I’m a big believer in EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System. It’s a framework that helps companies get aligned, stay accountable, and grow.
One of the foundational pieces of EOS is figuring out your company’s core values. These aren’t supposed to be aspirational phrases you slap on your website. They’re meant to capture the behaviors and attitudes already alive in your best people. The ones you’d clone if you could.
When done right, core values become the backbone of your culture. They guide how you hire, how you lead, how you grow. But I’ve seen companies go through the exercise, write them down, maybe add them to the “About Us” page, and then… nothing. They gather dust.
That’s why I wanted to share what it looks like when core values are lived, not just listed.
At my previous company, I was the CMO and a co-founder. I sat in the marketing seat on the leadership team, so everything I’m about to tell you comes from firsthand experience, both as a marketer and a business owner.
When we first defined our values, I’ll admit, I thought they’d be a nice addition to our website. I didn’t fully understand their power yet.
Our Core Values
We were lucky to have a CEO who helped shape these with real thought and clarity. Here’s what we landed on (before we were acquired and things shifted):
- Do the Right Thing
- Positive Mindset
- Entrepreneurial Spirit
- Growth Focused
- Team Quotacy (Note: Quotacy was our company)
Pretty simple, right? But the magic was in how we defined them.
Do the Right Thing
This one’s straightforward. It’s what your grandma taught you, or whoever first helped you understand the difference between right and wrong.
Positive Mindset
This wasn’t about toxic positivity or pretending everything’s perfect. It was more like: “No Eeyores allowed.” You know, that perpetually gloomy friend of Winnie the Pooh? Everyone has bad days from time to time. But we didn’t want the kind of constant complaining that drains the life out of a room. It wasn’t personal, some people just operate that way. It wasn’t our vibe.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
In a small but growing company, we needed people who didn’t just do the task in front of them. We needed people who questioned it. Why are we doing it this way? Is there a better way? Some of our best ideas for efficiency came from the people closest to the work, the ones brave enough to speak up.
Growth Focused
Growth mattered to us, both personally and professionally. We didn’t expect people to be one person at work and someone completely different at home. You’re a whole human, and growth in one area tends to spill into the other. What mattered most was the mindset. People who were curious, open, and excited to learn? They thrived.
Team Quotacy
We weren’t just calling ourselves a team, we were one. When we won, we celebrated together. When someone was drowning, a teammate jumped in to help. Collaboration and support weren’t just encouraged. They were how we worked.
How We Brought Our Core Values to Life
1. Hiring With Core Values First
Every single candidate met with me and our CEO before they ever sat down with the hiring manager. That first conversation wasn’t about the role. It was about who we were.
We walked them through our purpose, our mission, our goals, and our core values. And as we explained each value, we’d pause and ask: “What does this mean to you?”
- What does “Do the Right Thing” mean to you?
- What’s something you’ve done recently to grow?
- Do you have any friends who complain all the time? How does it feel being around them?
These weren’t trick questions. They were real conversations that gave candidates a true sense of our culture. And they gave us a window into who they really were. A lot of times, people who weren’t a fit would self-select out. The ones who moved forward were genuinely excited to join a values-driven team.
2. Signed Core Values Document
Every new hire got a document explaining our core values in depth. They signed it in agreement and kept a copy. The original went into their HR file. Not for enforcement or some weird legal thing, just to make it crystal clear that this wasn’t just talk. This was what we stood for.
3. All-Hands Meetings
At staff meetings, our CEO would occasionally stop and ask, “What are our core values?” People could rattle them off without thinking twice.
Then he’d ask, “Who’s seen someone living one of these values this week?”
People would share stories. Real moments. A coworker who stayed late to help someone finish a project. Someone who came up with a smarter way to do something. A teammate who brought energy and optimism to a tough situation.
Being praised by your peers in front of the whole team meant something.
Sometimes our CEO would share his own story from the week. It was simple, but powerful. It kept the values front and center.
4. Core Values Competition
This one was dreamed up by our Marketing Coordinator, who also led our internal marketing. Genius idea.
We had about 40 people when we rolled this out. Here’s how it worked:
We made silicone bracelets in our brand colors, one for each core value. To earn a bracelet, a staff member had to have an email sent from a teammate describing how that person displayed a core value. The email went to our marketing coordinator.
Each bracelet earned was one entry into a prize drawing, up to five entries max. And every single email was printed out and taped to the office walls. People would stand there reading them, smiling, pointing. It was real, meaningful recognition from the people they worked with every day.
At the end, we drew five winners and gave out $100 prizes. But honestly, the real prize was what it did for our culture.
5. Annual Reviews
We followed the EOS review process, which included a self-reflection on values. Each team member rated themselves as:
- (+) Living the value consistently
- (+/–) Somewhat consistent
- (–) Needs improvement
Their manager did the same. During the review, they’d compare notes.
No one ever got all pluses. That was normal. Expected, even. The conversations usually centered around things like Entrepreneurial Spirit or Growth Focused. Where could they stretch? What new skill did they want to learn? What outdated process was ready to be streamlined, delegated, or ditched altogether?
It wasn’t a checkbox. It was a real conversation about growth.
Culture Before and After Core Values
We already had a strong culture before we adopted EOS and defined our values. We genuinely liked each other. We had a rotating “Fun Czar Committee” that planned quarterly outings and parties.
Every May Day, each team member got a thoughtful gift: a quesadilla maker, a homemade ice cream machine, a chocolate fondue pot. (Started by our CEO’s mother. And yes, they were all food-related. It was our thing.)
Everyone got an annual bonus. No matter what. People felt appreciated. The culture was already good.
But when we defined and started living our core values everything clicked into place. It gave structure to what had already been working. It helped us protect the culture and scale it as we grew. The values gave our team a shared language, clearer alignment, and a standard for how we showed up every single day.
How Core Values Fuel Marketing
Core values aren’t just something to stick on your website. They become one of your most powerful assets. They build a strong team, align your culture, and create a brand that feels grounded and real.
As CMO, I saw firsthand how our values shaped more than just internal behavior. They influenced our messaging, our tone, how we talked to customers. When values are baked into how your team operates, they naturally show up in your marketing.
One of the most tangible examples was when our core values landed us our most strategic partner. We were in discussions with a major industry player, and during the negotiation process, both teams shared their core values. The alignment was striking. They operated with similar principles, and that became the foundation of trust that made the partnership work. And that partnership became a key driver of our growth, opening doors we couldn’t have opened on our own.
Your brand isn’t just what you say. It’s how your team acts. How your customers feel. How consistent the experience is from the inside out. The tighter the alignment between your internal culture and external brand, the more trust you build, and the more effective your marketing becomes.
Final Thoughts
Your brand starts inside your walls. If you want marketing that feels authentic, it starts with a team that lives your values.
When values are real, people feel it. And when people feel it, they want to be part of it.
