Values are levers for a group of concepts. You can hook that lever up to teamwork or frugality or toe-stepping, and suddenly it's easier to inject these concept

Values are levers for a group of concepts. You can hook that lever up to teamwork or frugality or toe-stepping, and suddenly it's easier to inject these concepts into any discussion throughout the company. Of course, who gets to pull these levers and when is a completely separate issue. As usual it's up to the leadership whether any values are used in a healthy or unhealthy way. Does frugality apply when an employee wants an ergonomic keyboard, or when a VIP flies business class? Does be-humble apply when negotiating compensation or to the CEO's vision? Amazon, for example, is famous for weaponizing frugality and disagree-and-commit against lower level employees. At $OldJob I got to watch a director pull the move-fast lever whenever his team wanted to ship, and the safety-first lever for other teams. Written values can't really be good vs bad. They are more like a tool, and will be used for good or evil depending on who is operating them.