Who are we kidding?

Organizational values statements on websites and those plastered on the walls are worthless!

“Stand for Equality” was an Under Armour “value” as they tolerated workplace harassment and allowed visits to strip clubs as a legitimate business expense for their executives until last year!

And my heart aches when I think about Boeing, a great company that seems to have lost its way in pursuit of greater financial gains.

Boeing was pushing its engineers, ignoring warning signs and complaints.

Their top three values are:

Integrity (highest ethical standards)
Quality &
Safety

Financial return is not one of the values, however, that seems to have been prioritized over the stated values.

The people working in these companies wanted to do the right things. However, organizational priorities ran counter to those listed values.

Leadership has nothing to do with coming up with the “right values” at an offsite retreat and plastering them on the walls.

True leadership is living by values that others will intuit based on priorities and behaviors.

So save yourself the time and effort of sitting down with the rest of your team and coming up with a list of “values”.

Let your values speak for themselves based on what you prioritize and your behaviors!