HOW TO BUILD A FIERCELY LOYAL GEN-Z CUSTOMER BASE

Sarah Lee and Christine Chang, founders and co-CEOs of skin care company Glow Recipe, prioritized social media from the first moments of their products' launch in 2017. Their goal for the company, which they started in 2014, was an ambitious one: making skin care fun. Having to meet such a difficult challenge, however, was what helped them to build a strong brand, they say. Their recipe of playful messaging on social media, bright colors in their products and packaging, and fruit-based products like the Watermelon Glow Pink Juice Moisturizer and Blueberry Bounce Gentle Cleanser, naturally attracted Gen-Z (aged nine to 24) consumers. 

Glow Recipe, which sells through its own website as well as in Sephora stores, had more than $100 million in 2021 revenue. Lee and Chang, both 40, have built the New York City-based company's Instagram following to more than a million, and over 30 percent of its social followers are 18- to 24-year-old females. Here are the founders' tips for how you can build an audience of young customers too. 

1. Share openly and often

Finding an effective technique for generating high engagement from customers can seem like a mystery. Transparency and frequent interaction are a start, but Lee and Chang go beyond that by directly asking their customers for suggestions on social media before developing a new product.

"Christine and I used to respond to every single comment directly, even when we had fewer than 50 followers," Lee says. The two continue to respond to customer messages five years later. Building a community, she adds, "actually means you're taking them on a journey and involving them in your decision-making process." 

Communicating company values is another way to build trust with a Gen-Z audience. Chang and Lee say they prioritize sustainability, natural beauty, and diversity, and show their customers specifically how they're putting those values into action by, for example, committing to never retouching social media photos, hiring diverse models, and adding a sustainability page to their website. "What Gen-Z wants is a clear stance. They want to know whom they're buying from and what you believe in," says Chang. 

Carlos Gil, author of The End of Marketing: Humanizing Your Brand in the Age of Social Media and A.I., adds that consistency in messaging is also key. "Don't just do something one time, but really live it and believe in it," he says. Chang and Lee have followed this approach. For example, as part of their commitment not to use aspirational skin care terms such as "ageless" or "poreless," they made a statement about their position on the company blog, did an internal audit of the language they use on their website and social media accounts, and continue to educate their customers on why the terms are unrealistic and shouldn't be used. 

2. Create "scroll stopping" social content

Users rarely stop scrolling to pay attention to any given post on Instagram or video on TikTok, particularly if it looks self-promotional. "People react to what looks good, and they're reacting in a split second," says Gil. "If content is perceived to be an ad, [consumers are] going to continue to swipe."

That short window is why it's essential, according to Chang and Lee, to create content that's "scroll stopping," or captivating enough to immediately grab a consumer. Glow Recipe does so by being detail-oriented: In addition to carefully designing packaging that's colorful and that matches the fruit contained in the product, the company tests whether the products' textures will look appealing in social posts. It also designs products to look good in a variety of lighting so that customers will be more likely to post photos of them from their own shelves. "The way [customers] are first attracted to the brand is because of what they see visually," says Lee. "So social media plays a huge part of our product development."

3. Build long-term relationships with influencers

According to McKinsey, social media informs the purchasing decisions of Gen-Z more than any other age group--but those young consumers won't buy from an influencer if their posts feel inauthentic. Brand relationships with influencers have greater effect, Gil says, when they're more than just a one-off collaboration. "I'm more of a fan of developing relationships with ambassadors," he says. "Someone who's going to embody your brand throughout the course of the year versus one time."

Chang and Lee credit much of their products' popularity to such long-term arrangements. After two TikTok influencers, known as Mikayla and Glamzilla, helped make the company's Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops a success, the company partnered with them on several other campaigns. As a result, the dew drops have become the company's top new customer acquisition tool, with more than 70 percent of the customers who purchase the product from the company website being new to the brand. 

"We were able to continue that momentum by constantly having a dialogue or brainstorming new ideas with [the two influencers], giving them previews of new launches before anybody else, and again, deepening the relationship," says Lee. "I think that really went a long way."

4 STEPS TO CREATING A STRATEGY IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD

It hardly needs to be said, but we live in uncertain times. The Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the reshuffling of supply chains and capital structures — the past few years have seen unprecedented disruptions, and the turmoil shows little sign of letting up any time soon. Challenges abound, and companies are finding it nearly impossible to plan for the future. Such a volatile environment requires a new approach to devising strategy.

But is it even worth trying to predict the unpredictable? Sure, uncertainty means risk, but it can also spell opportunity. Handled correctly, it gives organizations the chance to expand beyond the boundaries of their current business, potentially in unexpected directions.

The magic words here, of course, are “handled correctly.” Turning a world of uncertainty into a world of possibility requires a change of perspective, a new mindset on the part of business leaders. Companies need a different approach to devising strategy, one that relies less on looking at what the company can do and more on imagining what it could do — and then doing whatever is necessary to make that possible, however much it goes against past assumptions and established practices.

How to Rethink Strategy

When devising strategy, taking a strict customer view is critical. What is it that your clients really want? Rather than drawing up endless customer profiles, companies should consider what individuals want to achieve in a specific circumstance: the “job to be done,” as Clayton Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon and David Duncan succinctly put it.

Equally important is involving the entire organization in the strategy development process. This is not an exercise to be carried out by a corporate strategy team working in splendid isolation. Instead, companies should draw on the power of an adaptable organization to come up with ideas and allow solutions to emerge. Naturally, having the right skills in the right place within the organization is important. But the interactions between different individuals are often much more important than the individuals themselves.

Insight Center Collection

Setting Your Corporate Strategy

Beyond a return to “normal.”

Moreover, the process of devising and revising strategy should be continuous. You define the ultimate outcome that you want to achieve — what military strategists call the commander’s intent — then adjust and adapt the strategy on an ongoing basis. In a military context, the goal may be to take a certain hill, but the strategy for achieving that end state is not fixed. The strategy is not, for instance, we will take the hill by crossing that bridge, because the bridge in question may no longer be there when you come to it. The path to achieving your stated goal needs to change in response to the reality on the ground. Likewise, in a business context, companies should define their goal but not decide in advance how they will achieve it. Instead, they should rely on the experience they gain along the way — and the collective genius of the organization.

This new approach to defining strategy is what makes it possible for companies to thrive in a fast-paced, constantly changing and increasingly global market. Based on my work supporting companies, I recommend taking a four-step approach.

1. Find the big question.

The first step is to formulate the right question — the question that your strategy then seeks to answer. Jim Collins and Jerry Porras talk about big hairy audacious goals. I like to think about big hairy audacious questions.

The big question should be one that stretches your business to expand its value creation. Dreaming is not only allowed, it’s encouraged. A key source of inspiration can be customer problems and desires, which are of course changing all the time. So rather than trying to guess what customers want, a better idea is to ask them what problems or frustrations they have encountered and then work constantly on solving those issues. You can also regularly ask other stakeholders — investors, government bodies, local communities, and naturally also your employees — for new ideas.

Oftentimes, the ideas you’re looking for will already be out there, but they may have been laughed off as being too far removed from current operations. I recently led a consulting project for a large international airline that had long been aware that customer demand for flights was now much more volatile and fluid than in the past. However, because of the way major airlines’ flights are scheduled across the industry, generally with just two fixed flight schedules a year, they were restricted in the amount of flexibility they could offer. Rather than wondering how to tweak at the edges of the problem — maybe by offering one or two more schedules a year — we started at the other extreme with a radical question: “How can we offer flights on demand, wherever and whenever a customer wants to fly?”

The idea of on-demand flights did not come out of nowhere: It had cropped up on various occasions in the past but had always been dismissed as being too far from the company’s core business and existing capabilities, which — like every other major airline — involved offering regular flights based on fixed schedules. Everyone knew that offering on-demand flights could open up new opportunities for value creation. But the question of how to do it was too big, too hairy, and too audacious for the airline’s existing mindset.

2. Break it down.

Next, break down the big strategic question into subsidiary questions relating to different parts of your operations or business process. This allows you to anchor the strategy-devising process within the organization. It also opens the door to inspiration from outside your own industry. Brainstorming exercises, like the ones described by Hal Gregersen, can be incredibly useful here, with the emphasis at this stage on coming up with new questions rather than searching for answers.

In the airline project, we ran the big question by various functional teams within the company, such as network management, crew scheduling, and so on, to see what it sparked in them. More often than not, their response to the idea of offering on-demand flights was “No way!” We then asked them to tell us why. They told us what the airline would have to do in order for it to be possible, revealing some information we hadn’t considered.

See the trick? Rather than trying to win the teams over, to get them on board with the idea, you ask them why it’s not possible. People find it easier to answer that question, and they also come up with some angles that you may not have thought of. Better still, taking an idea that everyone thinks is ridiculous and going for it is a fun, almost playful process — and play is the secret of creativity.

The result of this exercise is a series of sub-questions grouped into clusters by subject area. One of the sub-questions that emerged from the discussions about on-demand flights was: How can we spot trends in demand for flights earlier and adapt capacity and prices accordingly? In other words, how could the company take the various activities relating to yield management — without which on-demand flights would never get off the ground from a business perspective — to the next level?

3. Generate ideas.

The third step is to take each of the sub-questions and start the process of generating ideas and strategic options. Importantly, you now no longer think about the questions, adjust them, or ask if any questions are missing — you simply look for strategic ideas. Inspiration can come both from within the organization and outside it, by looking at what top performers both in your own industry and elsewhere do.

This approach was particularly useful when working with the airline. For the big strategic question of how to offer on-demand flights, no external examples existed — none of the company’s competitors were offering such a service. But when we looked at the sub-questions, we found plenty of examples. In the area of yield management, for example, there were many young companies effectively forecasting customer demand and adjusting prices accordingly for other means of transportation, such as buses. Inspiration also came from other industries. For instance, today’s fast-paced fashion industry renews its collections more than 12 times a year, as opposed to the spring/summer and fall/winter collections that used to be the norm (like the two schedules a year in the airline industry).

4. Identify the best options.

Finally, identify which strategic options from the previous step best deliver on each of the sub-questions. Our recommended approach is to first define what success looks like for the process in question, then run the new solution in parallel to the existing one. As soon as the alternative solution outperforms the incumbent one, abandon the existing process completely. Do this not once but continuously as opportunities in the market change.

Continuously challenging existing solutions has far-reaching consequences for your strategy. For each process, ask yourself two questions: Is this part of our true value proposition? Do we have the capabilities and resources to master this area? The point here is that you should only do the things for which you can answer yes to both questions. Everything else you either outsource by means of partnerships or acquisitions, or you spin off.

For the sub-question of how to take the airline’s yield management to the next level, it turned out that the company could significantly enhance this area by working with an existing travel retail startup that had outstanding capabilities when it came to forecasting demand and predicting how airlines would react in terms of pricing and capacity. The startup in question was actually a competitor of the airline when it came to retailing airline tickets, so the best strategic solution was for the airline to acquire a share in the startup and outsource parts of its yield management for on-demand flights to it. Ultimately, the airline delegated several different yield management-related activities to its new partner — as well as a whole range of new, exciting developments based on the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

Look to the Skies

When it comes to devising strategy, companies all too often get bogged down in their own capabilities, fixating on the question of what they currently do and how they can do it better. Instead, we encourage businesses to look to the skies, to open their minds and play with even seemingly ridiculous ideas in a fun, creative way. Follow our four steps and you may find that an idea you had previously ruled out as impractical or overly costly suddenly becomes both possible and profitable.

by Joerg Esser

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU'RE READY TO START A BLOG

Are you thinking about starting a blog? It’s a great way to share your thoughts and ideas with the world, grow your personal and professional brand, and also do something that’s personally fulfilling. But before you take the plunge and build your blog, you need to be prepared and take the right steps.

In this article, we’ll discuss some of the factors you need to consider before starting a blog, and we’ll provide some tips to get you started on the right foot.

It’s essential to have clarity on why you want to start a blog. Without thinking about what you want to achieve, you can make several mistakes that are hard to recover from.

Many people pick a domain name, get hosting, start a blog, and write about random topics just to get going. However, in the future, doing so can lead to a lot of regrets. You may want to change your blog topic and consequently your domain name. Or you may find that Google isn’t rewarding your website with more traffic because your blog content is too varied to establish authority.

You’re more likely to find blogging success and meet your goals if you plan before launching a blog. Here are six questions to answer. They’ll help you see things clearly and blog to win. 

What’s your motivation for starting a blog?

To begin with, think about why you want to start a blog. What’s your motivation? What are your goals?

Are you hoping to make money from your blog?

Or are you looking to build an audience around a topic or share your story with the world?

Your motivation will shape everything from the type of content you create to how often you post. It will also determine whether you’re successful in the long run. Make a list of reasons why you want to start your blog and what you want to achieve. Narrow down on the top three reasons and hold on to them.

When you have clarity on your motivation and goals, it will be easier to stay focused and committed when blogging gets tough (and it will).

Who is your target audience?

Your target audience is the group of people you’re writing for. Everything from your blog’s design to the topics you write about should be geared towards your target audience.

For example, if you’re a photographer who wants to share your work with the world, your target audience is people who appreciate photography. And you’ll need a blog name, a WordPress theme, plugins for showcasing pictures, and more to create a relevant blog for your audience. 

However, if you’re starting a blog to document your weight-loss journey, your target audience is likely people who are also looking to lose weight or live a healthier lifestyle. You’ll likely create a more text-based blog, and add BMI and fitness calculators and other relevant features. 

Before you start a blog, take some time to think about your target audience. Once you know who you’re writing for, it will be easier to create content that resonates with them.

What topics will you write about?

The next step is to develop a list of potential blog topics. This can be tricky, especially if you’re just starting out.

An excellent way to develop ideas is to think about your target audience’s problems and write about solutions to those problems.

For example, if you’re a developer with years of experience, your target audience might be people just starting in their careers. You could write about topics such as how to find a job, how to network, or how to develop a portfolio.

Another approach is to write about your hobbies or interests. If you love to cook, you could write about recipes, cooking tips, or restaurants you’ve been to.

The important thing is to have a general idea of the topics you want to write about before starting a blog. Avoid creating a blog that covers too many diverse topics. It’s better to focus on a specific niche.

And, of course, you should care about your blog topics. Creating and managing a blog is a long-term commitment, and you don’t want to get bored doing it. So, pick a small list of topics that you like, have experience with, and are relevant to your audience.

Do you have the time to commit to blogging?

Blogging takes time and effort. If you’re not prepared to commit, it’s best to wait until you are.

How often will you post? How much time will you spend promoting your blog? These are important questions to answer before starting a blog.

Creating quality content takes time. If you’re not able to commit to writing at least a couple of times a week, it’s probably best to wait until you can make that commitment.

The same goes for promoting your blog. To get people to read your blog, you need to promote it. This means sharing your content on social media, sending emails to your list, and guest posting on other blogs.

All of this takes time. So, if you’re not prepared to commit at least a couple of hours a week to promote your blog, it’s best to wait until you can make that commitment.

Are you prepared to invest money in your blog?

While it’s possible to start a blog for free, there are some costs associated with blogging. For example, you’ll need to pay for hosting, a domain name, and an email service provider for email marketing.

You might also want to invest in some tools or services to make blogging easier, such as an editing tool or a social media scheduling tool. Many successful bloggers have subscriptions to SEO tools, marketing plugins, and other services to make their websites more relevant and attractive.

You may even want to use ads to promote your blog or hire a virtual assistant to help you with blog-related tasks.

While you don’t need to spend a lot of money on your blog, you should be prepared to invest some money in it. So, be honest with yourself and be ready to put some money into growing your blog.

Do you have the technical skills to start a blog?

While you can use WordPress and other platforms to create a blog without coding knowledge, you can’t get away without any technical knowledge at all.

The truth is that the more advanced your technical skills, the easier it will be to make your blog exactly the way you want it to be. But, even if you’re not a coder, you don’t have to worry. You can easily learn the basics of HTML and CSS to make simple changes to your blog.

If you’re not sure whether or not you have the technical skills to start a blog, my best advice is to start with a platform like WordPress. WordPress is user-friendly and has many features that make it easy to create a blog without any technical knowledge.

Are you prepared to put in the work?

Blogging isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a long-term commitment that requires hard work and dedication.

If you’re not prepared to put in the work, it’s best not to start a blog. Blogging requires consistency and dedication. You need to be prepared to write quality content regularly and promote your blog regularly.

You also need to engage with readers in the comment section and social media. You’ll also need to write guest posts for other websites to build your backlinks and domain authority.

So, ask yourself: Are you prepared to commit to blogging long-term? Are you ready to put in the work required to make your blog a success?

Conclusion

Now that you know what it takes to start a blog, there’s no reason not to start today.

While the factors laid out in the post may seem intimidating, they’re also instrumental in the long run. You only need to work through them in detail once, but when you have clarity on what you’re doing, you’re more likely to build a blog that makes sense.

So, if you’re feeling good about starting a blog, go ahead and get started today!

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT COMPANY VALUES

Your company's values are everything. They're the cornerstone of the most successful ventures. The very foundation of every business decision you make. Actually, not just the foundation. They are the mortar holding the bricks. The grout between the tiles. The caulk and paint, too. All that stuff.

So it's reasonable to start considering what your company stands for the moment you launch, right? Wrong. That's too late. Not only must you establish your values before day one, you must also refine them throughout the life of your venture. You actually needed to start yesterday. And, also, start now. And then restart tomorrow.

But building a values-based company is not as simple as declaring a few bromides and tacking them on the wall. To implement your values, you must assemble and guide a team that will follow them--better yet, embody them. That hotshot Brad from Wharton who isn't going to go the extra mile? Don't hire him. That strategic partnership with GloboDrone that will sideline the needs of your customer? Steer clear.

If it seems like all this values stuff takes a lot of effort--well, it does. So we asked scores of founders to share their hard-earned insights into how they built their values-based businesses, and how you can do the same. Because while your company values might be unique to you, no one says you have to manage them on your own.

Defining Your Values

Simon Sinek Business author
"Values should be written as verbs. They're things we do. Innovation is not a value. Honesty is not a value. You can't walk into someone's office and say, 'Be more innovative!' or 'Be more honest!' Instead, write, 'Always tell the truth,' or 'Look at the problem from a different angle.' Those are values, because values have to be actionable."
Sinek has written several best-selling business books, including Start With Why, Leaders Eat Last, and The Infinite Game.

Cami Téllez Founder and CEO
PARADE
"Our value 'We're box packers' literally came from several moments when I and the rest of the com­pany were in the office, on the floor, packing boxes to send out to our community. I realized everyone should be that close to our consumers, be that hands-on with our product, and be really willing to do the detailed work."
Since launching in 2020, Téllez's Brooklyn-based ­underwear brand has sold more than three million pairs.

Bruce Eckfeldt Founder and CEO
ECKFELDT & ASSOCIATES
"Companies often make the mistake of creating an idealized set of aspirational values that feel nice, rather than a list of descriptors that illustrate reality. I like to joke that your values should be 15 pounds overweight, have a receding hairline, and drink a little too much. If your values look perfect, then they are probably not right."
Prior to starting his business coaching firm, Eckfeldt founded a technology consulting business that made the Inc. 5000 five years in a row.

Amy Errett Founder and CEO
MADISON REED
"Before we even had our products finalized, we set our company values. This is about defining the soul of your company. It can't happen retrospectively--it is a core action that sets everything in motion."
Errett's San Francisco-based hair-coloring business is one of Inc.'s Best-Led ­Companies of 2021.

Danish Qureshi Co-founder and chief growth officer
LIFESTANCE HEALTH
"We undertook a month-long process where we engaged with team members across all sections of the company. It was important that our values resonated with all of our 6,000-plus team members, regardless of position or seniority, and that they each could find something in our values that they personally identified with. I would recommend going as broad and inclusive as you can when starting the process for identifying your company values, to ensure true representation and the largest impact. Agoniz­ing and focusing on every word and syllable, though difficult, pays off in ensuring your choices resonate as broadly as possible, and allows you to rally your team around company culture."
Lifestance, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based provider of virtual and in-person outpatient mental health care, went public in 2021.

Adam Grant Author and organizational psychologist
"Don't just list your values; rank them in order of impor­tance so they help you choose between competing priorities--honesty versus loyalty, freedom versus security."
In addition to his work as a professor at the Wharton School, Grant has written five best-selling books.

Ajay Pattani Founder and CEO
PERFECT SEARCH MEDIA
"We found that the best time to brainstorm core values was during our weekly company meetings. We'd split up into small groups, and each would list the qualities that they believed we embodied. Once we had each team's list, we noticed overlap and patterns--which was reassuring. Our team decided that five was a reasonable number that's easy to remember, while thorough enough to cover all the bases. Then we narrowed the full list, chose the most important values, and workshopped them into concise statements."
Pattani founded his Chicago- based digital marketing agency in 2010. It made the Inc. 5000 in 2017 and Inc.'s Best Workplaces list the following year.

Heidi Zak Co-founder and CEO
THIRDLOVE
"The best way to craft meaningful values is by using short, impactful sentences. When you just choose one or two words, the value seems vague--and it becomes difficult for someone to actually internalize it. 'Action' is a great value, sure, but it doesn't exactly inspire action or help guide anyone in the same way 'make it happen' does."
Founded in 2013, Zak's San Francisco women's lifestyle brand has donated more than $50 million worth of its products to women in need.

Communicating Your Values

Neil Blumenthal Co-founder and co-CEO
WARBY PARKER
"Core values are easy to write and hard to live up to. Many of us have had the experience of working at companies whose core values were purely theoretical--or, worse, existed in active opposition to the day-to-day workplace environment. It's a depressing situation. To breathe life into the collection of words we call values, we're constantly coming up with ways to enact them, and regularly surveying employees to find out where we're missing the mark."
New York City-based Warby Parker has distributed 10 million pairs of glasses to people in need through its Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program.

Robert Glazer Founder and board chairman
ACCELERATION PARTNERS
"Keeping someone whose views and actions clash with the culture sends a very bad message to the rest of the com­pany. Even if someone is a top performer, the best companies cut the cord when they realize there is a culture or values mismatch."
Acceleration Partners, a Boston-based affiliate and partnership marketing agency, made Inc.'s Best Workplaces in 2019 and is a four-time Inc. 5000 honoree.

Jenn Lim Co-founder and CEO
DELIVERING HAPPINESS
"Values act as a compass, helping each individual navigate both clear and murky work challenges. Knowing that your employees are making decisions based on the strategy and ethical standpoints of your business, you no longer have to feel like you're fighting every fire."
A 2020 Inc. 5000 honoree, Delivering Happiness provides businesses with culture coaching and consulting services.

Miguel Garza Co-founder and CEO
SIETE FAMILY FOODS
"Your company values should be a grounding force within your business. If the values are outlined correctly, and your organization is really committed to building something using those values--whether you are a team of 7, 70, or 700--then those values will remain true."
Garza's Austin-based company, which makes gluten-free Mexican foods, had $200 million in sales in 2021.

Cameron Johnson Founder and CEO
NICKSON
"Ask questions to determine if a candidate has an inherent alignment with your values. For example, if your work requires extreme attention to detail, you can ask a person, 'How often do you proofread emails or cards you send to family?' If you probe deeply enough into past behavior, you'll be able to test for value ­alignment."
Johnson's Dallas-based subscription furniture rental company closed a $12 million Series A round in 2021.

Living Your Values

Tiffany Guarnaccia Founder and CEO
KITE HILL PR
"Recently, external factors have impacted the evolution of our values. We introduced our value of 'balance' last year, ­after seeing the impact the Covid-19 pan­demic was having on our team, personally. We value our ­employees and their overall well-being and want to make sure our company values reflect that. By introducing balance, we were demonstrating to them that it's OK, and expected, to put yourself first when you need to."
Guarnaccia founded Kite Hill PR in 2013. The New York City-based agency has worked with clients including Snapchat, BuzzFeed, and Tripadvisor.

Rana el Kaliouby Deputy CEO
SMART EYE
"Years ago, Affectiva received a preliminary investment offer from a government agency that wanted to use our technology for surveillance. We desperately needed the money, but I couldn't ignore the fact that this application of our technology would be in direct violation of our core values. So we walked away from the investment. It was scary, but that decision left the door open for other relationships we forged in its wake with partners and investors who share our values."
In 2021, Affectiva, el Kaliouby's Boston-based business, was ­acquired by Sweden's Smart Eye, another A.I. company.

Josh Haas Co-founder and co-CEO
BUBBLE
"The clearest indicator that a change in values might be warranted is that they drop out of use: Employees are reluctant to reference them because they don't ring true to the team."
New York City-based no-code software development platform Bubble is a 2021 Inc. 5000 honoree and has raised more than $100 million in funding.

Dia Simms CEO
LOBOS 1707 TEQUILLA and MEZCAL
"We were intentional about looking for an office space in a neighborhood that reflected our company value of promoting ­diversity and representation. We chose New York City's Lower East Side, and opened up our ­office as a creative studio space for the local community and emerging artists to use as a way to drive that goal home."
Simms has raised funding for the New York City-based spirits maker from celebrity investors including ­LeBron James and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Seth Godin Author and marketing guru
"If you aren't willing to live your values now, when will you start? A company that starts with its priorities straight--about how it will keep promises, treat its workers, support causes it believes in--will rarely have trouble becoming the kind of company that does this at scale. But if you put it in a folder marked 'later,' it may never happen."
Godin is a speaker, a serial entrepreneur, and the author of 20 best-selling books.

Leeatt Rothschild Founder and CEO
PACKED WITH PURPOSE
"Values should be reevaluated every time your company experi­ences growth or significant change. You may find that some of your core values are redundant, compete with one another, or have happily become a commonplace aspect of the company culture, so you don't need to reiterate their importance."
Rothschild's Chicago-based business, which sells corporate gifts sourced from purpose-driven organizations, is No. 149 on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list.

Eric Ryan Co-founder
WELLY
"Your values should act as the operating system to guide you through decision making. For example, we once had a minor product quality issue that was a borderline decision for a recall. Even though we didn't believe it would cause ­issues for our consumers, our values allowed the team to decide in minutes that we would recall the product and make sure it was 100 percent right. Values are what you do when nobody is watching."
Ryan has founded multiple successful companies other than Minneapolis-based Welly, including consumer products maker Method.

Fawn Weaver Founder and CEO
UNCLE NEAREST
"When you keep company values front and center in all planning and decision-making processes, the conflicts are very easy to identify when they arise. And the best way to address them is quite simple: These things or these partners do not align with our values, so they cannot be a part of what we are building. Period. There can be no ambiguity in this process. It is incredibly black-and-white."
Weaver's whiskey brand, based in Shelbyville, Tennessee, was a 2020 Inc. Best in Business honoree.

Company Values: By the Numbers

65%

 

of companies say one of their core values is "integrity," the most commonly cited value. (Source: MIT Sloan Management Review)

27%

 

of u.s. employees surveyed strongly agree that they believe in their company's values. (Source: Gallup)

52%

 

of global consumers prefer to buy from brands that stand for something that aligns with their personal values. (Source: Accenture)

94%

 

of CEOs feel a per­sonal responsibility to lay out their company's core purpose and role in society. (Source: Accenture)

23%

 

of U.S. employees ­surveyed ­strongly agree that their ­company's values guide the decisions they make at work. (Source: Gallup)

73%

 

of large companies list between three and seven corporate values. (Source: MIT Sloan Management Review)

18%

 

of large companies do not list any official corporate values. (Source: MIT Sloan Management Review)