Values that do work — past the wall poster

Q: How often should we revisit our values?

Core values: every 5–7 years, with serious resistance to change. Aspirational values: annually, since they're meant to graduate to core. Operating principles (more granular, more dynamic): annually.

Q: What if a long-tenured high performer violates a value?

This is the test. If they keep their job, you've taught the company that values are negotiable for high performers — which means values don't apply at the top, which means they don't apply at all. The hard call is the only call.

Q: Should employees vote on values?

Co-create, don't vote. Leadership owns the values (because leadership has to enforce them); employees inform them through structured input. Pure-democracy values usually end up as the least common denominator.

60-Second Summary

Patrick Lencioni's HBR essay 'Make Your Values Mean Something' identified four value types: core, aspirational, permission-to-play, and accidental. Most published value sets are an undifferentiated mash of all four.
The test of a working value: does it force a real trade-off? 'We value integrity' fails — nobody publishes the opposite. 'We value transparency over comfort' passes — it tells you what gets sacrificed.
Values that survive 5 years tend to be 3–7 in count, paired with anti-values (what we don't value), and operationalized in hiring rubrics, promotion criteria, and performance reviews.
The single most predictive question: 'In our last 10 promotions and 10 terminations, can you trace each decision to a specific value?' If not, the values are decorative.

Most company values are written during a leadership offsite, etched onto a wall, mentioned at the all-hands twice a year, and forgotten by Year 3. The reason isn't that the words were wrong — it's that the words were never connected to a decision.

The four types of values

Type	Definition	Honest treatment
Core	Behaviors the company actively rewards and protects, in good times and bad	These are the 3–5 you publish and operationalize
Aspirational	Behaviors the company wants to develop but doesn't yet model	Be honest that they're aspirational; track progress; revisit
Permission-to-play	Baseline behaviors required to be in the industry (honesty, respect)	Don't publish — they're table stakes
Accidental	Behaviors that emerged unintentionally, often from founder personality	Audit them; some are worth keeping, some are limiting

The trade-off test

Patrick Lencioni's diagnostic: a real value forces a trade-off that some companies would not make. 'We value customers' is not a value because every company says it. 'We value craft over deadlines, even when deadlines hurt' is a value because most companies would not say it — and most importantly, most companies would not act on it. The trade-off is what gives the value teeth.

Examples that pass the trade-off test

Stripe: 'Move with urgency and focus.' Trades off: comprehensiveness, comfort. Netflix: 'No vacation policy.' Trades off: structure, predictability. Amazon: 'Disagree and commit.' Trades off: prolonged debate, comfort with consensus. Each value implies what gets sacrificed.

Operationalizing values

Where values live or die

1
Hiring rubric
Each value is assessed in the interview loop with a specific scorecard. A candidate strong on one value but weak on another is a no-hire, not a 'we'll develop them.'
2
Promotion criteria
Promotion to manager and above requires explicit values demonstration evidence. Calibration sessions surface when promotions are happening despite values gaps.
3
Performance review structure
Performance review includes a section on values demonstration. High-performing-but-values-failing employees get flagged for the hardest conversation.
4
Public moments
When the company terminates a senior person for values reasons, the all-hands message names the value violated. The CEO's willingness to do this is the single strongest signal.

The annual values audit

Trace the last 10 promotions: which value did each promotion exemplify?
Trace the last 10 terminations: which value did each termination protect?
Survey: 'Can you give me a recent example of someone living this value?' If <60% of employees can answer per value, the value is decorative.
Calibration test: in your last hiring debrief, was any of the discussion organized around values? If not, the values are post-hoc rationalization, not selection criteria.
External signal: do candidates mention specific values during interviews? If so, your career site is doing real work; if not, the values aren't visible.

Frequently asked questions

How often should we revisit our values?

Core values: every 5–7 years, with serious resistance to change. Aspirational values: annually, since they're meant to graduate to core. Operating principles (more granular, more dynamic): annually.

What if a long-tenured high performer violates a value?