Values: The behaviors people see, not the words you write

Most organizations have values written somewhere on a poster or buried in a PowerPoint but formal value statements only influence culture when they are actively lived by leaders and consistently reinforced through behavior. Without that, values become background noise and teams look elsewhere for cues.

Values are behavioral signals, not slogans

Organizational culture research is remarkably consistent: People don’t learn values from documents, they learn them from what leaders allow, reward, or ignore. Academic work by Edgar Schein (MIT Sloan School) has shown that culture is primarily shaped by “the behavior leaders systematically pay attention to” — especially under pressure (Schein, 2010).

That means:

• If you tolerate disrespect, disrespect becomes part of the culture.

• If you react poorly to bad news, people stop sharing it.

• If you want ownership but micromanage, you eliminate ownership.

Culture is the behavior people learn to expect.

Turn your Values into verbs

Management literature consistently shows that values expressed as actions (rather than nouns) are easier to remember and easier to apply in real situations. This aligns with Simon Sinek’s well‑known advice: “For values or guiding principles to be truly effective, they have to be verbs. It’s not ‘integrity,’ it’s ‘always do the right thing, It’s not ‘innovation,’ it’s ‘look at the problem from a different angle.’"

This is supported by research from organizational psychologists who found that employees internalize values more effectively when expressed as concrete, observable behaviors rather than abstract ideals (Kerns, 2003; Kouzes & Posner, 2017).

A noun only tells you what you should admire. A verb tells you how to act.

Why Values must be memorable (and short)

Attention research shows that people can reliably recall three to four items without external cues (Cowan, 2010). This applies directly to leadership, if your values require a paragraph to explain, nobody will remember them, and nobody will use them.

So keep your value statement short, simple, actionable, and emotionally resonant.

When I was a squadron commander, we used a simple set: "Be good. Be safe. Radiate success."

Everyone remembered them and because they were clear and behavioral, people actually used them.

This aligns with the “sticky principles” concept described by Chip & Dan Heath in Made to Stick (2007): simplicity, concreteness, unexpectedness, and credibility make messages memorable enough to drive behavior.

Values Become Culture Through Consistency

Leadership research (including work by Amy Edmondson at Harvard on psychological safety) shows that teams look for behavioral consistency, not perfection. When leaders behave consistently with stated values, trust increases. When there is divergence, even small, credibility collapses.

In practice, this means:

• Address issues early

• Stay calm when bad news surfaces

• Treat everyone with fairness

• Model the behaviors you expect

• Reward constructive challenge

These are small moments with huge cultural impact.

A Question Worth Asking

Values don’t need to be clever, they need to be lived.

So ask yourself, and ask the people who know you: “What values did you actually see me live by? The good, the bad, and the ugly.”