75+ examples of company values and how to create your own in 2026

Well-crafted values foster team unity, shape your customer’s brand perception, and steer decision-making. But how do you translate your company’s vision into a handful of values that are authentic and practical?

This article examines the importance of establishing company values, providing guidance on how to develop them yourself. It also covers 75+ examples of corporate values from great organizations to help you get started.

Examples of company values from 20 dynamic and successful organizations  

Let’s take a closer look at the different guiding values that drive a range of renowned companies, organized into 5 subcategories:

• Businesses that prioritize performance-driven values

• Businesses that prioritize innovation-driven values

• Businesses that prioritize social responsibility values

• Businesses that prioritize employee-centric values

• Businesses that prioritize inclusivity-based values

Caveat: while values often overlap, dividing them into distinct subcategories provides a useful framework for a broader analysis of your company, laying the groundwork for more detailed value development.

Businesses that prioritize performance-driven values

Businesses with performance-driven values encourage ambition and foster a culture where everyone strives to do their best—for the employees' personal growth, the customers' interests, and the team's good. 

Performance-driven values offer team members a blueprint for how to show up at work in the morning—for example, what kind of attitudes will be rewarded by the company culture. 

Contentsquare (that’s us 👋) is an example of a company with performance-driven values:

• Be daring: the biggest risk is no risk. We share an ambition and hunger inside that pushes us to go beyond together. Win or lose, we’re in it together.

• Be understanding: empathy is our superpower. We continuously improve by listening and learning from our customers, their customers, and each other.

• Be deliberate: we eat data for breakfast. We’re deliberate in our approach and process, using data to guide our decisions so we can make the moves that count.

• Be simplifiers: ease at every opportunity. We’re all empowered to simplify the complex—for our customers and each other.

More examples of companies with performance-driven values

• Meta: move fast, build awesome things, be direct and respect your colleagues, focus on long-term impact, live in the future

• Adobe: create the future, own the outcome, raise the bar, and be genuine

• Deliveroo: play to win, celebrate difference, champion innovation, operational excellence

2. Businesses that prioritize employee-centric values

Companies that emphasize workforce well-being and teamwork recognize that satisfied and engaged employees directly contribute to the overall success of the business. 

Investing in the employee experience also builds loyal and committed teams, driving innovation and customer satisfaction through a company culture that values the consistency, respect, and trust of its people. 

An example of a company with employee-centric values is Miro:

• Play as a team to win the world: work, learn, and celebrate in collaboration, rather than alone

• Focus on impact and make it happen: dream big, prioritize outcomes that matter the most, and own your commitments

• Practice empathy to gain insight: look from the perspective of customers, users, and each other, to deepen your understanding of their experience

• Learn, grow, and drive change: reflect openly on successes and failures, and apply your learnings to improve the product and team

More examples of companies with employee-centric values

• Netflix: encourage decision-making by employees, share information openly, communicate candidly, work with high performers, avoid rules

• American Express: deliver for our customers, make it great, do what’s right, respect people and different views, work as a team, care about our community

• Virgin Atlantic: heartfelt service, insatiable curiosity, smart disruption, red-hot relevance, straight up, delightfully surprising

Not to brag, but Contentsquare has also won plenty of praise for our employee experience. In 2025 we appeared in 4 of Built In’s Great Places to Work awards.  

3. Businesses that prioritize innovation-driven values

Companies that champion innovation are leaders in disruptive thinking, taking bold risks and continuously redefining what’s possible. 

Often recognized as pioneers in their fields, their commitment to challenging the status quo helps them anticipate customer expectations and needs, cultivating a devoted fan base that eagerly spreads their obsession through word of mouth.

An example of a company with innovation-driven values is Atlassian: 

• Open company, no BS: communicate your ideas and opinions clearly while also being considerate

• Build with heart and balance: infuse passion and urgency into everything you do, while carefully weighing your options to make wise decisions

• Don’t #@!% the customer: prioritize the customer’s perspective, knowing that without happy customers, you’re ‘doomed’

• Teamwork: be serious, without taking yourself too seriously, and strive to put what’s right for the team first

• Continuous learning: have the courage and resourcefulness to spark change to improve the product and company

More examples of companies with innovation-driven values

• Nvidia: speed and agility, excellence and determination, one team, intellectual honesty, innovation 

• Spotify: innovative, sincere, passionate, collaborative, playful

• Glassdoor: transparency, innovation, good people, grit

Pro tip: one of the tools we use at Contentsquare to stay ahead of customer desires and pinpoint new innovation opportunities is our own Surveys tool.

Surveys allows you to launch well-designed customer surveys in a matter of minutes. Simply enter your goals into the AI tool, and it’ll generate effective, unbiased questions for you to get the answers you need.

Contentsquare’s AI survey design tool in action 

Use it to:

• Quickly test and validate new ideas: get customer perspectives on your ideas for changes to your product before investing development hours

• Optimize the user experience: identify new areas for improvement to continually elevate the customer journey

• Get direct user input: get real-time feedback to pinpoint new customer needs or competitor offerings

4. Businesses that prioritize social responsibility values

Companies that focus on social responsibility initiatives strive to make a positive impact on the world by supporting efforts like environmental stewardship, community involvement, and ethical practices.

Their dedication to the ‘greater good’ lets them cultivate a brand known outside of their industry or product, instilling deep customer loyalty amongst those with similar values or belief systems.

An example of a company with social responsibility values is Patagonia:

• Quality: build the best product, provide the best service, and constantly improve 

• Integrity: examine company practices openly and honestly, learn from mistakes, and meet commitments

• Environmentalism: protect our home planet. We’re all part of nature, and every decision you make is in the context of the environmental crisis challenging humanity. 

• Justice: be just, equitable, and antiracist as a company and in the community

• Not bound by convention: do it your way. Success—and much of the fun—lies in developing new ways to do things.

More examples of companies with social responsibility-oriented values

• Volkswagen: sustainability, community, togetherness

• Ben & Jerry’s: human rights and dignity, social and economic justice, environmental protection, restoration and regeneration 

• Every.org: generosity, responsible tech, collaboration, partnership

5. Businesses that prioritize inclusivity-based values

Inclusivity-oriented business values celebrate diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, which deeply influence the company’s culture, product development, and branding strategies. 

By embracing representation and product accessibility, companies enrich the customer experience with products and services that resonate with a global audience, fostering a sense of community and trust among their consumers.

An example of a company with inclusivity-based values is TomboyX:

• Accountability: show up fully, hold yourself accountable, and lead with your most authentic self

• Fearlessness: be brave, curious, and willing to experiment and make mistakes

• Diversity: champion diversity and inclusion; everyone is welcome and appreciated

• Trust: be honest, open-minded, and listen actively. Foster radical candor and clarity as kindness.

• Unity: aim to build a more equal and progressive world

More examples of companies with inclusivity and diversity-focused values

• Savage x Fenty: fearlessness, confidence, inclusivity

• Oxfam: empowerment, inclusiveness, accountability, equality, solidarity, courage

• Universal Standard: revolutionary inclusivity, quality defined, advanced engineering, fit liberty, give back, customer-centric

5 steps to build and implement your company values

If you’re thinking about defining—or updating—your business values, follow these 5 essential steps for designing values that are both impactful and meaningful.

1. Consult your core team members

Begin identifying ideas for initial company values by proactively seeking input from your company’s leadership and executive team. This foundational step ensures your early ideas are aligned with the company's mission and big-picture stakeholder perspectives.

2. Conduct research

Once you’ve identified some fundamental values with your team, seek out fresh perspectives and inspiration by researching how other companies have framed and implemented their own values.

Just be sure to filter these ideas through the lens of your company's unique circumstances, so you’re continuously aligned with your brand’s mission and objectives.

Pro tip: your values are mostly designed for internal use, to guide the culture within your team. However, these dynamics will impact how your company presents itself to the world, so it’s also important that your values resonate with your customers. Conduct interviews to find out which qualities your customers (or, your target market) admire in a brand, and consider their perspectives alongside those of your team. One simple way to research this is with Contentsquare’s Interviews tool. It streamlines the process of meeting your users 1-1, since it allows you to recruit, host, and transcribe interviews all in the same platform. By asking users directly what they’d like your company to stand for, you maximize your chance of choosing values that foster brand loyalty.

Contentsquare’s Interviews capability makes the user research process smooth and simple

3. Collect, review, and implement feedback 

After sifting through and prioritizing your ideas, share your refined list of values with the broader team for feedback to ensure that the values resonate with the larger group—and not just a select few. 

This inclusive step validates your selection process, offers opportunities to course-correct, and further refines your list of values, while also cultivating a positive company culture of shared ownership and purpose.

Pro tip: use a survey to check that your prototype values are a hit with your best customers. 

The most effective way to do this is to use a tool like Contentsquare Surveys, which allows you to create surveys that only appear to a specific demographic of users—for example, those who are repeat customers or match your ideal customer persona. The user attributes feature means you can ensure the people who weigh in on your company’s values match the demographic of people you’re hoping to attract. 

Contentsquare’s user attributes feature allows you to target your survey to specific user groups 

4. Put your words into action

Once you’ve implemented feedback, it’s time to translate your business values from text to action by integrating them into your company’s culture and day-to-day operations. 

The practical application of your values does more than uphold your company’s core principles; it actively shapes a work environment where values are deeply ingrained in your business strategy and employee engagement. 

5. Evolve your values with your business

Company values should be dynamic and adaptable. Regularly updating them to align with your company’s growth and industry changes ensures your values consistently inspire your team, direct your organizational goals, and resonate with your customers' changing expectations.

4 essential elements to craft impactful company values

If you’re still finding it challenging to build or refine your company values, concentrate on these 4 crucial elements to dig in deeper.

1. ✅ Clarity: pick values that are easy to understand, enabling employees to effortlessly integrate them into their daily routines. A short, bullet-point list of simple, single-sentence values is sufficient.

2. ✅ Differentiation: choose unique values to sharpen your brand identity and improve your competitive advantage. While it may be tempting to mirror what bigger, more successful businesses are doing, lean into what sets you apart.

3. ✅ Actionable: avoid abstract ideas or theoretical concepts, which can be confusing and lead to misinterpretation. Instead, choose values that translate into specific behaviors and drive effective leadership.

4. ✅ Authenticity: leverage values that genuinely reflect your company’s culture to empower teams to rally behind a shared vision and purpose, while also fostering a sense of belonging and commitment

Strong company values → happy customers, motivated employees, and a successful business

Company values are the backbone of a thriving business environment, leading to loyal customers, an improved employee experience, and successful business outcomes. Sitting somewhere between brand marketing and human resources, company values codify which behaviors your culture promotes, and shape how your team members represent your company to the world. 

By investing the time and effort to develop, implement, and evolve your company values today, you lay the groundwork for a resilient and prosperous business future.

FAQs about company values