Values Should Reflect Reality, Not Aspirations
by Lenny Rachitsky on January 7, 2024
Situation
In Airbnb's early days, the company established six core values to guide their culture and decision-making. One of these original values was "simplify" - reflecting an aspiration to create streamlined experiences and solutions. However, as the organization matured, leadership began to recognize a disconnect between this stated value and their actual organizational behavior.
Actions
- Initial value creation: Airbnb established six core values, including "simplify" as one of their guiding principles
- Honest assessment: A year or two after implementation, the company conducted a candid evaluation of how well they were living their stated values
- Recognition of misalignment: Leadership acknowledged that while they aspired to simplify, they weren't actually demonstrating this capability consistently in practice
- Value refinement: The company made the difficult decision to remove "simplify" along with one other value, reducing from six values to four
- Focus on authenticity: They chose to keep only the values that genuinely reflected who they were as an organization, not who they aspired to be
Results
- More authentic values: The remaining four values better represented Airbnb's actual organizational behavior and culture
- Increased credibility: By removing aspirational values they weren't living up to, they strengthened the integrity of their value system
- Clearer expectations: The refined values provided more honest guidance for employees about what truly mattered at the company
- Reduced cognitive load: Having fewer, more authentic values made them easier to remember and apply
Key Lessons
- Values should describe reality, not aspirations: "Values should describe who you are not who you want to be and aspire to be"
- Honesty trumps aspiration: It's better to have fewer authentic values than more aspirational ones you don't live up to
- Periodic value assessment is crucial: Organizations should regularly evaluate whether their stated values align with their actual behaviors
- Courage to remove values: Having the courage to remove values that don't reflect reality demonstrates organizational maturity
- Values require truth: When values aren't truthful reflections of how an organization operates, they lose their power to guide decisions
- Quality over quantity: Four authentic values are more powerful than six partially-lived values