How to Communicate Values #

Make Trade-offs #

Tell Stories #

If you work in an organisation that has a set of corporate values, I expect that you will find them exceptionally lame. Usually they are described as something like ‘provide exceptional shareholder value’ or ‘be the best in XYZ’. No one cares!

Values are only powerful if they are enacted in every day interactions, and an excellent way to communicate values is to amplify stories of interactions that exemplify values.

For instance Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their book Built to Last discuss how the department store Nordstrom uses stories of past customer interactions to induct new employees to their commitment to customer service. For instance, they would tell a story of a clerk who would wrap a gift that was bought in a store of the competitor store Macy’s.

Reference and Further Reading #

• 📕 Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip and Dan Heath