Clarify and Communicate Core Values to Attract the Right People and Strengthen Culture

A company’s culture is defined by the actual, lived values—often quite different from whatever is written in the employee handbook. The most effective organizations deliberately discover their real core values by focusing on their best people, not just inventing aspirational phrases. It’s a process: leaders name team members who consistently embody what makes the company great, then debate what these people have in common—distilling, say, a list of 20 principles down to three or five non-negotiables.

But it doesn’t stop at picking words. Each value must come to life in daily stories, recognition, and even tough decisions. Whether naming a meeting room after a value, or highlighting someone’s action that set an example, the goal is making values a filter for hiring, firing, reviewing, and celebrating. The leader’s core value speech—delivered with memorable, real stories—becomes a living part of the culture, not just a formality.

Teams that commit to clarity and activation of their values find that ‘right people’ are naturally drawn in, and those who don’t fit move on, raising morale and performance. Social psychologists call this cultural congruence: the more visible, repeated, and enacted the values, the more cohesive and resilient the team.

Today’s the right day to focus on authenticity: gather your leadership team, list the actual people whose attitude shapes the company for the better, and write out what makes them special. Have the courage to prune this down to just a few core, “hell yes” values, skipping the jargon. For each, find a short story or example that brings it to life, and practice sharing them with your team—and in every review, interview, and public moment. Suddenly, you’ll see the right people rise and the wrong ones weed themselves out, transforming your organization from the inside out.