‘To Be Honest With You’

A senior corporate leader told me that the values of his company are ‘fundamental’ to their existence and ‘lighthouse’ to their strategic direction. It sounded appealing. After a while doubts started crawling in my head. Are these stated values so fundamental or eternally relevant to these companies? Do they really mean what they say?

If the values were so fundamental then they must stay for long. However, I find that companies keep changing their values. May be values too lose their value in course of time. Companies justify such changes as reflection of the ‘new reality’ brought by a new generation of employees, customers and society. At times it could also be a re-articulation of the old values. In any case values change and at times become loose change!

A company stated ‘Human Values’ as one of its listed values among others including ‘Value for Money’.  In about five years the company found the values losing some shine and again went into social research and test marketing by a reputed branding organization just as it did in the previous round to find a new set of values. ‘Human Values’ and ‘Value for Money’ did not find place in the new list. It is not logical to think that this company has lost its character so much in a span of five years to take a significant deviation from its lighthouse. Quite contrary, it appeared. The company stayed a good corporate citizen, retained its character and thrived in the market.

There was a time when ‘integrity’ was a listed value for many companies much like someone tattooing on his chest ‘I am a saint’. You would have noticed some people starting every second sentence with ‘to be honest with you...’ Be sure, they have something to hide. An honest person need not say ‘I am honest’. For him being honest is more important than saying honest. 

Are there alternatives to this kind of value statements?

Yes. One option is not to do any such listing. Customers don’t care much about your value posters. I go to a footwear showroom, look at the shoes, try couple of them, ask for price and buy what fits my feet and my budget. End of story. During the process I may notice how I was treated by the sales person and the lady at the cash counter. That experience may also influence my next visit to the same shop. How am I concerned about the value statements written on the website or at some corner of the shop? 

A better value statement will be the behavior of the leaders in a company. That is every day noticed. Reward good behavior and discourage or punish unethical and illegal transactions. In my view, business entities need not agonize much about ethics if they follow the laws of the land. Prevailing laws of a nation reflect the ethics of the society. An honest business delivers lots of social good as well. 

Another way of showing value is to add much of the value into your product or service. There are brilliant examples of this, though not seen with majority of products and services. I buy an iPhone not after reading the value statement of Apple Inc. but feeling the value in the iPhone or an iMac. The reliability, aesthetics, simplicity and whatever one can touch and feel.  

There are too many value charades. Organisations need more value behaviors and value demonstrating products and services.