Core values only count if you fire people for breaking them

Executive overview

Most companies have core values on a wall that nobody can recite. If employees break them daily without consequence, they are not core values — they are aspirational decoration. Real core values require enforcement, including termination.

If you won't fire people for breaking your core values, you don't have core values.

Why most core values are fake

• Test: ask your employees to recite your core values — 95% will fail
• If leadership breaks them without consequence, the values mean nothing
• Values enforced only selectively become aspirational, not operational
• Employees who see violations go unchallenged learn the values are optional

What real enforcement looks like

• College Pro Painters' four values: deliver what you promised, respect the individual, pride in all you do, find a better way
• A VP made a disrespectful remark; calling him out on it risked termination — but was the right move
• "Don't break them" — the only defensible response when told not to enforce values publicly
• Willingness to go to the mat for core values signals you'll go through brick walls for the company
• Firing people who break values is not harsh — it is the only way the values stay real