Owning outcomes, not just activity. Honoring commitments and being transparent when they slip.
Behaviors
- Names a clear owner for every decision
- Reports status before being asked
- Acknowledges misses and proposes a fix
Anti-patterns
- Blaming process or other teams
- Vague 'we' instead of 'I'
- Quiet missed deadlines
Reinforce it with
- • Public commitment tracking
- • Weekly DRI updates
- • Retrospectives that name owners, not just causes
Accountability is the soil trust grows in. Without it, every other value softens.
Sharing context, data, and reasoning by default — so people can make great decisions without you.
Behaviors
- Defaults to open documents
- Shares the 'why' behind decisions
- Tells the hard truth early
Anti-patterns
- Need-to-know hoarding
- Polished updates that hide reality
- Backchannel decision making
Reinforce it with
- • Open metrics dashboards
- • Public meeting notes
- • Leadership AMAs
Transparency turns information from a power tool into a shared resource.
Starting with the customer and working backwards. Letting their reality outweigh internal politics.
Behaviors
- Talks to real customers weekly
- Reads support tickets unprompted
- Prioritizes customer pain over internal preference
Anti-patterns
- Designing for the org chart
- Treating NPS as a vanity metric
- 'The customer doesn't know what they want'
Reinforce it with
- • Customer call rotations
- • Voice-of-customer in every review
- • Empty chair for the customer in meetings
Keeps strategy honest and prevents inward-facing drift.
Treating every person as a full human being whose time, ideas, and dignity matter.
Behaviors
- Listens before responding
- Credits ideas to their source
- Disagrees with the idea, not the person
Anti-patterns
- Interrupting and steamrolling
- Sarcasm framed as 'just kidding'
- Status-based listening
Reinforce it with
- • Meeting norms
- • Anonymous feedback channels
- • Calling in, not calling out
Respect is the floor. Without it, no other value is safe.
Improving how things work by trying things that might not. Treating new ideas as cheap and easy to test.
Behaviors
- Runs small experiments
- Steals shamelessly from other industries
- Kills its own ideas when the data says so
Anti-patterns
- Innovation theater (hackathons, no follow-up)
- Punishing useful failure
- Defending legacy because it's legacy
Reinforce it with
- • Time-boxed experiment budget
- • Demo days with real users
- • Post-mortems that celebrate learning
Innovation is a habit, not a department.
Acting like a founder of the part of the company you can touch.
Behaviors
- Picks up the work no one owns
- Thinks past their job description
- Closes the loop
Anti-patterns
- 'Not my job'
- Escalating instead of solving
- Polished handoffs with no follow-through
Reinforce it with
- • Operating cadences
- • Founder stories
- • Public recognition for cross-team saves
Ownership compounds — every owned moment makes the next one easier.
Holding strong opinions loosely. Believing you can be wrong, and acting on it.
Behaviors
- Asks 'what am I missing?'
- Credits the team in public, takes blame in private
- Updates beliefs when evidence shifts
Anti-patterns
- Defending ego over outcomes
- Performative humility
- Quiet credit-taking
Reinforce it with
- • Pre-mortems
- • Red-team reviews
- • Promotion criteria that reward learning, not certainty
Humility is the doorway through which feedback walks.
Caring how the work is done, not just whether it ships.
Behaviors
- Sweats the second draft
- Refuses to ship known broken things
- Defines 'done' before starting
Anti-patterns
- 'Good enough' as a permanent setting
- Hero culture covering for poor process
- Quality only when leadership is watching
Reinforce it with
- • Quality bars and definitions of done
- • Craft reviews
- • Time budgeted for polish, not just delivery
Excellence is contagious — and so is its absence.
Saying the thing, doing the hard thing, even when it costs you something.
Behaviors
- Surfaces problems early
- Disagrees with senior people respectfully
- Makes the unpopular call when needed
Anti-patterns
- Polite silence in meetings, complaints in DMs
- Waiting for permission to do obvious things
- Avoiding hard feedback
Reinforce it with
- • Norms that reward dissent
- • Leaders modeling vulnerability
- • Protected channels for hard truths
Courage is what turns values from posters into practice.
Treating today's process as a draft. Small, regular changes over big, rare ones.
Behaviors
- Runs retros that lead to action
- Measures, then improves
- Looks for the next 1% every week
Anti-patterns
- 'This is how we've always done it'
- Retros without owners
- Annual reorgs as a substitute for daily learning
Reinforce it with
- • Kaizen boards
- • Time set aside for improvement work
- • Tracking improvements like features
Compounds quietly into a system that gets better while no one is looking.
Doing what you said you'd do, especially when it's inconvenient.
Behaviors
- Honors small commitments
- Tells the same story in every room
- Acts the same when no one is watching
Anti-patterns
- Different message to different audiences
- Quiet exceptions for senior people
- Spin disguised as positioning
Reinforce it with
- • Promise tracking
- • Clear escalation paths
- • Consequences that apply to everyone
Integrity is the value that makes every other value believable.
Understanding what it's like to be the other person before designing for them.
Behaviors
- Asks how a change will land for the team affected
- Listens for what isn't said
- Designs for the worst day, not the best
Anti-patterns
- Logic without care
- 'Tough love' that is mostly tough
- Empathy only for people like us
Reinforce it with
- • Shadowing customers and teammates
- • Inclusive design reviews
- • Manager training on listening
Empathy is what keeps performance human.
Choosing the team's outcome over personal credit. Making others better as part of the job.
Behaviors
- Writes things down so others can build on them
- Offers help before it's asked for
- Defaults to 'we'
Anti-patterns
- Hero solos
- Information hoarding
- Meetings as performance
Reinforce it with
- • Shared OKRs across teams
- • Pair work and reviews
- • Recognition for assists, not just goals
Collaboration is what turns a group of talented people into a team.
Asking "why" one more time than feels comfortable. Treating not-knowing as a starting point, not a weakness.
Behaviors
- Asks follow-up questions before proposing solutions
- Reads outside their own discipline
- Treats surprises as data, not annoyances
Anti-patterns
- Assuming the first answer is the right one
- Punishing "I don't know" instead of rewarding it
- Confusing confidence with correctness
Reinforce it with
- • Show-and-tell sessions across teams
- • Budget for exploratory research time
- • Leaders asking questions in public they don't know the answer to
Curiosity is what keeps excellence from calcifying into habit.
Preferring a reversible decision made today over a perfect one made next month.
Behaviors
- Ships small and learns fast
- Distinguishes one-way doors from two-way doors
- Defaults to trying, not debating
Anti-patterns
- Analysis paralysis dressed up as rigor
- Waiting for consensus that will never fully arrive
- Punishing fast decisions that turned out wrong
Reinforce it with
- • Explicit "reversible vs. irreversible" decision framing
- • Time-boxed decision deadlines
- • Celebrating speed, not just outcomes
Bias for action turns strategy into motion.
Making it safe to say the awkward thing, ask the basic question, or admit the mistake — before it becomes a crisis.
Behaviors
- Responds to bad news with curiosity, not blame
- Admits their own mistakes first
- Separates the person from the failure
Anti-patterns
- Public blame for honest mistakes
- Punishing the messenger
- Silence in meetings, real opinions in hallways
Reinforce it with
- • Blameless post-mortems
- • Leaders modeling visible failure
- • Norms that protect dissent in the room it happens
Psychological safety is the precondition every other value depends on.
Choosing the solution that's easiest to understand and maintain, not the one that's most impressive to build.
Behaviors
- Removes steps before adding them
- Explains decisions in plain language
- Questions complexity that "just grew that way"
Anti-patterns
- Complexity as a status symbol
- Process added but never retired
- Jargon used to obscure, not clarify
Reinforce it with
- • Regular process/tooling audits
- • "What can we remove?" as a standing retro question
- • Rewarding subtraction, not just addition
Simplicity is a discipline, not an accident.
Making decisions the future version of the company will thank you for, even when it costs something now.
Behaviors
- Weighs second-order effects before deciding
- Invests in things that pay off past this quarter
- Says no to short-term wins that create long-term debt
Anti-patterns
- Optimizing for the next demo or review cycle
- Treating technical/culture debt as someone else's problem
- Decisions that look good in the deck, not in year two
Reinforce it with
- • Multi-year planning alongside quarterly OKRs
- • Rewarding decisions retroactively, once outcomes are known
- • Leaders explicitly naming trade-offs out loud
Long-term thinking is what protects the company from its own short-term wins.
Actively seeking out perspectives that disagree with the room, because agreement is a warning sign, not a milestone.
Behaviors
- Invites the dissenting voice before finalizing a decision
- Builds teams with different backgrounds and default assumptions
- Treats "we all agree" as a prompt to look harder
Anti-patterns
- Hiring for culture "fit" instead of culture "add"
- Groupthink mistaken for alignment
- Token inclusion without real influence
Reinforce it with
- • Structured devil's-advocate roles in key decisions
- • Diverse hiring panels
- • Tracking whose ideas actually get adopted
Diversity of thought is what keeps a confident team from being a wrong one.
Absorbing setbacks without absorbing despair. Treating hard periods as temporary, not identity-defining.
Behaviors
- Separates the setback from self-worth
- Recovers focus quickly after a bad outcome
- Names what was learned, not just what was lost
Anti-patterns
- Spiraling into blame after failure
- Burnout treated as a badge of honor
- Avoiding hard projects to avoid the risk of failing
Reinforce it with
- • Post-failure retros focused on learning, not fault
- • Visible recovery stories from leadership
- • Sustainable pacing, not constant crunch
Resilience is what lets ambition survive contact with reality.
Telling the truth even when a softer version would be easier, especially when the truth reflects on you.
Behaviors
- Says "I don't know" instead of guessing confidently
- Delivers bad news directly instead of burying it in a longer update
- Admits a mistake before being asked about it
Anti-patterns
- Softening feedback until it loses its meaning
- Withholding bad news to protect the moment
- Technically true statements designed to mislead
Reinforce it with
- • Leaders sharing their own failures first
- • Rewarding early bad-news delivery over late good news
- • Feedback training that practices directness
Honesty is the version of the truth that costs you something.
Staying committed to the team and mission through the hard, unglamorous stretch — not just the easy parts.
Behaviors
- Defends the team's reputation when they're not in the room
- Stays through a hard project instead of jumping ship at the first sign of trouble
- Raises concerns privately before airing them publicly
Anti-patterns
- Talking badly about the company to outsiders while staying silent internally
- Loyalty that evaporates the moment it's inconvenient
- Treating every setback as a reason to disengage
Reinforce it with
- • Leaders staying visibly committed during hard quarters
- • Recognizing tenure through hard periods, not just wins
- • Clear channels for raising concerns without disloyalty
Loyalty is commitment that survives the hard chapter, not just the good one.
Designing systems and spaces where people who are different can contribute, grow, and belong at full strength.
Behaviors
- Asks whose voice is missing before finalizing
- Removes unnecessary barriers to participation
- Uses flexible norms instead of single-style defaults
Anti-patterns
- Treating diversity as a hiring finish line
- Ignoring accessibility or caregiving needs
- Confusing comfort with belonging
Reinforce it with
- • Inclusive meeting rituals
- • Accessible documentation and events
- • Regular listening sessions with underrepresented groups
Inclusion is the bridge between diversity and performance.
Adjusting quickly to new information, markets, and constraints without losing direction or trust.
Behaviors
- Revises plans when the facts change
- Helps teammates navigate uncertainty
- Protects the goal while changing the method
Anti-patterns
- Stubborn adherence to a plan that no longer fits
- Changing direction every Monday
- Using ambiguity as an excuse for delay
Reinforce it with
- • Scenario planning sessions
- • Rapid decision loops
- • Stories of productive pivots
Adaptability is the discipline of changing the plan without losing the people.
Noticing and expressing appreciation for effort, impact, and small wins that usually go unseen.
Behaviors
- Says thank you specifically and publicly
- Credits behind-the-scenes contributors
- Celebrates progress, not just outcomes
Anti-patterns
- Entitlement disguised as high standards
- Taking steady work for granted
- Recognition reserved for big wins only
Reinforce it with
- • Peer recognition channels
- • Friday win shares
- • Manager habits of specific praise
Gratitude makes contribution feel seen — and seen contribution compounds.
Believing that people will do what they say, act with good intent, and have each other's backs.
Behaviors
- Gives real responsibility without hovering
- Shares information without a million approvals
- Assumes good intent until proven otherwise
Anti-patterns
- Micromanagement as a default
- Building systems for the worst actor
- Punishing people for the first mistake
Reinforce it with
- • Clear delegation with authority
- • Transparent decision logs
- • Accountability that matches the trust given
Trust is the shortcut that makes every other value move faster.
Applying consistent standards, distributing opportunities equitably, and explaining the rules clearly.
Behaviors
- Uses clear criteria for rewards and opportunities
- Gives candid feedback to everyone, not just favorites
- Owns when a process disadvantaged someone
Anti-patterns
- Quiet exceptions for senior people
- Opaque promotion decisions
- Treating consistency as the enemy of context
Reinforce it with
- • Published rubrics for growth decisions
- • Calibration sessions
- • Anonymous channels to surface unfairness
Fairness is what makes people believe the game is worth playing.
Moving fast as a team, learning in small loops, and keeping decisions reversible until they matter.
Behaviors
- Ships minimum viable versions
- Breaks big work into weekly learning milestones
- Reviews and adjusts rituals regularly
Anti-patterns
- Waiting for perfect specs before starting
- Big-bang releases with no feedback
- Changing process faster than people can adapt
Reinforce it with
- • Sprint reviews with real users
- • Experiment boards
- • Retros that focus on cycle time and learning
Agility is the habit of learning faster than the market changes.
Connecting daily work to a meaningful outcome that people can name and feel proud of.
Behaviors
- Explains why a project matters to customers or the team
- Ties goals to human outcomes, not just metrics
- Revisits purpose when the work gets hard
Anti-patterns
- Mission statements that never appear in decisions
- Celebrating numbers without stories
- Asking for hustle without a reason
Reinforce it with
- • Customer impact stories in all-hands
- • OKRs that include 'so that' purpose
- • Onboarding that connects roles to mission
Purpose is the energy source that carries people through mundane work.
Giving people the freedom to choose how they do their best work, paired with clear accountability for the result.
Behaviors
- Sets outcomes, not methods
- Supports decisions made without approval when reversible
- Invests in judgment, not just compliance
Anti-patterns
- Freedom without clarity on expectations
- Approval theater for low-stakes choices
- Blaming people for choices they were forced to make
Reinforce it with
- • Outcome-based goals
- • Decision rights matrices
- • Coaching on judgment instead of rule-following
Autonomy is the trust that turns employees into owners.
Speaking directly, kindly, and usefully — especially when silence would be easier.
Behaviors
- Gives feedback in the moment, not during reviews
- Asks the question everyone is thinking
- Separates the problem from the person
Anti-patterns
- Brutal honesty that is mostly brutal
- Avoiding hard truths until they explode
- Using 'being nice' to dodge real feedback
Reinforce it with
- • Regular 1:1s with feedback rituals
- • Anonymous upward feedback
- • Leadership modeling of public self-correction
Candor is the speed of trust in a conversation.
Investing in other people's growth as a regular part of the job, not a side project.
Behaviors
- Shares the 'why' behind decisions
- Creates stretch opportunities for others
- Gives feedback that is actionable and caring
Anti-patterns
- Hoarding expertise to stay valuable
- Mentorship only for high-potential labels
- Giving advice without listening first
Reinforce it with
- • Formal mentorship pairings
- • Growth conversations in 1:1s
- • Recognizing people who develop others
Mentorship is how a culture passes down what it values most.
Making expectations, priorities, and reasoning so clear that people can act without asking for permission.
Behaviors
- States the goal and the constraints in the same sentence
- Writes decisions down so they don't drift
- Checks for understanding, not just agreement
Anti-patterns
- Assuming silence means alignment
- Moving targets disguised as flexibility
- Jargon that hides uncertainty
Reinforce it with
- • Decision logs and written rationales
- • Role charters with clear decision rights
- • Meeting summaries with named next steps
Clarity is the respect you pay someone's time and judgment.
Sharing information in a way that creates alignment, reduces anxiety, and invites contribution.
Behaviors
- Defaults to public channels over DMs
- Repeats key messages in different formats
- Listens as much as broadcasts
Anti-patterns
- Information hoarded as leverage
- Over-communicating without a point
- Using meetings to replace writing
Reinforce it with
- • Async updates with clear owners
- • Communication charters by team
- • Feedback loops on message clarity
Communication is the circulatory system of culture.
Noticing and celebrating contributions that reinforce what the organization values most.
Behaviors
- Praises specific behavior, not just outcomes
- Recognizes effort that usually goes unseen
- Makes appreciation timely and public
Anti-patterns
- Recognition reserved for big wins
- Generic praise that could apply to anyone
- Playing favorites consistently
Reinforce it with
- • Peer recognition channels
- • Weekly win shares
- • Manager training on specific praise
Recognition tells people: this is what we want more of.
Creating the conditions where people feel accepted as themselves and safe to contribute fully.
Behaviors
- Invites quieter voices into the conversation
- Remembers and uses people's names and pronouns
- Celebrates differences rather than tolerating them
Anti-patterns
- Forcing assimilation to an unwritten norm
- Exclusion disguised as 'culture fit'
- Ignoring microaggressions
Reinforce it with
- • Onboarding that builds relationships
- • Employee resource groups
- • Regular belonging surveys with action
Belonging is the feeling that makes contribution sustainable.
Giving people authority, resources, and support to act with confidence in their judgment.
Behaviors
- Delegates real decisions, not just tasks
- Makes resources available without a fight
- Coaches instead of rescuing
Anti-patterns
- Fake autonomy with hidden veto power
- Withholding information people need to decide
- Blaming people for decisions you forced
Reinforce it with
- • Decision rights matrices
- • Budget ownership at the team level
- • Leadership asking 'what do you think?' before answering
Empowerment is trust with the tools to back it up.
Caring for the organization, its people, and its resources as if they were entrusted to you by the people who come next.
Behaviors
- Makes decisions that protect long-term health
- Invests in people even when the ROI isn't immediate
- Leaves things better than found
Anti-patterns
- Extracting value for today's metrics
- Burning people out for a deadline
- Ignoring technical or culture debt
Reinforce it with
- • Long-term impact reviews
- • Sustainability metrics in goals
- • Stories of people who protected the future
Stewardship is ownership measured in decades, not quarters.
Doing what needs to be done, especially when motivation, mood, or attention want to pull you elsewhere.
Behaviors
- Shows up prepared for meetings
- Follows through on small commitments
- Protects deep work from distraction
Anti-patterns
- Relying on inspiration to strike
- Chasing shiny priorities every week
- Letting standards slip when no one is watching
Reinforce it with
- • Calendars that protect focus time
- • Rituals and checklists for recurring work
- • Accountability partners for goals
Discipline is the bridge between intention and impact.
Saying no to good opportunities so the great ones get the energy, time, and talent they deserve.
Behaviors
- Names the one or two priorities that matter most
- Kills projects that no longer deserve resources
- Protects the team's attention from random work
Anti-patterns
- Pretending everything is a priority
- Starting more than finishing
- Context-switching as a badge of honor
Reinforce it with
- • Quarterly stop-doing lists
- • Protected focus blocks
- • Leadership visibly saying no to distractions
Focus is the courage to disappoint in order to deliver.
Treating every outcome — success or failure — as data, and every person as a potential teacher.
Behaviors
- Asks 'what did we learn?' before 'who is to blame?'
- Shares mistakes as case studies
- Invests time in skills just outside the current role
Anti-patterns
- Repeating the same failure without review
- Punishing people for admitting gaps
- Training treated as a checkbox
Reinforce it with
- • Learning budgets and protected study time
- • Post-project retrospectives
- • Internal talks and knowledge shares
Learning is the value that makes every other value evolve.
Orienting work around the needs of others — customers, teammates, and the communities you touch.
Behaviors
- Asks 'how can I help?' before assigning blame
- Designs for the user's worst day
- Treats internal requests with the same care as external ones
Anti-patterns
- Service theater without real follow-through
- Helping as a way to feel superior
- Ignoring internal customers
Reinforce it with
- • Customer and teammate shadowing
- • Service standards for internal teams
- • Recognition for acts of help
Service is the habit of making the next person's job easier.
Caring about how the work is made, not just that it shipped — because quality compounds.
Behaviors
- Sweats the details users feel
- Refactors instead of stacking hacks
- Takes pride in unglamorous work
Anti-patterns
- Shipping to hit a date and never returning
- Treating polish as optional
- 'Good enough' as a reflex
Reinforce it with
- • Peer review with real standards
- • Time budgeted for cleanup
- • Showcases of well-made work
Craftsmanship is what keeps speed from turning into debt.
Treating time, money, and attention as borrowed resources that must earn their return.
Behaviors
- Finds the cheap experiment before the big bet
- Questions recurring spend
- Solves with constraints instead of headcount
Anti-patterns
- Budget as a status symbol
- Cheapness that burns people out
- Spending to look serious
Reinforce it with
- • Spend reviewed with outcomes attached
- • Small-bet experiment norms
- • Recognition for resourceful wins
Frugality forces creativity and keeps the company honest about value.
Protecting the sustainable capacity of people so performance isn't paid for with health.
Behaviors
- Models real time off
- Watches workload, not just output
- Normalizes asking for help early
Anti-patterns
- Hustle worn as identity
- Perks instead of workload fixes
- Rewarding always-on availability
Reinforce it with
- • Coverage plans for vacations
- • Workload check-ins in 1:1s
- • Leaders logging off visibly
Wellbeing is how a team stays good for years, not quarters.
Keeping room for humor and experimentation so serious work stays human.
Behaviors
- Laughs at its own mistakes
- Makes space for side experiments
- Celebrates weird ideas before judging them
Anti-patterns
- Forced fun events
- Humor at someone's expense
- Seriousness as a status marker
Reinforce it with
- • Demo days for odd ideas
- • Team rituals people actually enjoy
- • Leaders who show personality
Playfulness lowers the cost of trying something new.
Behaving the same way on the good days and the hard ones, so people can predict you.
Behaviors
- Applies standards evenly
- Keeps small commitments
- Reacts to bad news the same way twice
Anti-patterns
- Rules that bend for favorites
- Mood-driven leadership
- Policies rewritten to fit a case
Reinforce it with
- • Documented decision criteria
- • Calibration across managers
- • Follow-through tracked publicly
Consistency is what makes trust cheap to maintain.
Being the person or team whose word can be planned around without a backup plan.
Behaviors
- Renegotiates early instead of failing quietly
- Delivers boring, dependable quality
- Closes loops without reminders
Anti-patterns
- Heroics covering chronic slippage
- Overcommitting to look eager
- Silence when things go sideways
Reinforce it with
- • Commitment tracking in reviews
- • Escalation norms that reward early flags
- • Praise for quiet dependability
Reliability turns coordination from negotiation into assumption.
Treating critique as information rather than threat — and making it easy to give you.
Behaviors
- Asks for specifics after praise
- Thanks people for hard input
- Changes something visible after feedback
Anti-patterns
- Defending before understanding
- Feedback only flowing downward
- Punishing the messenger later
Reinforce it with
- • Upward feedback in 1:1s
- • Leaders sharing their own critiques
- • Follow-up on what changed
Openness to feedback is the fastest cheap way an org gets smarter.
Making choices that still look right in three years, for the business and the planet you operate in.
Behaviors
- Weighs long-run cost of shortcuts
- Considers external impact in decisions
- Builds systems others can maintain
Anti-patterns
- Green claims without measurement
- Growth that mortgages the future
- Systems only one person understands
Reinforce it with
- • Long-horizon metrics in reviews
- • Impact criteria in decision docs
- • Handoff and documentation standards
Sustainability is stewardship with a time horizon attached.
Moving on obvious problems without waiting for permission or a perfect brief.
Behaviors
- Fixes the small broken thing it finds
- Proposes solutions with the problem
- Starts the draft nobody assigned
Anti-patterns
- 'Not my job' as a default
- Waiting for a meeting to act
- Initiative that skips alignment entirely
Reinforce it with
- • Clear guardrails for autonomous action
- • Recognition for unassigned fixes
- • Low-friction paths to propose work
Initiative is what fills the gaps no process anticipated.
Sharing credit, context, and time freely because the team's win is the real scoreboard.
Behaviors
- Names contributors specifically
- Shares knowledge instead of hoarding it
- Gives time to people with nothing to trade
Anti-patterns
- Credit routed upward only
- Information as leverage
- Helping only when it's visible
Reinforce it with
- • Peer recognition programs
- • Shared documentation norms
- • Promotion criteria that include lifting others
Generosity is how knowledge and goodwill circulate instead of pooling.