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CultureLeadership5 min read
Where company values quietly become slogans
Every company starts with values that mean something. The drift to slogans is gradual, and almost never noticed by the people inside it.
Day one, the values are real. They were the reason a founder didn't compromise on a hire, or the reason the team turned down a deal that would have closed. Years in, the same words appear on the wall and mean nothing.
How drift happens
- Values get repeated in onboarding without examples of when they cost something.
- Leadership stops modeling the hard versions.
- Hiring rewards "culture fit" — which becomes "like us" — instead of "holds our values."
- Decisions that contradict the values go unremarked.
The check
If you can't recall the last time a value cost the company a decision — a hire not made, a deal not taken, a feature not shipped — they're slogans. Real values have a price tag attached.
Values you've never paid for aren't values. They're posters.