Giving Compass' Take:

· Barry O'Reilly discusses the meaning behind corporate values and whether or not the values held by businesses are in line with their actions and what drives their outcomes.

· What types of values do businesses hold at the core? Why are these values important? Are values unspoken rules companies follow or a tool used for public perception?

· Check out this article about how companies build values and mission into daily practices.

Nikolay Storonsky, CEO of the UK’s hottest fintech startup Revolut, has been extremely vocal about his company’s values. “Ninety-five per cent of founders, they will bullshit you,” he told the Financial Times. “I’m not going to do it.”

Storonsky says, “I can’t see how work-life balance will help you to build a startup. You are competing with bigger players, with better funded startups; you’re competing for customers, you don’t have resources. So how are you going to win this game?”

Last spring, he used Slack to tell employees that any “with performance rating [sic] ‘significantly below expectations’ will be fired without any negotiation after the review”.

What interests me the most about the industry upheaval that followed his “perform or else” message is that it was driven by people who don’t work at Revolut and whose values conflict with Storonsky’s. The media also responded by implying that underneath well-manicured public images, this is how many of Silicon Valley’s companies truly operate.

High performing companies say what their values are, do the behaviors that mimic those values, and thus drive the outcomes that they want. Some might be controversial but they have clarity, and this clarity makes everything else easier.

Read the full article about values and outcomes by Barry O'Reilly at barryoreilly.com