The Values Institute
Understanding what matters most.
The Values Institute exists to deepen our understanding of human values and to help people live in closer alignment with what matters. Our work spans individual, organizational, cultural and societal values: original research, accessible insight, practical tools, and education for the people who put values to work.
Why we exist
Knowing your values and living them are two very different things.
Understanding values helps people make more meaningful decisions, strengthen relationships, work across differences and build more fulfilling lives. Understanding the values of others matters just as much: it is the basis of constructive dialogue and collaboration in a complex world.
The Institute is curious, evidence-based and nonpartisan. We don't prescribe a correct set of values. We study how values shape motivation, behavior, culture and decision-making, and we turn what we learn into tools people can use.
Founded in 2018, the Institute has produced original research including the Global Values Report 2026, which drew on 9,656 respondents across 114 countries and surfaced one of the most consistent findings in the field: values clarity is necessary, but not sufficient. The gap between insight and action is what everything here is designed to close.
What we study
Four areas, one question.
How do people close the gap between what they value and how they live? We ask it at every scale.
Personal values
Individual priorities, motivation, decisions, identity and fulfillment: how a person finds their values and lives by them.
Read the workOrganizational values
Shared values, leadership, culture, collaboration and team alignment, from a founding team to a global workforce.
Read the workCultural and societal values
How values move through communities, cultures, politics and public attitudes, and how they shift over time.
Read the workValues in the age of intelligence
An emerging line of inquiry: how human values shape technology, AI alignment and the choices ahead of us. Editorial today, research to follow.
Read the workOur vision
We see a future built on values.
A future where individuals are clear about their core values — choosing careers and lifestyles that bring fulfillment, and the sense of purpose a changing world demands.
Where communities align on shared values to build trust and psychological safety — on a sports team, in a workplace, across a neighborhood.
And where values become the anchors of better decisions and clearer, more coherent communication.
What we stand for
Our values
Three values guide everything we build.
Curiosity
We question assumptions, follow the evidence and keep experimenting. Innovation is how we turn rigorous research into tools people can actually use.
Service
We exist to help people live better. Every report, tool and program is measured by the difference it makes in a single person's life.
Community
Values are lived together, not alone. We connect individuals, teams and coaches into a network aligned around what matters most.
Founded by Bradley Hook
Brad Hook is a speaker, author, facilitator and entrepreneur based in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand. He is the author of Start With Values (Penguin, 2025) and the creator of the FLAME Method — a holistic performance framework for leaders and teams navigating the age of intelligence.
Over two decades, Brad has delivered keynotes, workshops and leadership programs for organizations including PwC, Bridgestone, Electronic Arts, Fonterra and Fletcher Building. He has partnered with Chartered Accountants Worldwide, been featured in Entrepreneur magazine, and directed the documentary Waves of Freedom.
Why values? The science.
Values aren't a soft topic. The research is unambiguous — and it has been for decades.
Participants who affirmed their values had significantly lower cortisol responses to stress, compared with control participants.
Relatively little has been written on the benefits of self-disciplined articulation of a philosophical worldview and core values that help us weather the storms that inevitably rock our lives and careers.
How we label what we publish
Four kinds of claim, labeled as such.
Credibility comes from saying which is which. Every article carries one of these labels.
Original research
Findings from our own data: the Global Values Report, the assessment benchmarks and the studies that follow. Sample sizes and dates are stated.
Research-informed
Guides and articles built on peer-reviewed work by others, cited so you can check it.
Perspective
Interpretation and commentary. Our reading of the evidence, offered as a point of view.
Exploratory
Hypotheses and early thinking, including our work on values and artificial intelligence. Interesting, unproven, and labeled that way.
How we scale it
Building a global network of values coaches
Our mission is to build the world's leading network of values coaches — powered by the world's best values assessment technology — and to help people everywhere lead happier, more fulfilling lives. People are joining from around the world, using their values to live and lead with more clarity, and training to guide others.