Why Values Should Leave the Walls

Living the Values Starts at the Top

Integrating values begins with senior leadership. When executives lead by example and live the organization’s values, they set a precedent for the entire organization. The most meaningful demonstrations of values occur not in time of success, but in moments of adversity. Many leaders like to celebrate their values at town halls or through employee recognition but often fail to use values as a north star and decision-making tool when times are tough. When leaders make decisions that reflect the organization’s values during challenging times, employees notice and remember. The values become more than just words on the wall. Consistently anchoring decisions in the organization’s values and explicitly communicating their connection allows employees to better understand the rationale behind leadership’s choices. This top-down commitment is essential for building trust and credibility, ensuring that values are not just aspirational but actively shape culture.

Prioritizing Authenticity and Organizational Relevance

Values must be authentic and rooted in the organization’s priorities and strategy, not borrowed from generic corporate language. Many organizations fall into the trap of selecting values that sound great on a website, but don’t inform how decisions are made day-to-day. The true power of values lies not in their phrasing, but in how naturally they translate into real behaviors.

When values accurately reflect the organization’s desired culture, priorities, and ways of operating, they will be consistently lived across all employees’ interactions and activities. This alignment creates a tangible sense of trust and engagement. Ultimately, when values are authentic, acting on them doesn’t feel forced, it simply feels like the organization being itself.

Case Study: Spotify’s value of ‘Innovative’

Spotify operationalizes innovation by designing teams, processes, and incentives around experimentation rather than perfection. “Squads” and “tribes” are Spotify’s cross-functional working groups that are empowered to ship quickly, test with real users, and iterate without layers of approvals. Failure isn’t punished; instead, their “fail-friendly” culture encourages learning at speed. This structure has enabled Spotify to pioneer features like Discover Weekly and algorithmic personalization long before competitors could match the cadence.

Incorporating Strategically Aligned Values

For values to drive meaningful change, they must be owned by the entire organization, not just HR. Too often, values are not included in strategic priorities or embedded in decisions, making them disconnected from the actual work that moves the business forward. Organizations don’t succeed because of the words they choose; they succeed when those words reflect and reinforce the actions that deliver results. Strategically aligned values guide choices at every level, from how teams collaborate internally to how the organization shows up for customers. However, rigidly standardizing how values should manifest can limit innovation and keep organizations anchored in the status quo. While an organization’s core values should remain stable over time, the way those values show up in practice can and should evolve as strategy evolves. Values should act as a lens for setting priorities and evaluating actions, not as an afterthought, with their expression adapting to support new directions while the values themselves stay consistent.

Values don’t leave the wall because they’re well-written; they leave the wall when they are consistently lived. Authentic values reflect who an organization truly is, and strategically aligned values guide where it’s going, but neither matter without leaders who model them, especially in difficult moments. When leaders use values to navigate setbacks, make tough calls, and set priorities, they turn them from statements into real behaviours. Organizations bring their values to life by applying them in the moments that matter most, building credibility through actions rather than aspirations.