Bill Gallagher explains how to define core values that actually work as a company scales. Pick 4 to 6 values, preferably five, and use vivid short phrases like "doing things as they were meant to be done" instead of generic terms. Core values aren't aspirational; they describe how you already operate.
Core values, company core values, everybody talks about them. How do we get them right? Why do they matter so much? Well, look, they matter because you want to create a growing scaling company and you want that company to not kill you in the process. Not overwhelming. And you also don't want it to end up as something that's unrecognizable or unlikable and lovable by you down the road. So as the company grows, we want it to grow beautifully and have people work together really well. And we want you to be proud of what you created at the end of the day. So that's why core values are important. Now here's what core values are not. Core values are not the way you wish you were. They're not aspirational. Those could be multi year strategic initiatives. But if you want to become and do things a way that you don't currently do them, that's not a core value, that's an aspiration. So core values are not aspirational. They describe. Core values should describe the way you do things today when you're doing them. Right. Right when you're working at your best. That's core values. Core values are how the how of the work. They're not the why or what you do. Core values are how you get things done when you're working. Right? So the other thing we don't want to do around core values have too many or too few. So three is probably too few, seven is definitely too many, it's four, five or six. And I tend to do five core values most of the time. Five in. In order to get something that's useful with team, people can remember them, they work well. The second thing we don't want to do or the third thing we don't want to do is we don't want to have core values be generic BS business terms. So communication, teamwork, integrity, value, safety. These are too simplistic, they're too generic. We want to create richer things. And so the easiest way to do that is use a couple words together or a small phrase that describes the value and is easily memorable and creates a picture of something rather than it just sort of is dismissed as background stuff. So don't use communication, teamwork, integrity, value, things like that. Use instead small phrases. So instead of saying integrity, I might say doing things as they were meant to be done. Instead of saying value, I might say product we're proud of. Right? Or quality I might say products we're proud of. Instead of talking about some aspect of communication, I might say courageous, authenticity, as we do with our company. So you want to create rich pictures about five of them the way that you actually are on a good day. And those are things that you can build a whole culture around over time and create a unique company that really lasts and grows far more easily and more effortlessly and joyfully than ever before. I hope that's helpful. We'll talk to you again soon. Keep scaling.
