Companies setting values is almost always a big miss. First of all, whose values are these? Secondly, don’t impose your values on others. It just doesn’t work. I have done values assessments with many people in corporate R&D. What I found is that there is a dichotomy between “life” values and work values with almost everyone, with work values consistently being more protective (ie stress associated). This has an insidious and profound impact on productivity.

Unfortunately, most of the time those formulating corporate values either unintentionally foster a protective mindset or fail to understand the meaning of their values. Take the value “passion”, as mentioned in this article. It originates from the Latin word “ to suffer”. And so we do.