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Do company values matter if every company posts the same ones? The posted values don't, but the lived ones do. This episode answers three common objections to hiring for values, using Kyrie Irving's time in Boston, Brooklyn and Dallas and the 2004 and 2008 USA Basketball teams to show that the same talent produces different results under different values.
Key takeawaysPosted company values tend to look alike, and research found they have no link to performance. What predicts performance is whether employees believe management is honest and ethical.
Employees care about values fit. They show it by staying, or by leaving for a "better opportunity."
The same player can succeed in one culture and struggle in another. That's what fit actually means.
USA Basketball went from bronze to gold with some of the same stars by selecting for commitment, role over ego, and effort.
Values don't replace production. They protect it.
This is Hiring Without Regret. I'm Ashley Wesley.
Raptors, 2019 champions. Still counts.
Last episode, I promised behaviour and personality next. It's coming. But first, the pushback you hear every time someone brings up culture.
There are three versions. "Every company has the same values." "Employees don't care." And my favourite... "I just want someone who can produce."
Here's my call for today. The first one is true. The second one is wrong. And the third one is how talented teams lose.
Start with "every company has the same values." You're right. Three economists looked at the S&P 500. Eighty-five percent post their values on their website. Innovation, integrity, respect, teamwork. Same list, different logo.
Those posted values had no link to performance. None. What mattered was whether employees believed management was honest and ethical. Where they did, performance was stronger.
So the poster is the same everywhere. What you actually live isn't. That's why knowing the true values of your organization, or your team, matters so much. Not the ones you'd print. The ones you'd notice if you watched for a week.
"Employees don't care." They care. They just show you by leaving. Last episode's fit research found people whose values match their company's are more committed and less likely to want to go. Nobody writes "values" on the exit interview. They write "better opportunity."
Now the big one. "I just want someone who can produce."
October 2018. Kyrie Irving stands in front of Celtics season-ticket holders and says he plans to re-sign in Boston. The year before, without him, a young Celtics team had reached Game 7 of the conference finals. Now they're the favourites.
Kyrie has an excellent statistical season. The team falls apart. Forty-nine wins, out in the second round. By February, asked about his future... ask me July 1.
Here's the part people miss. Boston's identity under Brad Stevens was gritty and hard-playing, young guys growing together. Kyrie saw himself as the number one option who could carry a team to a title. Nothing wrong with either. They just weren't the same values.
So he goes to Brooklyn, where the whole plan is stars. Kyrie, Kevin Durant, James Harden. On paper, a super team. They play sixteen games together. One playoff series win. Harden asks out within about a year and later calls it dysfunction. By February 2023, all three are gone. Brooklyn bought talent and hoped a standard would show up with it.
Then Dallas, next to Luka Doncic. Kyrie says there are a lot of good people there, so coming to work is fun. They make the Finals.
I'm not calling Kyrie a bad player, or a bad guy. Same player, three teams, three results. That's what fit actually means.
Now USA Basketball. 2004, Athens. A roster full of NBA stars slides into finger-pointing and me-first basketball, and goes home with bronze.
Jerry Colangelo takes over. He picks the players, and asks each one for a three-year commitment. In January 2006, he tells Kobe Bryant, on this team you won't be the scorer. You'll be a distributor. Kobe says he'll do whatever it takes. Two days later, Kobe drops 81 points on my Raptors. I'm fine.
Kobe shows up to camp a week early, in the gym at 5:30 a.m. Soon LeBron and Wade are there at 5:30 too. First scrimmage, loose ball, the biggest star on the floor dives headfirst.
Now look at what Colangelo actually built. You can see three values in that story. Commitment... three years, not one summer. Role over ego... one of the best scorers alive agreeing to pass. Effort... 5:30 in the morning, diving on the floor in a scrimmage. He didn't hang those on a wall. He picked players who'd live them, and the rest followed.
2008, Beijing. Gold. LeBron, Wade and Carmelo were on both teams. Same talent. Different values... and a standard everyone could see.
One more number, because "just produce" is really a money argument. A Harvard study of tens of thousands of hourly service workers found that avoiding one toxic employee, someone eventually fired for serious misconduct, saved about twelve and a half thousand US dollars. A top one percent superstar added about five thousand. Production doesn't cancel out damage.
So values don't replace production. They protect it.
So what do you do on Monday?
First, ask your team one anonymous question. "Do management's actions match its words?" That answer is your real culture.
Second, score values in the interview the same way you score skills. Both, not either. And in reference checks, don't just ask what they sold. Ask how they behaved when things went badly.
Next episode, finally, behaviour and personality... and why "he's outgoing, he'll be great" can be such an expensive sentence.
Talent gets you on the floor. Values decide whether you're still there in the fourth quarter.
Quick note. This is general information, not legal advice. Before you change how you hire, run it past an employment lawyer. I'm Ashley Wesley. See you next time.
Frequently asked questions Do company values matter if every company has the same ones?Posted values rarely differ and show no link to performance in the research. What matters is whether employees see leaders living the values, especially honesty and ethics. Define the values you actually reward and hire against those.
Should I just hire the highest producer?Production matters, but a high producer who clashes with how your team works can cost more than they bring in, through turnover, conflict and lost teammates. Score values and competencies together in every interview.
How do I find my company's real values?Ask your team anonymously whether management's actions match its words, and ask your best people what really gets rewarded. The gap between those answers and your posted values shows you where to start.
Work with AshleyAshley Wesley is a Fractional Sales and HR Executive and retained-search partner based in Guelph, Ontario. He helps owners define the values and competencies behind their sales roles, then find and assess candidates against both. Learn more at ashleywesley.com.
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Associated Press. (2023, February 12). Harden not surprised Durant, Irving fled Nets' "dysfunction". https://www.news4jax.com/sports/2023/02/12/harden-not-surprised-durant-irving-fled-nets-dysfunction/
Associated Press. (2024, June 18). Kyrie Irving sounds ready to keep chasing titles in Dallas after NBA Finals loss to Boston. https://www.news4jax.com/sports/2024/06/18/kyrie-irving-sounds-ready-to-keep-chasing-titles-in-dallas-after-nba-finals-loss-to-boston/
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Housman, M., & Minor, D. (2015). Toxic workers [Working paper]. Harvard Business School.
Kristof-Brown, A. L., Zimmerman, R. D., & Johnson, E. C. (2005). Consequences of individuals' fit at work: A meta-analysis of person-job, person-organization, person-group, and person-supervisor fit. Personnel Psychology, 58(2), 281-342. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2005.00672.x
NBA.com. (2025). Redeem Team Hall of Fame feature. https://www.nba.com/news/redeem-team-hall-of-fame-feature-2025
NBC Sports Boston. (2019, June 30). NBA rumors: Kyrie Irving, Nets agree to four-year max contract. https://www.nbcsportsboston.com/nba/boston-celtics/nba-rumors-kyrie-irving-nets-agree-to-four-year-max-contract/340151/
Sielski, M. (2021, May 15). Kobe Bryant's excellence on behalf of his country is a big part of his Hall of Fame legacy. The Philadelphia Inquirer. https://www.inquirer.com/sixers/kobe-bryant-hall-of-fame-olympics-lower-merion-lakers-20210515.html
University of Chicago Booth School of Business. (2014, April 7). Strong corporate culture leads to strong performance. Chicago Booth Review. https://www.chicagobooth.edu/review/strong-corporate-culture-leads-strong-performance
Disclaimer: This episode and page provide general HR and business information, not legal advice. Employment law turns on the specific facts and changes over time. Before acting on anything here, confirm it with an Ontario employment lawyer.
