Your Company Has Too Many Values

Most companies do not have a values problem.

They have a prioritization problem.

A founder sits down to define what the company stands for and produces a long, reasonable list: ownership, speed, quality, trust, humility, transparency, grit, curiosity, excellence, teamwork, empathy, urgency, accountability.

None of those are bad. That is exactly the issue.

When everything makes the list, nothing stands out. The team cannot remember it, leaders cannot apply it consistently, and the values stop being useful the moment a hard decision shows up.

Values are not meant to be a wall decoration. They are supposed to help people choose.

The test: can your team use them under pressure?

A company value matters only if it changes behavior.

That means it has to be simple enough to recall in the middle of actual work:

• when a project slips
• when a customer request creates tension
• when a hiring decision is close
• when speed and quality are pulling in opposite directions
• when a leader has to choose between what is convenient and what is right

If your values require a long document, a workshop, or interpretation from leadership every time they come up, they are too broad or too many.

Good values act like decision filters. They help people narrow options fast.

Why fewer values work better

People do not operate from a ranked list of 14 principles in the middle of a tough week.

They operate from a handful of memorable rules that feel real.

That is why smaller sets of values are stronger. A short list is easier to remember, easier to repeat, and easier to use across the company. It also forces leadership to make the harder call: not just naming good traits, but deciding which ones are most central to how the company works.

That tradeoff is the point.

If you claim to value everything, you have not actually prioritized anything.

Start with irritation, not slogans

A practical way to define values is to ignore polished language at first.

Instead, list the behaviors that consistently matter to you and the ones that consistently frustrate you.

Founders often discover their real values in the moments that bother them most.

For example, if slow internal communication creates friction every week, that may point to a deeper value around responsiveness or clarity. If you repeatedly get frustrated by people waiting to be told what to do, that may reveal a value around initiative. If half-finished work keeps creating downstream problems, that may point to craftsmanship or reliability.

This approach is more useful than brainstorming aspirational words because it starts from lived experience. You are not inventing a company personality. You are naming what already drives good and bad outcomes.

Group related ideas together

Once you have a long list, look for overlap.

Many value words are just different versions of the same principle.

For example:

• ownership, agency, and initiative may belong together
• candor, transparency, and direct communication may belong together
• quality, craftsmanship, and attention to detail may belong together

This step matters because founders often confuse nuance with importance. You do not need separate values for every shade of the same idea. You need a small number of clear principles your team can actually use.

Cut until it becomes uncomfortable

This is where most companies stop too early.

They sort the list, keep nearly all of it, and call it done.

A better target is usually three to five values.

Less than that can become vague. More than that becomes forgettable.

If trimming the list feels uncomfortable, you are probably getting closer to something useful. Real values require exclusion. You are deciding what gets emphasized when tradeoffs appear.

That means some good things will not make the final list.

That is fine.

A company can still care about many things. Its core values should represent the few ideas it refuses to compromise on.

Stress-test every value against a hard call

Before finalizing anything, run each value through real scenarios.

Ask:

• Would this help us make a difficult hiring decision?
• Would this help us resolve conflict between speed and quality?
• Would this help a manager decide how to give feedback?
• Would this help us choose a customer, project, or opportunity?

If a value sounds good but does not clarify action, it is probably too generic.

“Integrity” may be essential, but if every company claims it and nobody knows what it looks like day to day, it is not doing enough work on its own. A sharper expression of the same idea is often more helpful: tell the truth early, own mistakes quickly, or do not hide bad news.

Specific values are easier to live.

The point is clarity, not completeness

Many leadership teams try to write values that describe everything admirable about the business.

That creates a comprehensive list. It does not create a usable one.

Your team does not need a complete catalog of virtues. It needs a short set of priorities that shape behavior when choices get messy.

That is what values are for.

They help determine:

• who thrives on the team
• what kind of work gets rewarded
• which opportunities fit
• what tradeoffs are acceptable
• where leadership draws hard lines

Done well, values reduce hesitation. They make culture more legible.

A simple exercise for founders

If your current values are too long, too vague, or too forgettable, use this process:

1. Brain-dump everything that matters

Write down the behaviors, standards, and working styles you care about most. Include the things that energize you and the things that repeatedly frustrate you.

2. Combine overlapping ideas

Group similar concepts together until the themes become obvious.

3. Cut the list to three to five

Force prioritization. If two ideas compete, choose the one that better explains how your company should behave.

4. Test them against real decisions

Use recent moments of tension, ambiguity, or disagreement. If a value would not have helped, rewrite or remove it.

5. Make them memorable enough to repeat

If a team lead cannot explain the values clearly without notes, they are still too abstract.

The bottom line

A long values list usually signals indecision, not depth.

Strong companies do not win because they can name every good trait. They win because they are unusually clear about what matters most.

Keep your values few enough to remember and sharp enough to use.

If your team cannot reach for them in a hard moment, they are not really values yet.