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Our Perspective

What this means for leaders navigating growth, change or transformation in their organisation.

The Trust Gap

Customers don’t take values on faith; they look for proof across product, policy and behaviour. When the poster says one thing and the experience says another, trust decays silently and then suddenly. Edelman’s Brand Trust Report notes that more than eight in ten people are more likely to buy from brands that reflect their values, which turns values from a communications issue into a commercial one.

Most organisations we work with only notice the credibility gap once conversion softens or recruitment gets harder. The more valuable move is to make values auditable: treat them as testable claims that guide choices, not as slogans that warm a slide deck.

Evidence Over Declarations

Substantiated values start with a simple discipline: translate beliefs into decisions the outside world can verify. That means your values need a chain of evidence — from intention to standard to behaviour to outcome — that stands up under pressure, even when it costs you an attractive short-term opportunity.

• State the value as a testable claim: “We will…” not “We believe…”
• Name the trade-off: what you’ll forgo, and under which conditions.
• Set the threshold: metrics, timeframes and an internal owner for the proof.

Designing Trade-Offs

Trade-offs make values real. They’re the visible edges that help buyers decide, teams move faster and partners trust you. Map them across the journey so they show up where decisions actually happen, not just in an annual report.

• Product: choices you declined to ship and why; criteria for future approvals.
• Partners: supplier standards, audit cycles and what triggers exit.
• Pricing: rules that reinforce a value (e.g., fairness, access) and how you apply them.

Operating Consequences

Treating values as an operating system changes how an organisation runs. Decision rights become clearer because hard lines exist. Approval cycles shorten because the bar is pre-agreed. You also spend less trying to convince audiences who were unlikely to convert because your stance is legible upfront.

For leadership, three implications follow. First, governance: define who arbitrates exceptions and how they’re recorded. Second, incentives: link performance, bonuses and roadmaps to evidence of values in action, not volume of claims. Third, messaging: lead with proof, then meaning — sequence matters. Organisations that do this consistently build sturdier trust, and with it, more pricing power and resilience when market conditions turn.

Sources:

1. Turning Customer Touchpoints into Advocacy
2. Building Brand Memory with Consistent Messaging
3. Future-Ready Messaging: Meeting the Demand for Personalisation