Organizational culture is often defined by its values, or lack thereof. Values are a key ingredient in “what’s it like to work here” that potential hires try to discover before signing on. It’s also what causes current employees, clients, or customers to stay or leave.
Values often get defined in mission statements or corporate branding. But stating what they are doesn’t always make them so. We asked members of the Fast Company Impact Council what’s a cultural value they think most companies get wrong. Here’s what came to mind for 26 of those members.
1. ORIGINALITY
Most companies get originality wrong: They confuse relevance with resemblance, assuming brands and products should look, sound, or behave “a certain way.” In established categories, teams often, consciously or unconsciously, copy successful competitors until their own brand becomes interchangeable. In my experience, the antidote is thoughtful and disciplined questioning: “What can we credibly contribute that others cannot?” and “What non-consensus belief do we hold about this category?” Let those answers guide decisions and keep originality from being diluted by category conventions. — Erik Herrström, STUDIO HERRSTRÖM
2. EXCELLENCE AND EMPATHY
Too many organizations treat excellence and empathy as competing priorities. They aren’t. At the nonprofit I lead, we believe high performance is built on what we call “gracious professionalism.” It’s the idea that respect and kindness are not at odds with excellence. They make excellence possible. When people feel valued and empowered to share ideas, they become better problem-solvers and stronger collaborators. That culture doesn’t just produce better outcomes. It makes success more meaningful. We strive to instill these same values in the young people we serve so they carry gracious professionalism with them throughout their lives and careers. — Chris Moore, FIRST
3. COMMUNITY-ENGAGEMENT
Companies that treat community engagement as a one-way ask (e.g., give money, give time, lend expertise) tend to burn out the donors, volunteers, and partners they depend on. The stronger model runs both ways. If a company is asking a community to trust it with volunteers or funding, it should offer something durable back: training, mentorship, or a real seat in decision-making. Reciprocity builds partnership that a check alone cannot buy. Companies that only ask eventually run out of people willing to say yes. — Kellie Lauth, MindSpark
4. INNOVATION
I think a lot of companies get innovation wrong. They treat it as a department, a campaign, or a technology investment, when really it is a behavior. Innovation is not just about moving fast or adopting the latest tool. It is about creating a culture where people are allowed to question the old way, test new ideas, and learn without fear of looking unfinished. For me, the companies that get it right don’t just talk about innovation. They make space for curiosity, trust, and intelligent risk-taking. That is where meaningful creative work happens. — Virtyt Pula, TOML Collective
5. TRANSPARENCY
Most organizations say they value it. Few actually practice it. The difference becomes clear when being transparent is uncomfortable. Real transparency isn’t the well-crafted, all-hands update or the carefully worded memo. It’s what happens when the honest answer is harder than the polished one. That’s when most companies retreat into messaging. Organizations that get it right treat transparency as a cultural commitment, not a tool to be deployed selectively. When people trust that they’re getting the full picture, even when it’s hard, engagement goes up, trust compounds, and performance follows. — Meredith Rosenberg, NU Advisory Partners
6. A SENSE OF BELONGING
Here’s one way we’re tackling it: Our firm has always been dedicated to community outreach. We believed we were doing our part. But over time it became clear that our giving wasn’t reaching far enough into the communities where we live and work. Nor were we giving everyone at the firm a chance to participate. Our day of giving program invites our employees to step away from work and spend a (paid) day helping out our neighbors. These shared experiences build a sense of community and belonging, both inside and outside our organization. It makes us more engaged neighbors, more supportive teammates, and a better company. — Mitch Smith, MG2
7. STEWARDSHIP
Many organizations undervalue stewardship. They reward growth, disruption, and visible wins, but pay less attention to whether leaders leave the brand, institution, team, and trust stronger than they found them. Stewardship recognizes that leadership is temporary, consequences outlast tenure, and not every valuable outcome can be measured in the next quarter. The real test is not simply whether you won, but whether you improved what was entrusted to you. — R. Ethan Braden, Texas A&M University
8. CULTURAL FIT IN HIRING
Companies hire for “cultural fit” when they should be hiring culture builders. “Fit” really means conformity. Hire people who add to your culture, challenge how you think, and bring different perspectives, including lived experience that may be missing from your team. If no one on your team shares your users’ experiences, you’re designing on assumptions. Proximity to the communities you’re serving changes what you build, the language you use, and the problems you notice. The best products are built “for us, by us.” — Nathan Friedman, Understood.org
9. LEARNING AND TRANSPARENCY
Most companies say they value learning but don’t give people room to experiment, fail, and improve. They over-index on immediate results at the expense of long-term capability. In the age of artificial intelligence, learning agility will be a critical driver of productivity and competitive advantage. Companies think transparency means sharing everything. Think of parenting: Good parents are open with their kids but don’t share every financial worry if it will create anxiety or paralysis. Organizations are the same. Share what helps people connect the dots and do their jobs better, not information that distracts them. — Tami Rosen, various organizations
10. ACCOUNTABILITY
Accountability is one that is easy to say and harder to live well. It often slips into finding fault, when really, it’s about creating a space where people feel comfortable owning their commitments and flagging concerns early. The teams I have seen thrive are the ones where raising a problem while it’s still small is welcomed rather than penalized. When people trust that honesty won’t count against them, they tend to speak up sooner, and that makes everyone stronger. — Denas Grybauskas, Oxylabs
11. PEOPLE FIRST
“People first” is a core value that many companies get wrong, not because they aren’t mindful of the people they serve, but because they are often prioritized in the wrong order. In healthcare when we say “people first,” we always start with our members, including their experience and health outcomes. Next come clients, the employers and health plans who pay for the care. Then our own employees, who deliver the care, followed by the communities our teams live in—giving back matters. Finally, investors. And I truly believe that if we take care of the first four audiences, the last one takes care of itself through the great returns we generate. — Glen Tullman, Transcarent
12. PURPOSE
Most companies don’t lack purpose. They lack a structured mechanism to live it. It shows up in the values deck and the sustainability report, but not in how day-to-day decisions are made, how capital is allocated, or which trade-offs get made under pressure. Purpose that only shows up in communications isn’t a cultural value—it’s a marketing line. Companies that get this right treat purpose as a filter for hard decisions, not a narrative for easy ones. That’s a harder discipline, and a rarer one. — Michele Walsh, UNICEF USA
13. MOVING FAST
Speed is a competitive advantage, but that doesn’t mean cutting corners. For us, moving fast demands more discipline, not less, because we’re solving problems with real-world consequences. A renter who qualifies for an affordable unit but can’t get an answer to their questions, or a resident hit with late fees because their card expired and nobody caught it in time, doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for a slow fix. Shipping fast only works if we’re just as disciplined about listening to feedback afterward, because that’s how we actually learn, improve, and provide value over time. — Minna Song, EliseAI
14. COLLABORATION
Nearly all organizations champion the idea of collaboration. Far fewer actually live it. To be a great culture, you must be collaborative. But many companies struggle to take it from something on a poster to a value they truly live each day. Collaboration doesn’t just come to life because leaders believe in it as an abstract concept, or because a lot of employees feel like collaborative people. It comes to life when organizations build structures, systems, and processes that institutionalize co-creation as a way of working and hold teams accountable for truly living the value. — Maril Gagen MacDonald, Gagen MacDonald
15. WORK HARD ALL DAY LONG
Myth: Everyone should be working hard all day long. First, it’s impossible. We aren’t machines. Second, it can be counterproductive. I prefer that everyone work when they’re feeling good, when they have a positive attitude about the work, and when they can find something to enjoy about the task at hand. We’re more successful and productive that way. Our orientation to the work is more important than our willingness to struggle. And if you can’t find a positive orientation to the work, it’s probably not the right work for you. — Lindsey Witmer Collins, WLCM App Studio
16. INNOVATION TALENT
Many companies say they value innovation, then organize themselves in ways that limit it— treating a program, a lab, or a team with “innovation” in the title as the only place it’s allowed to happen. Dedicated innovation talent is genuinely valuable, but its job should be raising the capability of the whole organization rather than containing it to one department. That takes more than permission. Agency without tools is just an invitation to be frustrated. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is rapidly lowering the cost of testing an idea for the person closest to the problem. Innovation becomes cultural when it’s continuous rather than scheduled. — Patrick Frend, Delve
17. CURIOSITY
Too many companies say they value expertise when what they really reward is certainty. The best cultures make room for people to keep asking questions, challenge assumptions, and admit when the obvious answer may not be the whole answer. — Gail Zauder, AbleFly Inc
18. CREATIVITY
Everyone is creative. Yet sometimes, companies define “creativity” and its place in an organization’s culture too narrowly. In some firms, associates are sorted into teams of “creatives”—creative directors, designers, copywriters, and developers—and “non-creatives”—project managers, analysts, and salespeople. Whether done consciously or not, this filtering limits what individuals may feel comfortable contributing and, potentially, the overall creative ambition of a project. To truly unlock creativity, it cannot be treated as the domain of a select few. It must be actively nurtured across teams as a collaborative, shared capacity. — Maurice Twomey, Roto Group, LLC
19. PHILANTHROPY
I believe philanthropy and giving back are values that many companies don’t prioritize. Of course, it is commendable to give back to those less fortunate. However, many companies don’t grasp how building a culture of philanthropy helps with recruiting top talent, retaining customers, and capturing new lines of business. People want to work with companies that value humanity as much as their profit and loss statements. — Ed Mitzen, Business For Good Foundation
20. TEAM AS “A FAMILY”
One cultural value that companies get wrong is treating their team as “a family.” Have you met some people’s families? If you don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, I’m willing to bet there’s a Slack channel somewhere dedicated to your lack of self-awareness. We should think of our teams as an ecosystem—interconnected but with unique functions and strengths. When one element is missing, the ecosystem can be out of balance, and other elements may begin to over- or underperform. Company culture isn’t built on forced familial bonds. It’s built on mutual respect, interdependence, and shared purpose. — Edgar Villanueva, Decolonizing Wealth Project
21. THE POWER OF CULTURE
One of the biggest missed opportunities for many companies is failing to recognize the power of culture and its impact on the brand. Employees shape the brand every day through their interactions, decisions, and behaviors. When organizations fail to align culture with their values, they miss opportunities to strengthen customer relationships, stand out in the marketplace, and bring their brand promise to life. Companies that empower employees around a shared culture gain a competitive advantage through higher engagement, stronger customer loyalty, and a more authentic reputation. — Chris K Bailey, Bailey Brand Consulting
22. INCLUSION
The cultural value most companies get wrong is inclusion. Visible representation matters, but too often organizations stop at who is in the room—or expect everyone in it to think and behave the same way. In multidisciplinary work, the strongest outcomes come from differences in cognition, communication, lived experience, and problem-solving. Diversity creates value only when those perspectives are heard, tested, and allowed to influence the outcome. — Susan Watts, SPACECRAFT
23. MISSION
Most companies treat it as a marketing line printed on a wall. We treat it as a filter. When Trust & Will became a public benefit corporation, we committed to weighing every product, hiring, and partnership decision against our stated purpose. If a value isn’t governing decisions no one sees, it’s just decoration. That’s the difference between a mission statement and a mission. — Cody Barbo, Trust & Will
24. KINDNESS
We often confuse kind and nice. Being nice—agreeing, softening feedback, or avoiding conflict—preserves comfort. Being kind serves people and the mission: sharing hard truths respectfully, setting expectations clearly, and making hard decisions fairly. Niceness seeks approval now. Kindness builds trust over time and helps all grow. Be kind! — Hala Hanna, MIT Solve
25. HUSTLE CULTURE
You can still operate in a fast-moving, highly competitive market without treating burnout as the default. I compete in Ironman competitions, and a crucial lesson in endurance racing is pacing and how important rest is. All-in, full-out shouldn’t be the baseline. — Eric Simons, Bolt.new
26. SOCIAL IMPACT
For companies of any size, I believe they can engage their staff even more as sources of social impact and community good. Companies can implement a match program for employee donations, host a challenge where staff can collegially compete for the company to donate to their cause of choice, or provide dedicated paid time off for volunteer service. Empowering your employees as a collective force for good and enabling them to direct your company’s impact can be a massive boon to organizational culture. — Jaymes Black, The Trevor Project
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