Your Values Deserve More Than an About Page
Every organization worth its salt has values. But for many, these values get brainstormed at an offsite retreat, posted on the About page, and then mostly forgotten.
Intuitively, we know these words and definitions don't always reflect what a team actually values most. Real values drive every interaction. They're the undertone of every meeting and the reason things get done the way they do. They're the foundation of your culture, which makes them far too important to leave on the default setting, buried in your website’s drop-down menu.
The research backs this up. When MIT Sloan Management Review compared the published values of more than 500 large companies with over a million employee reviews on Glassdoor, they found there was no correlation between the values a company publishes and how well it lives them out.
In my early days as a marketing consultant, I saw a company's values as a core part of its key messaging. Values shape how an organization communicates, so I worked to make sure they showed up in every social media caption and newsletter article.
Helping clients articulate their values for brand development is what sparked my interest in business and leadership consulting. Ten years and dozens of clients later, I'm more convinced than ever that your values aren't an exercise in picking words off a list.
And as a wordsmith, I know that even carefully chosen words aren't enough. For values to actually shape a culture, they need depth and dimension. Here's how I approach it.
Tip #1: Less is more.
If you have ten values, you essentially have none. In that same MIT study, the most common number of values was five, and nearly three-quarters of companies listed between three and seven. My hot take? Cut that in half. A long list is hard to remember, and it isn't a usable framework for making hard decisions or noticing when someone or something is out of alignment. Author and researcher Brené Brown goes even further in her book, Dare to Lead, asking leaders to name just two.
I get it. Narrowing down your values is hard. Out of a desire to be understood, I tend to use more words, not fewer. But clarity comes from simplicity. If your list has more than three values, look for the themes connecting them. A few of your values might be expressions of one deeper value.
For example, my marketing business used to have five values:
We cultivate kindness.
We stay curious.
We hone our craft.
We get good shit done.
We consider the ripple effect.
I still love all of these, but they were hard to remember. Now kindness, curiosity, and the ripple effect live under "Be Intentional," and honing our craft and getting good shit done live under "Be Effective." Two values are easy to remember, and they've become shorthand for the phrases I still resonate with.
Tip #2: Use phrases, not just abstract nouns.
Integrity, customer service, and trustworthiness are all worthy values, but abstract nouns can feel more theoretical than useful day-to-day. Adding a verb or an adjective makes a value tangible. (Bonus: this is a great way to combine that too-long list from tip #1.)
For example, here's how we helped a construction company revise its values:
"Integrity" became "Interact with Integrity."
"Excellence" became "Build with Excellence."
"Service" became "Lead with Service."
These phrases become small but mighty calls to action. They're easy to remember, easy to repeat, and they work as a user-friendly litmus test. In any situation, you or employees can ask: What does it look like to interact with integrity right now? How can I lead with service?
Tip #3: Write your own definitions.
The MIT study found that integrity was the most common value, listed by 65% of companies, followed by collaboration (53%), customer focus (48%), and respect (35%). These values matter, of course. But when everyone claims the same words, they start to sound like buzzwords. That's why your definition matters more than the word itself.
As you settle on your two or three values, sit with what each one means to you. What does it look like through the lens of your industry? What are its component parts? Write your definition the way you'd write a poem, choosing each word carefully so it paints a clear picture.
Here's how I define mine:
Be intentional. Engaged presence that is thoughtful in every choice and kind in every interaction.
Be effective. Moving toward meaningful impact with creativity and care for everyone involved.
These definitions are short, but they say exactly what I mean. When I read them, they help me realign my choices and behavior. They live on my About page, but they also show up in daily conversations, workflows, and tough decisions as the work gets done.
Tip #4: Spell out your values-aligned practices.
A value and its definition are a strong start, but they stay theoretical until you name what they look like in action. This also comes straight from Brown's Dare to Lead, where she asks leaders to identify the specific behaviors that support each value. The more explicit you are about the habits and choices that reflect a value, the clearer your expectations become, and the more your values come to life.
Your values and definitions are public-facing, but these daily practices and behaviors (and the guardrails in tip #5) belong in your employee handbook. I keep mine printed and hanging near my desk. They're a key tool for onboarding, training, and coaching, and they give your team a shared language for accountability when someone is out of alignment.
Here's what my values look like in action:
Because we are intentional:
We cultivate kindness, first toward ourselves (so we can show up fully and stay connected to our intuition) and then toward every person we interact with.
We stay curious, seeking to understand and paying attention to both what's being said and the patterns underneath.
We choose the brave path, aligning our actions with our values and intended impact, even when it feels vulnerable. We do what's right rather than what's safe, easy, or convenient.
Because we are effective:
We hone our craft, not striving for perfection but learning and growing from every experience.
We get good shit done, consistently following through on what we said we'd do, with excellence.
We cultivate flow and joy in the process as we work toward helping people and communities thrive.
Tip #5: Put guardrails on your values.
Along the same lines, it helps to name the red-flag behaviors that signal you're veering off course. Brown calls these "slippery behaviors." What are the signs you're starting to stray from a value? And just as important, what does it look like when you're overdoing it?
But Allie, how can you overdo a value? Your values come from what matters most to you and how you're naturally wired. But we're human, and every strength comes with blind spots. Running a business also means living with tension and navigating nuance. We can hold our values with integrity while keeping our eyes on the bigger picture.
We value honesty, but we don't say everything that crosses our mind.
We value collaboration, but we recognize when a partnership needs to end.
We value excellence, but we watch for the unhelpful pull toward perfectionism.
See what I mean? I think of each value as living on a spectrum. Living it out means staying in the true center, and I've named the red flags on either side.
Here are my guardrails for being intentional:
Red flags that I'm being unintentional:
I'm running on exhaustion, which pulls me toward my default setting and keeps me from being thoughtful.
I get judgy, stop being curious and kind, and start making assumptions about other people's intentions.
I'm rushing, so I don't have time to reflect and discern the best way forward.
Red flags that I'm overdoing intentionality:
I start navel-gazing, getting lost in my thoughts and overthinking things.
I get stuck in a loop of questioning my intentions instead of making a choice.
I start people-pleasing out of a desire to be relational, and it pulls me toward someone else's agenda instead of my truest intentions.
From the About page to everyday culture
When your values have depth, they shift from decoration to everyday tools. They guide hard decisions, shape how your team treats each other and your clients, and give everyone a shared picture of what good looks like. Without that depth, even the best words fade into the background, and your culture gets shaped by default instead of on purpose.
The good news is you don't need another offsite retreat to get there. Start with a short list, give each value a phrase and a definition, then name what it looks like in action and where its edges are.
To make it easier, I created a free worksheet that walks you through each step. You can download the PDF here to print:
Or, download this Google Doc if you’d rather work digitally and share it with your team. Whether you're a solopreneur or leading a team, it will help you move your values off the About page and into how you actually work.
And if you'd like a thinking partner along the way, I'd love to help. I work with leaders and teams to clarify their values and weave them into their culture, communication, and day-to-day decisions.
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