What are Core Values, and Why are They Important?

Here's a definition I keep coming back to: core values sit inside a value framework, a kind of universe or network of interconnected meanings. And here's the part people miss — that network isn't fixed. Its aspects shift with time.

Researchers have been picking at this question for more than three decades now, starting with Milton Rokeach (1973), who in his book The Nature of Human Values split values into two families: terminal and instrumental. Terminal values are the desirable end-states themselves — happiness, safety, peace.

Instrumental values come a stage earlier. They're the means, the tools we use to actually get to those terminal values — hence the name. Love, courage, honesty. These aren't the destination; they're how you travel.

Put simply, core values are a system of belief that helps us tell right from wrong. And they're not universal in the way we sometimes assume. Research on workplace values broadly backs this up — professional values tend to differ from personal ones, and different generations at work tend to prioritize different things entirely. Your values and your grandparents' values may share a name but not a shape.

The main features of values

According to Schwartz's Theory of Basic Values, values and affect are inseparable. The moment we activate a value, it comes soaked in emotion. That's actually one of the things that sets values apart from attitudes and norms — they transcend the specific situation or action in front of us. They point toward action-motivating, desirable goals, not just a reaction to the moment.

Personal core values

I think of core values as the criteria we use to judge people, actions, events — a kind of internal ruler. We decide what's justified largely on how a decision would affect the things we hold dear. Often we're not even conscious of this. It's usually only when a choice has murky implications for something we care about that the value surfaces at all. And we don't hold all our values equally — we rank them, whether we admit it or not.

So how do you find yours? Ask plain questions. What goals do I actually want to reach? What makes me happy? Rank the answers, and the ones that rise to the top are your core values.

Organizational core values

Organizational values and personal ones are cousins — both act as guiding principles for word and action, both mark identity. The difference is one of origin: company values are pre-set for you, while personal ones are something you have to go dig up yourself.

The core values of an organization sit underneath everything — the strategy used to fulfill the purpose, and how people in the organization treat each other. They're the load-bearing wall of how people approach the work.

Why core values matter in our personal lives

Core values drive behavior and shape belief. Reliability, dependability, loyalty, honesty, commitment, consistency, efficiency — these are the usual suspects. When someone in a good relationship says "we share the same values," they almost always mean this level, the core level, the one that quietly dictates how two people actually live.

Positive core values might look like managing money wisely, believing family matters, holding that trust has to be earned, or that honesty really is the best policy. And there's a reason parents lean on these so heavily — they're the guiding principles handed down to children about how to be happy and successful once they're grown.

In an ideal world, every core value would be a good one. But we don't live there. Greed and self-interest show up among people's core values too, and they tend to take root when people have had to survive difficult circumstances, or live with real insecurity or fear.

Core values in the corporate world

Core values make decisions easier. A company whose core value is standing behind quality will pull a subpar product without much internal debate — the value has already made the call. They also educate customers, current and future, about who the company actually is, which shapes what people expect from every future interaction. Get this right and you've built a real competitive edge.

Values have quietly become one of the sharpest tools in recruiting and retention. Job seekers increasingly apply to companies whose values match their own. Done well, core values distinguish a company's identity in ways competitors can't easily copy — a company becomes more competitive, both in the marketplace and as an employer, once its people and its customers know exactly what it stands for.

There's an old hiring philosophy, often traced back to former Porsche CEO Peter Schutz, that captures why this matters so well: "hire character. Train skill." Productivity climbs when a company attracts employees who already think the way it does. And companies that actually live their stated values — not just print them on a wall — demonstrate the kind of integrity that builds loyalty.

Values shape behavior too, not just belief. When a company defines and genuinely enforces its values, employees are pulled to go beyond the minimum. Criticism of an employee's work becomes, in effect, a question of whether the values are being upheld. And when hiring, operating, and accountability all run through the values, the company can hold its performance steady even as leadership changes, people come and go, circumstances shift.

The benefits of naming your core values clearly

A company that identifies its core values gets to define its culture — even its reason for existing — in a way that goes past the product or service on offer. And this isn't only a corporate exercise. Individuals who do the same work on themselves report less stress and a stronger sense of purpose.

How to identify organizational core values

Start by getting a genuinely mixed group in a room: managers, executives, product people, frontline staff, customer service. Don't be precious about seniority — bringing in interns or part-timers often helps more than it seems like it should.

Once the group is assembled, run a brainstorming session and push everyone to contribute. A question I like: if your culture were a person, who would it be — and why? Write down the repeated or similar answers. Capture full phrases and descriptions, not just single words. The more answers rhyme with each other, the stronger and more real that piece of culture likely is.

You'll end up with a long list. The real work is narrowing it. Share the traits back with employees and get their feedback — large organizations often do this through surveys. Aim for somewhere between five and ten values that genuinely represent the culture. Think of these as the main pillars holding the roof up, not an exhaustive catalog of personality traits.

What core values are not

Worth being precise here. Core values are not cultural norms. Not business strategies. Not operating practices. They shouldn't bend just because a new administration takes over or the market shifts. And they're not competencies — you don't pick them up or use them one at a time, in isolation.

Core values: the ultimate purpose

At bottom, core values should build a healthy environment aimed at a shared goal — they're meant to unify, not decorate. When employees don't actually share values, it shows up fast, and it damages more than productivity; it damages the relationships between people. The companies that get this right are the ones that make sure their people genuinely share the organization's core values, not just recite them.