On the walls of almost every company hangs a frame with carefully chosen words. The poster, beautifully designed by some rockstar designer, features buzzwords like integrity, innovation, and other fancy terms you’ll find in any corporate lexicon. We’ve come to call these posters “Core Values.”
Now, ask anyone in the company what those words actually mean in practice, and you’ll likely get a blank stare or worse, a dry recitation straight from the employee handbook. The truth is, these “core values” often end up as decorative frames, completely disconnected from how people actually work or treat each other. And yet, we push our employees to memorize them as if they’re preparing for some corporate spelling bee.
And the customer? They’re nowhere in that frame. Despite all the talk of being “customer-focused,” most core values seem written just to tick a box. If you showed one of those posters to a customer and asked if it reflects their experience, you’d probably get a laugh.
When you keep customers waiting in line for hours, when your front-desk staff rants at them, or when your call centre keeps a poor guy from Mphepo Zinai on hold for 30 minutes, how can you call that “customer service excellence”? Why even bother listing a contact number in the first place?
You proudly preach core values like Excellence, Innovation, Collaboration, and Customer First along with a dozen other empty phrases. And then there’s Integrity. For some reason, it seems the “Core Values god” told every company to include it on their list. It’s funny.
But here’s the thing. Nobody cares about your “Core Values.” Nobody buys your product because your website claims you “believe in integrity, innovation, and teamwork.” Core values look great on a boardroom poster, but without action, they’re meaningless.
People don’t want promises. They want products that work and services that don’t make them cry. That’s it.
Don’t be surprised when people rave about Apple or lose their minds over Amazon. These companies go beyond mission statements, they deliver results, consistently. Great products, solid service, and a genuine sense that they care about their customers.
Look, mission statements are fine. Core values are important. But if you don’t live them, they’re just glorified picture frames, perfect nesting grounds for spiders and cockroaches.
So instead of wasting time crafting the perfect poster, build a great product instead and treat people like humans.
That will be your real core value.
