#3
The Company We Keep
In my last newsletter, I introduced a group we call, Champions. They are the heart and soul of your organization’s culture. Employees who carry your story home, customers who defend you online, partners who refer you without being asked. They matter, more than you know. But here’s the thing about Champions. They need to see themselves in you. In short, they need to see your Values.
Which brings me to this week's warning: we're going to talk about Values. I know. I can feel you reaching for the unsubscribe button. Stick with me. This is important.
For most people, Values have become so misused in corporate theatre that people are dismissing them entirely. “Values are Dead” is now the contrarian position. Make no mistake, they're wrong. But not because they haven't suffered through enough generic values exercises.
It is our belief that real Values aren't what you claim. They're what you prove. Most often through some kind of sacrifice. The problem is that most organizations aren't willing to make them. But it’s in these moments that authentic identity is born.
The Problem We Keep Seeing
Story time. We recently worked with a mid-sized org that had just completed a strategic planning process. They were proud of their new vision statement and excited to show us their freshly minted values:
Integrity. Excellence. Innovation. Collaboration. Respect.
"These really capture who we are," the Executive Director told us.
I looked at the list. Then at Jane. Here we go again I thought to myself. "Can I ask you something?" I said. "Who wouldn't claim these values?"
Silence.
"I mean, has any organization ever said, 'We don't value Integrity'.
The Executive Director looked uncomfortable. (I have a habit of manifesting this state in clients from time to time.) "But these things are important to us," she repeated.
"I'm sure they are," Jane said. "But the question isn't whether they're important. It's whether they help you make decisions."
The Test of Useful Values
Imagine your team is debating whether to pursue a lucrative partnership that would significantly increase revenue but require you to work with an organization whose practices don't quite align with yours.
You look at your values list: Integrity. Excellence. Innovation. Collaboration. Respect.
Which value tells you what to do? All of them? None of them? The partner could argue they value all of these things too. Everyone does. Now imagine your values were instead:
Relationships over Transactions - We always prioritize depth over scale
Suddenly the decision becomes clearer. "Relationships over Transactions" suggests you should probably decline the lucrative-but-misaligned partnership. It doesn't make the decision easy, this isn’t paint by numbers. But at least it gives you something to reference and talk about.
That's what real values do. They force choices. They create tension. They exclude as much as they include. "Be excellent" doesn't tell anyone how to behave and you can't recognize your uniqueness in "innovation" because everyone claims it.
What Actual Values Look Like
Generic: "We value innovation"
Specific: "We experiment and learn from failure"
The first is something every tech company claims. The second tells your team it's okay to try things that might not work, that you expect some projects to fail, and that hiding failures is worse than having them.
Notice what happens when values get specific: they become polarizing. Some people will read "We experiment and learn from failure" and think "Yes, that's the kind of place I want to work." Others will think "That sounds chaotic and risky."
Both responses are valuable. The first group becomes potential Champions. The second group self-selects out before wasting everyone's time.
How to Know If Your Values Work
Three diagnostic questions:
Can you make decisions with them?
Present a realistic dilemma your organization faces. Do your values help you choose? If not, they're decorative.
Do they exclude anyone?
If everyone would agree with your values, they're too generic to be useful. Real values create tension.
Do your Champions naturally embody them?
Think about the people who most strongly advocate for your organization. Do they exemplify your stated values? If not, there's a disconnect between what you claim and what you actually reward.
What This Means for the Company You Keep
Values are the foundation of everything we've discussed so far, but only if they're specific enough to mean something. Generic values create generic organizations. Specific values create magnetic pull toward aligned people. The company you keep is a direct reflection of the values you actually hold. Not the ones you claim on your website, but the ones you demonstrate through daily decisions.
If you want to cultivate Champions, you need to give them something specific to champion. Nobody sees “integrity” and goes home thinking to themselves, “finally, I have found the company for me”.
In my next newsletter, I am going to respond to some of the questions I have been getting, so please, if you have not already, send me your thoughts on where we have gone so far. After that, we'll start to explore Allies, our second and much larger “company”. Allies may not share your emotional enthusiasm but they love to support your purpose through action.
Until then, audit your Values. Are they helping you make decisions, or are they just hanging on the wall?
—Steven