually having.

Whether Everyone Stewardship is something they're willing to explore... or simply something they're happy to admire from a distance.

So the compass isn't really testing the client but testing whether we're capable of having the right conversation.

Maybe.

Or maybe something even simpler.

When you imagine telling this client that Une itself is the example—that this very conversation is the compass in action—what does that feel like?

to be continued...

To AI. Or not to AI.

What it feels like.. like a good moment to end the interview, for the sake of length and Weekly format.

We'll share more about the development of Stewy in the near future. It's one the Value Compass application we aim to test with our research partner. (Also more on this later).

We are curious to how an agent can contribute in way that increases the agency of humans. Not take it away. To scale the rigth values for 'mutually assured thriving'.

The Value Steward is being designed to ‘steward’ the value principles. To surface the tension, name the trade-off, and hand the decision back to you. A thinking partner with a compass and a few sharp questions.

The coming weeks we will dive deeper into the Value Steward and what we believe it should and shouldn’t be doing and how.

Will it increase coherence in teams? Let's find out.

If you’d love a demo or test it 👋 hello@une.eco

Move as one. For the benefit of all. — Laurens & Jorn