The Values Statement Test: Six Questions

A value is only useful if it can lose you something. If a statement would cost you nothing to abandon, it isn't guiding behavior — it's describing an aspiration nobody has to honor.

The six questions

1. 1Could a reasonable company hold the opposite? If not, it's a table stake, not a value.
2. 2Has it ever cost you money, a deal, or a hire? Name the instance.
3. 3Can a new employee tell what to do differently on Tuesday because of it?
4. 4Does it help resolve a real trade-off you face, like speed versus certainty?
5. 5Would your most cynical employee recognize it as true?
6. 6Is anyone accountable for it in a review conversation?

Rewrites that survive the test

• "Integrity" becomes "We tell customers about problems before they find them."
• "Innovation" becomes "We ship the smallest version that teaches us something real."
• "Teamwork" becomes "You can be asked to drop your priority for someone else's escalation, and we'll say thank you publicly."

A value that has never cost you anything is a preference you haven't been tested on.

Three values that pass all six questions beat eight that pass two. Cut hard, then hold what's left.