Free tools
Tools that put your values to work
Knowing your values is the start. These free tools are the practical arm of the Institute — for the decision you’re wrestling with, the culture you’re building, and the habits that keep pulling you off course. Discover, decide, define, decline, declutter.
Every tool runs in your browser — nothing you type leaves your device
Discover · Start here
The Values Assessment
Every tool below works better when you know what your values actually are. The free assessment reveals your top five in about three minutes — no sign-up required — trusted by 50,000+ people across 114 countries, and the research engine behind the Global Values Report.
Prefer a lighter framing? The same engine powers our free values quiz.
Decide · For a hard decision
The Decision Matrix
The decision-making matrix from Start With Values, made interactive. Name the decision, weigh your options against your top three values, and see where they point.
- The book's exact scoring method
- Works for any decision — career, home, money
- Printable, autosaves as you go
Define · For teams & founders
The Company Values Builder
Choose company values worth keeping — or bring the ones you have — and get a working kit for each: behaviors, anti-patterns, interview questions and rituals.
- 36 hand-curated values — written, not generated
- Matches the values you already have
- Prints a culture one-pager for your team
Decline · For the ask you're dreading
The Gentle No
Saying no without the guilt. Run the request through your values to see whether it's really a no, then get a kind, clear script matched to who's asking.
- The values check: what would yes serve, and cost?
- Hand-written scripts for boss, friend, family, client
- Honest verdicts — sometimes the answer is yes
Declutter · For self-awareness
The Junk Values Audit
Junk values taste like satisfaction and leave you hungrier. Use regret as your diagnostic, name the junk, see the real need underneath — and plan the swap.
- The book's 26 junk values, mapped from your regrets
- The reframe: what each one is really seeking
- Builds if-then plans for the next tempted moment
Where they come from
The Decision Matrix and the Junk Values Audit are interactive versions of methods from Start With Values (Penguin, 2025); the Company Values Builder distills what we’ve learned helping organizations turn values from posters into practice; The Gentle No applies the same trade-off thinking to the requests that crowd a values-aligned life. They’re free because they’re the best introduction we have to how this work feels. When you’re ready to go deeper — for yourself or your team — the Values App and the Team Values Report are the next step.