What Are Core Values?
Core values are the guiding principles that define how people in a company should act and work. They’re not slogans or aspirational statements — they’re the non-negotiable behaviors and standards that shape hiring, culture, and day-to-day decisions. They are a cornerstone of your company as an entity.
When core values are clear and consistently applied, they help leaders build strong, aligned teams. Everyone knows what’s expected and how to behave. This creates a company culture that supports long-term success — and a workplace where people can do their best work.
Why Core Values Matter
Core values shape how a business operates by giving clearly defined behavioral guideposts. They influence how team members interact, solve problems, and work together. When core values are clear, teams work with more purpose and the company can grow without losing its identity.
Without defined values, companies tend to drift — especially during periods of rapid growth. Hiring decisions become inconsistent, culture becomes undefined, and accountability lacks a shared foundation. Core values prevent this drift by creating a common language that everyone in the organization can reference.
How to Identify Your Company’s Core Values
The most effective core values aren’t invented — they’re discovered. They already exist within the best people in your organization. The process of identifying them is about recognizing the traits and behaviors that define your strongest team members and making those traits explicit.
Here are some general principles for identifying core values that are authentic and actionable:
- Look at your best people. Think about the employees who consistently perform well, embody the culture you want, and make the team stronger. What traits do they share? Those patterns are the foundation of your values.
- Keep the list short. A handful of values that everyone can remember and apply is far more powerful than a long list that gets ignored. Most companies find that somewhere between three and seven values captures the essence of who they are.
- Be specific and real. Values like “integrity” or “excellence” are so broad they become meaningless. The strongest values are specific enough that they guide real behavior — “Do what you say you’ll do” is more actionable than “integrity.”
- Test against reality. If a value doesn’t describe how your best people actually behave, it’s an aspiration, not a core value. Values should reflect who you are now — not who you want to become.
How EOS® Approaches Core Values
The Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®) includes a specific, structured approach to defining and applying core values as part of its People component. EOS® provides proprietary tools and exercises designed to help leadership teams discover, document, and operationalize their core values across the organization.
The EOS® approach includes the People Analyzer™ — a proprietary tool for evaluating how well team members align with the company’s core values — as well as specific integration points for hiring, reviews, recognition, and accountability.
The EOS® approach to core values — including the People Analyzer™ tool and the core values discovery exercise — is proprietary to EOS Worldwide. For detailed guidance on how to define and apply core values using the EOS® framework, visit eosworldwide.com or work with a certified EOS Implementer™.
Putting Core Values to Work
Defining core values is only the first step. The real impact comes from integrating them into every part of how the company operates. Values that live in a slide deck but don’t influence daily behavior aren’t serving their purpose.
Here’s how the strongest companies put core values to work — regardless of which framework they use:
- Hiring. Screen candidates for values alignment, not just skills and experience. A technically excellent hire who doesn’t share the company’s values will erode culture faster than a slightly less experienced hire who does.
- Onboarding. Introduce core values early and explicitly. New employees should understand from their first week what the company stands for and how those values shape expectations.
- Performance reviews. Evaluate people against values, not just outcomes. Someone who delivers great results but consistently violates core values is a net negative for the organization over time.
- Recognition. Celebrate people who embody the values. When the team sees values-aligned behavior recognized and rewarded, it reinforces the culture and encourages others to follow.
- Accountability. Address behavior that conflicts with core values — promptly and consistently. Values that aren’t enforced aren’t real. The team watches what leadership tolerates, and that defines the actual culture.
Core Values vs. Aspirations
One of the most common mistakes companies make is confusing core values with aspirations. Core values are who you are now — the traits and behaviors that already define your best people and your actual culture. Aspirations are who you want to become — important, but different.
The strongest companies keep their core values grounded in reality. Values should be non-negotiable standards that hold true even when following them is hard or costly. They shouldn’t change with trends, market pressure, or convenience.
Aspirations are important too, but they belong in your vision and planning — not in your core values list. Keeping this distinction clear ensures that your values remain credible, authentic, and actionable.
Core Values by Industry
While every company’s values should be unique to its culture and people, here are examples of how core values might look across different industries:
Technology
A software company might define values around innovation, ownership, and user-centric thinking — reinforcing agility and accountability in a fast-moving environment. Values like “move fast and learn,” “think like the user,” and “own your code” help align developers, designers, and leadership around delivering constant improvement.
Healthcare
A medical practice might prioritize precision, compassion, and clear communication — values like “put patients first,” “be detail-focused,” and “communicate with care.” In healthcare, these values promote trust and ensure that every decision supports patient well-being.
Manufacturing
A production business might focus on safety, quality, and continuous improvement. Values like “work safely,” “focus on quality,” and “improve every day” drive operational excellence and create a culture where precision and pride in craftsmanship define success.
Creative Services
A marketing or design agency might value bold thinking, accountability, and client partnership — “lead with ideas,” “own the outcome,” and “respect the client.” These help teams stay inspired while maintaining the professionalism needed to deliver measurable results.
Construction and Trades
A contracting firm might emphasize reliability, craftsmanship, and solution-oriented thinking — “do what you say,” “take pride in the work,” and “be solution-minded.” These values represent the integrity and quality that keep projects on track and clients coming back.
Getting Started
If you haven’t yet defined your company’s core values — or if you’ve defined them but they aren’t actively shaping how your business operates — now is the time to invest in getting this right. Clear, authentic, consistently applied core values are one of the highest-leverage investments a growing company can make in its culture and team.
Companies interested in the EOS® approach to core values — including the People Analyzer™ tool and the structured discovery exercise — should work with a certified EOS Implementer™ through eosworldwide.com.
For broader help defining values, building culture, and creating the operational structure that supports both, a fractional COO can provide the leadership and accountability to make it happen.
Final Thoughts
Core values aren’t just a list of nice words — they guide real decisions and real behavior. By identifying and actively using their core values, businesses build stronger teams, better cultures, and more resilient organizations that can grow without losing their identity.
Whether you use EOS®, another framework, or a custom approach, the principle is the same: define who you are, make it explicit, and hold everyone — including leadership — accountable to it. That’s how values become culture.
