Core Company Values

Core company values are clearly articulated principles about organizational vision and mission.

These values guide the fundamental beliefs that help employees within a company function as a team and work toward shared goals. Usually, core company values relate to company growth, business relationships, and customer relationships. At the most simplistic level, specific examples include integrity, trust, honesty, fun, passion, and humility.

From the perspective of the business, having a core set of values facilitates better decision-making, collaborative teamwork, and the communication of core principles to clients, customers, and other important stakeholders. Organizations that do not define their core values run the risk that some values will evolve on their own and negatively impact the business.

What’s more, core company values have a profound effect on employee satisfaction. The presence of appropriate values has been positively linked with employee satisfaction, with one study finding over 75% of individuals considered it important to work for an organization with robust culture and values. In a similar LinkedIn survey, 26% of employees would forego a fancy title and 65% would accept a lower salary before dealing with a lack of company values and the poor company culture that results.

With all of that said, let’s explore the core company values that exist across multiple organizations.

Amazon Core Values

Amazon defines core company values in terms of fourteen leadership principles. These principles are used daily from discussing new projects to determining the best problem-solving approach.

amazon-leadership-principles — Amazon fundamental principles that drove and drive the company are: Customer Obsession Ownership Invent and Simplify Are Right, A Lot Learn and Be Curious Hire and Develop the Best Insist on the Highest Standards Think Big Bias for Action Frugality Earn Trust Dive Deep Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Deliver Results

They include:

Customer obsession – start with the customer and work backward.
Ownership – leaders are long-term thinkers who do not sacrifice long-term value for short-term results.
Invent and simplify – leaders expect teams to innovate and invent with the overarching goal of simplification. They also accept that new or radical ways may cause the company to be misunderstood for long periods.
Are right, a lot – this means leaders tend to be correct more often than not. They exercise sound judgment and good instincts.
Learn and be curious – continuous improvement is prioritized through the exploration of new possibilities.
Hire and develop the best – every hire and promotion must raise performance standards. Leaders must be able to identify exceptional talent and motivate them to grow through coaching.
Insist on the highest standards – leaders have extremely high standards that others may consider unreasonable. Nevertheless, these standards deliver high-quality products and ensure process errors or defects are identified early.
Think big – since thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Bias for action – every decision does not require in-depth analysis. Speed matters in business and most decisions are reversible in any case.
Frugality – this means accomplishing more with less.
Earn trust – for a leader, this means being vocally self-critical and listening attentively, speaking candidly, and treating others with respect.
Dive deep – leaders carry out a range of tasks, with no task beneath them. Skepticism is healthy when factual evidence does not align with anecdotal evidence.
Have backbone (disagree and commit) – decisions should be challenged when there is disagreement, regardless of whether it may cause embarrassment or awkwardness. Compromise should never occur for the sake of social cohesion.
Deliver results – inputs are delivered on time and at the right quality level despite setbacks.

Accenture Core Values

Accenture claims its core values shape its culture and define its character. Core values are exhibited through individual behaviors that guide decision-making.

accenture-business-model — Accenture is one of the world’s leading professional services companies with approximately 425,000 people serving clients in a broad range of industries and in three geographic regions: North America, Europe and Growth Markets (Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and Turkey) Accenture runs five operating groups, organized by industry. Those are: strategy, consulting, digital, technology including application services, and operations to deliver end-to-end services and solutions to clients. In 2017 over 27% of revenues came from products, while over 21% from financial services and over 19% of communications, media and technology. North America is the largest market for Accenture.

Accenture’s six company values include:

Client value creation – this means helping clients become high-performance businesses through the establishment of long-term relationships.
One global network – exceptional customer service is delivered to clients wherever they do business. This is achieved by leveraging the power of global insight, relationships, and collaboration.
Respect for the individual – Accenture values diverse and unique contributions in a trusting, open, and inclusive work environment.
Best people – encompassing the attracting and recruiting of the best available talent that demonstrate a “can-do” attitude.
Integrity – where words and behavior are aligned and employees take responsibility for their actions.
Stewardship – or an obligation to build a better, more robust company for future generations to enjoy. Stewardship also includes protecting the Accenture brand, fulfilling stakeholder needs and expectations, and improving global communities.

Google Core Values

Google mission is “to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

google-vision-statement-mission-statement — Google mission statement is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Its vision statement is to “provide an important service to the world-instantly delivering relevant information on virtually any topic.” In 2019, Sundar Pichai emphasized a renewed mission to allow people “to get things done!”

google-business-model — Google is a platform, and a tech media company running an attention-based business model. As of 2020, Alphabet’s Google generated over $182 billion in revenues. Almost $147 billion came from Google Advertising products (Google Search, YouTube Ads, and Network Members sites). They were followed by over $21 billion in other revenues (comprising Google Play, Pixel phones, and YouTube Premium), followed by Google Cloud, which generated over $13 billion in 2020.

Here are the ten values which help the company realize its mission:

Focus on the user and all else will follow – providing a clean, consistent, simple, and transparent user experience is paramount.
It’s best to do one thing really, really well – for Google, this is search.
Fast is better than slow – Google recognizes that for consumers, time is valuable. Services should be fast enough for the modern web.
Democracy on the web works – the company acknowledges that Google search works because of the millions of individual content creators online. The company also recognizes the importance of democracy in open source software development.
You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer – this means pioneering new technologies and mobile solutions so consumers can get what they want wherever they may be.
You can make money without doing evil – Google is a business that generates revenue through relevant, transparent, and non-flashy text-based advertisements. These characteristics ensure the integrity of the AdWords and Adsense platforms.
There is always more information out there – researchers continue to develop ways of bringing the world’s information to people seeking answers.
The need for information crosses all borders – Google has offices in more than 60 countries with more than 180 internet domains across 130 different languages. Though conceived in California, more than half of all Google search results are served outside the United States.
You can be serious without a suit – employees should be energetic, passionate people from diverse backgrounds with creative approaches to work and life. Google understands that great ideas result from sound company culture.
Great just isn’t good enough – Google considers being great at something as a starting point – not an endpoint. To that end, the company sets goals it knows it cannot achieve in the short term. This helps it stretch and progress further than employees or the organization as a whole might believe is possible.

Key takeaways:

Core company values are clearly articulated principles about organizational vision and mission. These values guide the fundamental beliefs that help employees within a company function as a team and work toward shared goals.
Amazon defines core company values in terms of fourteen leadership principles, including customer obsession, ownership, learn and be curious, and hire and develop the best.
Accenture claims its core values shape organizational culture and character, while Google has a set of ten core values that help it achieve its mission of making information accessible to everyone.