Core Values Examples by Industry

Core values should be specific to how your organization creates value — and the industry you work in shapes that more than most leaders admit. A hospital and a software startup can both claim "excellence," but the behaviors that matter at 3am in an emergency ward look nothing like the ones that matter in a product sprint.

Below, for each of seven industries, we list values that tend to fit, why they matter in that context, and real company examples drawn from our Culture in Action case studies and mission statement library. Every value links to its page in our core values library, with definitions, behaviors, anti-patterns and ways to reinforce it.

Use this as a starting vocabulary, not a menu. The best values come from your own stories of people doing the right thing when it was hard.

Technology and software

Tech organizations live with fast change, ambiguous problems and high-leverage decisions. The values that fit help people move quickly without breaking trust, and learn faster than competitors.

• Experimentation
• Customer obsession
• Transparency
• Data-driven decisions
• Psychological safety
• Ownership

Examples from our libraries: Google's case study highlights focus on the user, data-driven decisions and psychological safety. Stripe emphasizes rigor and users first, backed by a strong writing culture. Spotify pairs autonomy with alignment and experimentation. HubSpot's public culture code centers on transparency. GitLab, all-remote by handbook, lists results, transparency, iteration and efficiency.

Watch out for: "move fast" without a definition of what must never break. Pair speed with a value that protects quality or customers.

Retail

Retail runs on thin margins, frontline judgment and repeat customers. Values that fit protect the customer experience at scale and empower the people closest to the shopper.

• Customer intimacy
• Frugality
• Service
• Empowerment
• Consistency
• Stewardship

Examples from our libraries: Costco's case study pairs fair wages and loyalty with long-term thinking, and its mission is "To continually provide our members with quality goods and services at the lowest possible prices." IKEA emphasizes simplicity, cost-consciousness and togetherness. Trader Joe's highlights crew ownership and product integrity. REI's co-op structure shapes stewardship and member ownership.

Watch out for: customer values that frontline staff have no authority to act on. Empowerment has to come with a budget or a rule.

Healthcare

In healthcare, mistakes harm people, work is deeply interdependent, and staff carry heavy emotional loads. Values that fit make it safe to speak up, keep the patient at the center and protect the people giving care.

• Safety
• Compassion
• Psychological safety
• Collaboration
• Dignity
• Wellbeing

Examples from our libraries: Mayo Clinic's guiding principle is that the needs of the patient come first, alongside teamwork and integrity. Buurtzorg runs self-managing nursing teams built on trust in professionals, simplicity and patient autonomy. Medtronic's mission — "To alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life." — makes the outcome explicit.

Watch out for: compassion for patients paired with no compassion for staff. Burnout is a values problem as much as a staffing one.

Financial services

Financial services sell trust. Customers hand over money and information they cannot easily verify. Values that fit make honesty, prudence and confidentiality non-negotiable, even when shortcuts would make the quarter.

• Integrity
• Prudence
• Confidentiality
• Fairness
• Long-term thinking
• Rigor

Examples from our libraries: Vanguard's mission is "To take a stand for all investors, to treat them fairly, and to give them the best chance for investment success." Berkshire Hathaway's case study centers on integrity, long-term thinking and operator autonomy. Bridgewater Associates is known for radical truth and radical transparency. Intuit's values include integrity without compromise.

Watch out for: integrity that is enforced in compliance training but not in sales incentives. Check what your bonus plan actually rewards.

Hospitality and restaurants

Hospitality is delivered in thousands of small, unscripted moments by frontline people. Values that fit give staff the judgment and freedom to make a guest's day, and make that care visible inside the team too.

• Hospitality
• Warmth
• Service
• Empowerment
• Responsiveness
• Camaraderie

Examples from our libraries: Ritz-Carlton's case study highlights service, empowerment and attention to detail. Chick-fil-A emphasizes service, hospitality and stewardship. Southwest Airlines puts employees first, with a servant's heart and a fun-LUVing attitude. Hilton's mission is "To fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality."

Watch out for: hospitality toward guests that is not matched by how managers treat staff. Guests feel the difference.

Nonprofits

Nonprofits run on mission commitment, limited resources and accountability to donors and communities. Values that fit keep the organization honest about impact and protect staff from mission-driven burnout.

• Impact
• Stewardship
• Transparency
• Community
• Equity
• Wellbeing

Examples from our mission library: charity: water — "To bring clean and safe drinking water to people around the world." The Nature Conservancy — "To conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends." Doctors Without Borders — "To provide medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care." Each mission is concrete enough that impact can be measured against it.

Watch out for: using the mission to justify unsustainable workloads. Stewardship includes stewardship of people.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing combines physical risk, tight tolerances and long improvement cycles. Values that fit put safety first, make problems visible quickly and treat improvement as everyone's job.

• Safety
• Quality
• Continuous improvement
• Reliability
• Craftsmanship
• Accountability

Examples from our libraries: Toyota's case study centers on kaizen, respect for people and going to see the work. East Penn Manufacturing emphasizes quality, reliability and teamwork. Samancor Chrome builds operational discipline around safety, accountability and respect. Nucor pairs ownership and safety with egalitarianism. 3M's mission is simply "To improve every life."

Watch out for: safety values that bend when production targets slip. The first time a line is stopped for safety and the person is thanked is the moment the value becomes real.

Values that travel across every industry

Some values show up in almost every industry because they protect the basics of working together. If your current list has none of them, check whether you have a gap.

• Integrity
• Respect
• Accountability
• Collaboration
• Trust

The difference between industries is not whether these values matter but what they look like. Accountability in a hospital means owning a handoff so nothing is missed between shifts. In software it means naming a single owner for every decision and reporting status before being asked. In manufacturing it means stopping the line and owning the root cause. Write your definitions in the language of your own work.

Matching values to your mission

Industry is only one input. Your mission matters more. A retailer whose mission emphasizes the lowest prices needs values that protect frugality and efficiency; a retailer whose mission emphasizes experience needs values that protect service and empowerment. Read your mission statement and ask: which behaviors would make this mission impossible to achieve if they disappeared? Those behaviors are your values.

Then check the reverse. If a value on your list has no clear connection to the mission, it may still be important — respect and integrity rarely connect to a mission directly — but make sure you can explain why it is there.

How to choose values for your organization

1. 1List the three moments where your organization most often succeeds or fails — a customer interaction, a safety decision, a product launch.
2. 2For each moment, name the behavior that separates your best people from the rest.
3. 3Find the value in our library that best names that behavior, then rewrite the definition in your own words.
4. 4Check for gaps: do your values cover how you treat customers, how you treat each other, and how you make decisions?
5. 5Keep three to five, and roll them out with a plan rather than a poster.

• Browse all 172 core values
• Browse the mission statement library
• How to Roll Out New Core Values (Without the Eye-Rolls)