Strengthen Your Core (Values)
Hello again! If you’re just joining us, this is the ninth installment in our series Every Decision Is A Brand Decision. This time, we tackle the topic of core values–you could call it Pilates for Brands.
In 2016, we were hired by one of Silicon Valley’s largest private technology companies — we’ll call them Brand X — to help introduce their employees to a set of slimmed-down & revised Core Values. The company had grown exponentially, from a few hundred employees to a few thousand in less than five years. This dizzying ascension had created a culture gap between leadership and the employees, and they needed help to re-introduce their beliefs.
Brand X chose us for the project because they perceived our Core Values to be similar to their own. They recognized that we think a lot about our own company culture, and also about how to send meaningful messages to an audience. We were flattered to be on the radar of a company we respected.
As good as all of that looked on paper, the experience of working with them almost put us out of business.
We don’t need to disclose who Brand X is, or what their Core Values are specifically. In fact, they really don’t matter, because their Core Values only focused on telling their employees how to behave. It took a little while, but it eventually became clear that none of their Core Values were about how they (and the people at their company) actually treated each other.
Unsurprisingly, they pushed our team pretty hard to do things we hadn’t signed up for, and, as natural people-pleasers, we burnt up a considerable amount of resources. As a result, we lost a significant amount of money, and most tragically, a few members of our team. What had started out as a unique and exciting opportunity with a globally-influential brand became nightmarish and painful.
“It’s Fucking Clothes”
Luckily, our efforts with defining Core Values doesn’t always end on such a sour note.
Our friend Pamela owns a Portland-based clothing store called Frances May. Pam started with a high-end women’s clothing store and went on to expand into high-end clothing for everyone, now featuring baby clothes and sundry items outside of the clothing realm. When a business like Frances May grows organically and changes their offerings over time, it can become a challenge to stay aligned with Core Values that were there at the beginning.
We met with Pam, and, over the course of a few meetings and dialogs, we were able to help her gain clarity on why and how she does what she does. These four Core Values emerged:
- Art and Creativity at the center of everything.
- We are a family that has high-expectations for our space and each other.
- Our love of the product leads customers to new places.
- Don’t take yourself too seriously, it’s fucking clothes.
Reading these is always refreshing, because unlike most Core Values they actually speak to who she is and how she runs her business.
The first value speaks to Pamela as a person — she studied Art, and creativity is at the core of who she is as a person. The second speaks to how she views her business and employees, and how she expects them to view each other. The third is the way she has always connected products to customers, and engaged with them as an experience. The last one is a healthy ego check — in the fashion world, it’s easy to take yourself too seriously. At the end of the day, Frances May isn’t saving lives or birthing babies; they’re selling nice clothes.
At the end of the day, our time and efforts working with Pamela and her brand proved to be very fruitful for her, and more importantly, her team and her audience. She now has more clarity about how she can find consistency in her brand as things evolve (because they always evolve).
Core Values Don’t Have to Suck
As we’ve lived through these experiences and spent more time thinking about Core Values for both ourselves and for our clients, it’s clear that the Core Values of many of the world’s biggest companies are incredibly bland and far from their true core.
Core Values like these can suck for a few reasons:
1) They aren’t true and they don’t communicate what the company actually believes. Rather, they represent what they want the people outside the leadership team to think about the leadership team. Predictably, new stakeholders (and employees) feel alienated by this. It’s much better to simply speak your truth and stand by it.
2) When marketing or PR departments influence Core Values, the result can feel either too slick or too empty. New stakeholders will sense this instinctively, and will simply ignore them. If you try to please everyone, you will please no one, so again, you’re better off embracing your true Core Values, warts and all.
3) They are actually Aspirational Values, rather than Core Values. They are written not only to influence the behavior of employees, but also of the leadership team that has presented them. Savvy stakeholders will see right through these. There’s a place for Aspirational Values, but don’t confuse them with who you are already.
So, what makes good Core Values? They aren’t manufactured — they already exist, and you access them by looking inward. When they’re authentic, they’ve been with you from the beginning. Core Values usually stem from founders or founding relationships — the people having the fundamental experience that’s at the heart of the enterprise. They should reflect what you’ve always done and how you do it, naturally and effortlessly.
What’s the Value of a Business Plan Without a Soul?
Often, new businesses come to us with a business plan: a document that defines the company’s activities, market opportunity, competitors and ownership structure. The business plan helps to objectively identify situations the business might face, how it plans to adapt to inevitable changes, and how it can expand in healthy ways.
Unfortunately, it’s foolish to think that your business plan will unfold exactly as prescribed, and remain your guide toward future success. It’s nearly impossible to predict what your business will ultimately become. One of the most important reasons to document your Core Values is to protect yourself from that unpredictability. In a world where chaos and change seem to be the only constants, your Core Values are what will keep you on track–doing something you actually want to be doing.
Understanding your Core Values can teach you a lot. More importantly, it can save your business from yourself. It can influence how you hire, how you deal with conflict, and how you grow. It can empower you to make better decisions more consistently, and liberate you from doing things you don’t want to do. Clear understanding of your Core Values can be your permission slip to create the company and brand you’ve always wanted to have. They set the tone for who you are.
British novelist Pico Iyer once wrote:
“Young people ask, ‘What will I do in the world?’
Old people ask, ‘What will I let the world do with me?’”
Your business plan marks the start of your journey. Your Core Values dictate how you’ll let the world shape your plans along the way.
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This is the ninth installment of our series, “Every Decision is a Brand Decision.” Check them all out here. Original illustration by OMFGCO.
