30 Amazing Core Values from Top Organizations [Examples]

Company core values are a must in today’s workplace, especially in times of constant economic change. They’re more than just words on your website. Your organization’s core values guide everything from company culture to customer success to how you get to the bottom line.

Many top organizations use core values to enhance employee onboarding, retention, and new business ventures.

Core values are different from a mission statement, which answers why you’re creating this product or service. Your core values answer how you’ll achieve success and how you’ll align all moving parts of your business. Once you set them, you can help your team embody these core values in their day-to-day responsibilities.

Companies define their core values in different ways. You can survey your team members to see what values are important to them. You can work closely with founders and leaders to align with their vision. How you define your core values is up to you!

If you’re looking for examples of company values, scroll below to get a few ideas from top-performing companies.

SOLTECH

Soltech is an award-winning software development and IT staffing firm that serves customers all over the world. Soltech keeps their dispersed team connected and motivated with strong core values that  create a positive work environment:

• Nothing But The Best
• Do What We Say
• Sense of Urgency
• Honesty and Integrity
• Strive to be Trusted
• Respected and Admired Leaders

‍

Adobe

• Create the Future
• Own the Outcome
• Raise the Bar
• Be Genuine

Net Health

Medical and integrated software solutions company Net Health partners with Cooleaf to continue  building a positive employee experience. Remote team members host everything from ERGs to dog parades online. This goodwill starts with a set of core values that supports their corporate culture:

• Agility
• Empathy
• Collaboration
• Imagination

Microsoft

• Innovation
• Diversity and inclusion
• Corporate social responsibility
• Philanthropies
• Environment
• Trustworthy Computing

REI

• Inspire
• Educate
• Outfit for a Lifetime of Outdoor Adventure and Stewardship

Salesforce

According to Inc. Magazine (and many others), Salesforce has been ranked as one of the best companies to work for for several years in a row. Their strong company culture has given them a serious competitive advantage. They put people first, whether it’s a customer, their team, or their community. Check out their guiding principles with values statements below:

• Trust: we act as advisors
• Customer Success: when our customers succeed, we succeed
• Innovation: we innovate together
• Equality: everyone deserves equal opportunities
• Sustainability: we lead boldly to address the climate emergency

Shipt

Shipt’s strong employee engagement starts with a connection to core values. Working with Cooleaf throughout the pandemic, they were able to keep a strong organizational culture while remote. Today, not only do they regularly use their core values to recognize one another through Cooleaf, they highlight one of these recognitions in their all-hands meetings to show examples of those corporate values:

• Caring Award
• Drive Award
• Rally Award
• Positivity Award
• Authenticity

Chegg

• Student First.
• Dream Big.
• Debate, Decide, Do.
• Transparent.
• Innovation is a way of life.
• One Team.

Airbnb

Do you know the Airbnb cereal story? It’s a start-up legend. Before launching their wildly popular travel app, the co-founders were struggling financially to attract attention. After only 2 bookings after marketing to the SXSW crowd in 2007, they rebranded two boxes of cereal, Obama O’s and Cap’n McCains, and sold them to people at the Democratic convention.

Their hard work and crazy idea paid off, and that creativity and market research helped them raise money and develop the app into what it is today. No surprise it’s a company core value:

• Champion the mission.
• Be a host.
• Embrace the adventure.
• Be a cereal entrepreneur.

Atlassian

• Open company, no bullshit
• Build with heart and balance
• Don’t #@!% the customer
• Play as a Team
• Be the change you seek

American Auto Shield

National coverage and claims organization, American Auto Shield is dedicated to fostering a strong employee experience, and they worked with Cooleaf to strengthen their people-first approach.

Their organization’s core values are the foundation for building employee satisfaction and a teamwork mindset:

• Accountable
• Innovative
• Integrity
• Respectful
• Collaborative

Twilio

• We are builders (we love hard problems)
• We are owners (we take accountability)
• We are curious (we humbly seek truth and learn from mistakes )
• We are positrons (caring is critical)

Apple

Apple set the standard for how many of the biggest tech companies make business decisions. Their vision statement, “To make the best products on earth and to leave the world better than we found it” sets the organization’s goal. Their core values act as the building blocks on how they want to achieve it, so you’ll see social responsibility and sustainability are important factors:

• Accessibility
• Support education
• A planet-sized plan
• We’re all-in
• Privacy is a human right
• Racial equity and justice
• Supplier responsibility

Discover strategies for aligning, embracing, and living your core values every day with Cooleaf's Guide to Core Values!

Netflix

As the streaming giant that started it all, Netflix prides itself in how they encourage voices throughout the organization (aka people over process!). Their bottom line is important but their company core values reflect the continuous learning from one another and throughout the organization. No surprise as their origin story famously began with heavy-hitter Blockbuster turning them down in a big way:

• Encourage decision-making by employees
• Share information openly, broadly and deliberately
• Communicate candidly and directly
• Keep only our highly effective people
• Avoid rules

Container Store

• 1 Great Person = 3 Good People
• Train for Success
• We Sell Complete Solutions
• The Best Selection, Quality & Service
• Air of Excitement
• When It’s a Win-Win, We All Win
• Communication Is Leadership

Cox Enterprise

With 87% employee satisfaction, Cox Enterprise has a reputation for supporting employee well-being and healthy work-life balance. This is reflected in their core values, which are listed out:

• Our employees are our most important resource
• Having a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve
• Embracing new technology
• Investing in new business opportunities
• Our customers are our lifeblood
• We believe it’s good business to be good citizens of the communities we serve
• We are committed to helping shape a better world

Zillow

• Better Together
• Include & Empower
• Customers Are Our North Star
• Turn on the Lights
• Delivery Quality on Time, Every Time

MountainSeed

Commercial real estate marketplace, MountainSeed has 121 employees with half working remotely and half in-office. This meant that their leadership had to really look at how they grew their company culture. To do this MountainSeed used Cooleaf to help with employee experience and lead with their core values:

• Be a Self-Starter
• Be a Team Player
• Be Humble
• Do It Right
• Don’t Be an Optimist or a Pessimist. Be a Patriot

Zappos

• Deliver WOW Through Service
• Embrace and Drive Change
• Create Fun and a Little Weirdness
• Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
• Pursue Growth and Learning
• Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication
• Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
• Do More with Less
• Be Passionate and Determined
• Be Humble

Georgia’s Own Credit Union

Ranked a Top Place to Work in 2022, financial organization Georgia’s Own Credit Union not only focuses on creating a positive customer experience but supporting their people through activities like step challenges and corporate social responsibility work. Along with employee engagement initiatives, they encourage recognitions by tying them to examples of company values like:

• Accuracy
• Professionalism
• Accountability
• Teamwork
• Promptness
• Communication

Linkedin

• We put members first
• We trust and care about each other
• We are open, honest and constructive
• We act as One LinkedIn
• We embody diversity, inclusion and belonging
• We dream big, get things done and know how to have fun

Gusto

Gusto’s mission statement says they’re here to make “complicated business tasks simple”. They’re a certified Great Place to Work and are actively creating a better future for many small businesses and contractors with their company core values of:

• Embody a service mindset.
• Dream big, then make it real.
• Be proud of the how.
• Embrace an ownership mentality.
• Debate then commit.
• Build with humility.

Zen Planner

• Outstanding Service
• Honor
• Anticipate
• Nimble
• Active

Etsy

As one of the largest global online marketplaces, Etsy understands their responsibility to all of their stakeholders, from their in-house team, customers, and vendors. Their guiding principles take responsibility for their platform’s role in supporting small business owners in different areas of the world:

• ​​​​We co​​​​m​​​mit to our craft.
• ​​​​We minimize waste.
• ​​​​We embrace differences.
• ​​​​We dig deeper.
• ​​​​We lead with optimism.

Shopify

• Considerate
• Empowering
• Crafted
• Efficient
• Trustworthy
• Familiar

Meth-Wick

Retirement community Meth-Wick utilizes core values to center their approach toward residents and make their stay as comfortable as possible. Meth-Wick uses the Cooleaf platform to lead with these core values through employee recognitions and awards. In fact, 8 out of 10 employees actively engage with Cooleaf every month!

• Community
• Tradition
• Engagement Whole Heartedness
• Kindness

Fluentstream

• Customers are the center of our universe
• We’re all in this together
• Continuous improvement isn’t optional
• Evolution happens. We embrace it.
• Hardwork is fun.

Hootsuite

• Inclusion is the heart of connection
• Step Up
• One Team
• Customer Obsessed
• Go Fast, Be Agile
• Play to Win
• Neighbors and Allies

Cooleaf

Okay, okay, we snuck ourselves in here, but we practice what we preach! Embodying core principles helps us as we continue to iterate on our product and approach.

Check them out:

• Authenticity
• Ownership
• Customer-Centered
• Constant Growth Mindset
• Grit

Time to Strengthen that Core

Whether you’re hybrid, in-house, global, or lean, core values are a tool to align all stakeholders in your organization.

You’ll find that a strong understanding of your core values feeds into everything from decision-making to employee engagement. They’re there to guide your organization and keep your people focused no matter what changes may come.

Ready to bring your core values to life and transform your workplace culture? Discover the power of Cooleaf's platform in aligning, reinforcing, and celebrating your organization's core values.