Why Do Companies Publish Value Statements? (And Why We’re Finally Writing Ours)
Formalizing our value statement led to a bigger question: Why do companies publish value statements at all?
We’re finally getting around to creating a formal values statement. That might sound overdue, and maybe it is, but it’s not because values haven’t been important to us. We’ve always believed that how you do business matters just as much as what you produce. We’ve tried to make decisions with integrity, treat people fairly, and do work we’re proud to put our name on.
Asking ourselves “Why write it down now?” led to a bigger question: Why do companies publish value statements at all? Are they just another piece of marketing or are they meant to be something more?
When values are just marketing
Let’s acknowledge the obvious: Value statements can be marketing. You’ve probably seen plenty of them: polished pages filled with words like integrity, innovation, and excellence. They sound good, but they’re often so broad that they don’t actually guide behaviour.
When values exist only to look good:
- They don’t influence decisions
- They don’t change how work gets done
- They don’t hold anyone accountable
In those cases, values are decoration, not direction. And clients usually notice the gap between what’s written and what’s practiced.
When values actually matter
At their best, value statements serve a very different purpose. They act as a decision-making framework.
Real values help answer uncomfortable questions:
- Should we take on this project?
- How do we handle mistakes?
- What do we prioritize when things get tight?
- When is it better to say no, even if it costs us revenue?
Clear values don’t just justify the easy choices. They support the hard ones. For service-based businesses especially, trust is built not just on outcomes, but on judgment. Values help communicate how decisions are made—and why.
The ripple effect of doing business well
We also believe something a bit broader: it’s important to affect the world in positive ways.
Business decisions don’t happen in isolation. The way we treat clients affects how they serve their customers. The standards we hold ourselves to shape expectations. The shortcuts we refuse to take, or quietly accept, send signals that ripple outward. Those ripples may be small, but they spread.
Publishing values is one way of acknowledging that responsibility. It’s a statement that the impact of our work goes beyond deliverables, invoices, or timelines. It’s about how our choices influence the people and organizations we work with and, indirectly, the communities they touch.
Values as alignment
Another reason businesses publish values is alignment.
Internally, values:
- Create shared expectations
- Reduce ambiguity when opinions differ
- Give teams a common reference point that isn’t personal or emotional
Externally, values:
- Help the right clients find you
- Discourage relationships that aren’t a good fit
- Set the tone for how collaboration will work
Strong values don’t try to appeal to everyone. They help the right people self-select.
Why writing them down matters
If values already guide your actions, it’s fair to ask why they need to be written at all. Because writing forces clarity.
It’s easy to say you value quality or honesty. It’s harder to define what those mean when deadlines slip, budgets shrink, or mistakes happen. Writing values down turns assumptions into commitments—something you can return to when things get complicated. That’s usually when values matter most.
Not a promise of perfection
A values statement isn’t a guarantee that everything will always go smoothly. It’s a commitment to how you’ll respond when it doesn’t.
Clients don’t expect perfection. They expect transparency, accountability, and consistency. Clear values make those expectations visible.
Why now?
For us, this isn’t about rebranding or polishing our image. It’s about documenting what has already shaped our work, and being open about it.
As our business grows, decisions carry more weight. Writing our values down helps ensure that growth doesn’t dilute what matters to us, or to the people who trust us with their projects.
More than marketing
So, are value statements just marketing?
They can be. But when they’re honest, specific, and actually used, they become something else entirely:
- A compass for decision-making
- A tool for alignment and trust
- A small but meaningful way to influence the ripples your business creates
That’s the kind of values statement we’re working toward at The Dunham Group—and once it’s published, we intend to live up to it.
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