Core Values in Practice

It is not very common that business leaders promote participation in a political election. However, we see posts of this kind right now – and this is the right thing to do. Because in the upcoming European elections nothing less than our democratic core values are at stake. Europe as we know and love is at stake. And this is true from different perspectives: As a human being, I was fortunate enough to travel many countries of the world and also to live in different places for some time. Therefore, for me, values like openness, diversity and tolerance are self-evident. At the same time, I know first-hand how precious these values are and how important it is to protect them – especially when extremists and populists are trying to destroy them. As a business leader, I also know that hate, xenophobia and exclusion are economic risks. Germany already lacks skilled workers today and without immigration this problem will grow in the coming years. Thus, openness and diversity do not only matter to me personally – they are essential for the economic success of our country and of our continent. Now the question is: In what kind of Europe do you want to live and work? For us at Daimler Truck AG the answer is clear: In a Europe based on democratic core values like diversity, openness, and tolerance. Together with more than 30 companies we formed the alliance “We stand for values” to encourage you: Exercise your right to vote on 9th of June – and vote for the Europe you want to live and work in!  

Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, delivers a timely warning in the Financial Times against regulatory simplification pursued at any cost. “If we lose our identity, our values, the confidence of our people, we will not be in a position to negotiate anything or to bridge anything.” This is the core risk. When simplification starts to undermine Europe’s identity, its foundational values, and our trust in institutions, simplification itself turns into a liability. The endless back-and-forth on sustainability regulations is a case in point: companies increasingly lose trust in regulatory predictability. Ribera is explicit: “As Europeans, we cannot bet on a race to the bottom." Yet some of the regulatory rollbacks, delays, and shortcuts point precisely there. We may temporarily appease Washington and others, but at the cost of public confidence. 👉 The challenge for the EU is not less regulation, but better regulation. Not just rolling back and delaying, but smarter design, stronger enforcement, and credible implementation of the rules we already have.

Company culture isn't perks and slogans. It's how people feel everyday in work: Great workplace culture doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built on purpose and intention. Here are 5 ways to create an environment where culture thrives: 1. 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 → Employees need to trust their leaders and peers. → Transparency, honest communication, and follow-through on commitments are key. 2. 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹-𝗕𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 → A culture that values mental health and work-life balance attracts top talent. → Offer flexible arrangements and support systems for personal and professional balance. 3. 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 → Help employees see how their work contributes to a bigger goal. → Meaningful work fosters engagement and loyalty. 4. 𝗙𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 → Create a culture where feedback is encouraged and acted upon. → Employees need to feel heard and valued to give their best. 5. 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 → Encourage learning opportunities and celebrate diverse perspectives. → Teams thrive in environments that nurture their skills and respect individuality. Great culture drives engagement, innovation, and retention. Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗱𝗱? Let me know in the comments below 👇 --- ♻️ Find this helpful? Repost for your network. ➕ Follow Dr Alexander Young for daily insights on workplace culture, leadership, and growth.

I’ve interviewed more millionaires than I can count. I always ask them to share their lessons on creating a world-class company culture. Here's what they told me: 1. Your Values = Your Compass Your values are your organization's DNA. They guide decision-making, shape behavior, and create a shared sense of purpose. Communicate them clearly and consistently. Embrace your values. Eliminate decision fatigue. 2. Build Bulletproof Relationships • Encourage collaboration and teamwork • Foster a sense of community and belonging • Create opportunities for social connection and fun The strength of the team is each member. The strength of each member is the team. 3. Demonstrate. Don’t Dictate. As a founder or leader, your actions set the tone. • Embody integrity, empathy, and a strong work ethic • Model the behaviors and attitudes you want to see in your team As the leader goes, so goes the team. 4. Tap Into the Diverse Talents Within Your Team Build teams with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. This drives out-of-the-box thinking. Create a culture where everyone feels they can contribute. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. 5. Employee Wellbeing Matters Invest in: • A healthy workplace • Work-life balance • Mental health support When you take care of your people, they take care of your business. 6. Engage Your Team on A Deep Level • Listen actively • Foster open communication • Create space for honest feedback • Give them challenging, meaningful work  • Provide opportunities for growth and development Culture is what motivates and retains talented employees. 7. Rinse. Refine. Repeat Adapt your culture as your company grows and evolves. Stay agile and responsive to your team's needs. Regularly assess employee engagement and satisfaction. Seek feedback and ideas for improvement. What gets measured, gets done. 8. Invest In Your Culture. It Will Pay Dividends A strong, positive culture attracts top talent and boosts performance. It's your competitive advantage in a world where skilled workers have countless options. To win in the marketplace, you must first win in the workplace. 9. Building a Great Culture Isn't Rocket Science, But it Does Require Intention It takes time and effort, but it's worth it. Start by defining your values, focusing on engagement, and leading by example. Culture-building is an ongoing process, not a one-time initiative. __ Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow Matt Gray for more. Ready to implement the systems to retain top talent and create teams that operate at the highest level? Get the complete framework here: https://lnkd.in/efa-yHgP

Culture is everything 🙏🏾 When leaders accept or overlook poor behaviour, they implicitly endorse those actions, potentially eroding the organisation’s values and morale. To build a thriving culture, leaders must actively shape it by refusing to tolerate behaviour that contradicts their values and expectations.
 The best leaders: 
 1. Define and Communicate Core Values: * Articulate Expectations: Clearly define and communicate the organisation’s core values and behavioural expectations. Make these values central to every aspect of the organisation’s operations and culture. * Embed Values in Policies: Integrate these values into your policies, procedures, and performance metrics to ensure they are reflected in daily operations. 
 2. Model the Behaviour You Expect: * Lead by Example: Demonstrate the behaviour you want to see in others. Your actions should reflect the organisation’s values, from how you interact with employees to how you handle challenges. 3. Address Poor Behaviour Promptly: * Act Quickly: Confront and address inappropriate behaviour as soon as it occurs. Delays in addressing issues can lead to a culture of tolerance for misconduct. * Apply Consistent Consequences: Ensure that consequences for poor behaviour are fair, consistent, and aligned with organisational values. This reinforces that there are clear boundaries and expectations.
 4. Foster a Culture of Accountability: * Encourage Self-Regulation: Promote an environment where everyone is encouraged to hold themselves and others accountable for their actions. * Provide Support: Offer resources and support for employees to understand and align with organisational values, helping them navigate challenges and uphold standards.
 5. Seek and Act on Feedback: * Encourage Open Communication: Create channels for employees to provide feedback on behaviour and organisational culture without fear of reprisal. * Respond Constructively: Act on feedback to address and rectify issues. This shows that you value employee input and are committed to maintaining a positive culture.
 6. Celebrate Positive Behaviour: * Recognise and Reward: Acknowledge and reward employees who exemplify the organisation’s values. Celebrating positive behaviour reinforces the desired culture and motivates others to follow suit. * Share Success Stories: Highlight examples of how upholding values has led to positive outcomes, reinforcing the connection between behaviour and organisational success.
 7. Invest in Leadership Development: * Provide Training: Offer training and development opportunities for leaders at all levels to enhance their skills in managing behaviour and fostering a positive culture. 8. Promote Inclusivity and Respect: * Build a Diverse Environment: Create a culture that respects and values diversity. Inclusivity strengthens the organisational fabric and fosters a more collaborative and supportive work environment.

Work is where values turn into impact. Too often, hiring focuses solely on skills and experience, but true success comes from bringing in people who share your core values. Without this alignment, even the most talented team members can feel disconnected, resulting in lower motivation and higher turnover. Building a strong culture begins with hiring individuals who believe in the same purpose, not just those who meet the qualifications. When values align, teams work with greater passion, trust, and commitment. If you want your business to grow sustainably and meaningfully, prioritize values alongside talent. What values guide your hiring decisions?

Reflection on Leadership Principles Leadership isn’t defined by title or authority. It’s defined by consistency. Over the years, three principles have guided me: 1. Clarity over control – People perform better when they understand the goal (or the “Why”) and have room to own it. 2. Trust before task – Teams that trust each other move faster and make better decisions. 3. Progress over perfection – Growth happens through learning, not flawless execution. Mistakes happen, how you grow from them is all the difference! These lessons continue to shape how I lead and how I learn. Which leadership principles have guided you the most? Share your thoughts in the comments. #Leadership #Growth #Mindset

Here's what I learned about company culture after founding and scaling Wondery – insights valuable for both founders and job seekers. Many people get it wrong. They think culture is about perks and ping pong tables. But it's all about who you hire (and later, promote). And timing is everything. When I started Wondery, I knew the culture I wanted to build. We defined five core values: Wonder, Character, Care, Drive, and Fun. Each had its own clear definition and purpose. But here's the key —we didn't just write them down and hope for the best. We made these values the foundation of every single hiring decision. Why? Because while you can teach someone skills (like 'emotionally immersive storytelling', or 'unit economics'), you can't teach them core values. They either align with your culture or they don't. Quick advice for job seekers: When interviewing at a company, ask every interviewer about the company culture. If you get three completely different answers, run the other way. A unified vision of culture starts at the top and should permeate through every level. Here's the brutal truth about timing: when you have 5 employees, each new hire represents 20% of your culture. At 100 employees? Just 1%. The math is clear – your cultural foundation is set in those early days. Jeff Bezos and Reed Hastings understood this – they didn't wait for their company cultures to "just happen." They built them intentionally from day one. So: Founders: What are your non-negotiable values? How are you screening for them in every hire? Job seekers: Are you hearing a consistent cultural message across your interviews? The strongest cultures aren't accidental. They're built with intention, one hire at a time. Would love to hear your experiences with company culture – good or bad. What signals do you look for?

💡 Every executive meeting comes down to trade-offs. Yesterday we found our tiebreaker💡 I sat with our Product team and two other members of our Executive team, going deep on one of our roadmap items and trying to determine where it fit in our Q4 priorities. If you’ve ever been in one of these meetings, you know how it goes: • Many points of view • Plenty of sharp ideas • A healthy dose of agreement and disagreement And rightly so, these conversations matter. They’re about trade-offs and risks. We had to weigh what would best help us grow as a company, what our teams needed to deliver and sell successfully, and what would best enable future product capabilities. So what won in the end? 👉 The promise we’ve made to our customers, rooted in quality and meaningful insights and outcomes. (That’s actually why DISQO is spelled with a “Q.” It stands for Quality.) That customer promise became the tiebreaker that aligned us across different perspectives. It was a small moment, but it made me proud. And it made me reflect: ❓ Of the thousands of decisions made every day across our company, how many are rooted in our value to "Champion the Customer"? That’s the real measure of whether our values are alive in practice, not just on the wall or in a slide deck. Here’s the action plan I’m challenging myself (and others) to follow every day: 1️⃣ Ask the customer question. When making a decision, pause: How does this help deliver better outcomes for our customers? 2️⃣ Use values as the tiebreaker. When trade-offs are hard, let company values decide, not convenience, politics, or ego. 3️⃣ Call it out. Celebrate when decisions reflect values, and respectfully challenge when they don’t. 4️⃣ Repeat daily. The small decisions add up. Every “yes” or “no” shapes whether customers feel our values or not. ✨ Values aren’t tested in easy decisions. They’re tested in the tough trade-offs. Yesterday reminded me: when in doubt, Champion the Customer. That’s how we keep our promises, and that’s how we continue to #CreateTheFuture. #Leadership #CustomerSuccess #ProductManagement #CustomerExperience #Culture #CreateTheFuture

When I joined Khan Academy, we were just four people in a small office, united by a vision of bringing free education to everyone, everywhere. Over the years, we grew to hundreds of employees, reaching over 100 million students worldwide. This exponential growth brought a significant challenge: how do you scale a team without losing the culture and values that made the organization special? The most crucial lesson I learned was that culture doesn't scale automatically - it demands constant attention and effort. The best way I found to attend to culture was to treat your culture like a product. You have to design it. As we grew, it became increasingly important to consider how to help team members learn about and carry the culture forward. Here are three strategies that helped us maintain our culture during rapid growth: 1. Over-communicate the Mission and the Principles that Guide it: As our team grew, we doubled down on ensuring everyone felt connected to our mission and understood our principles. Three of the most important principles were to focus on the student, Always be learning, and deliver exceptional ROI for donors. We regularly shared stories of how our work impacted students' lives, and what we learned from failures and successes, and calculated the number of learning minutes to keep the team aligned with our "why" and “how” and motivated by our shared purpose. 2. Create Rituals that Reinforce Values: We have meaningful rituals, such as starting meetings with student success stories and celebrating what teams learned, not just what they accomplished when we gave status updates. We also organized a yearly talent show and encouraged people to showcase new talents and skills. These practices served as constant reminders of our principles in action. 3. Adapt, but Stay True to Core Values: Growth necessitated changes in processes, tools, and communication methods. For example, we used to be able to share what we were learning during all-hands meetings, but at some point, it became impossible for each team to give an update. As part of our commitment to learning, we began to document our learnings and shared long-form asynchronous updates with everyone. We then shared summaries during all-hands meetings. Scaling a team while preserving its culture is challenging, and we weren’t always successful, either. But we were lucky that the team let us know when they thought we weren’t living up to the mission or principles and encouraged us to make changes.  It is achievable if you remain open to feedback and stay focused on core principles. What strategies have you employed to maintain culture as your team or organization grew?