Our values should guide every conversation we have, every decision we make, every interaction amongst our associates, every product we offer, every customer interaction. If we cannot link an action or behavior to one of our values, we should ask ourselves why we’re doing it.

We want all associates to know our values so well that if we threw out all the policy manuals, we would still make decisions based on our understanding of our culture and these values. We believe in values lived not phrases memorized. 

We have five primary values: people, ethics, “what’s right for customers,” diversity and leadership.

1. Our People

We value and support our people as a competitive advantage.

We must attract, develop, retain and motivate the most talented people who care and who work together as partners. We want to give them the training they need to succeed in their work. We want them to be responsible and accountable for their functions. We want to recognize and thank them for outstanding performance. We believe everyone is important and deserves respect for who they are and how they can contribute to our success. We say “associates” not “employees” because our people are a precious resource to be invested in.

We believe our people will out-execute our competitors every time because they care more than our competitors do

Products and technology don’t fulfill the promise behind a brand — people do, people who are more talented, more motivated, more energized than their competitors. 

When our people are in the right jobs, spending time on the right things, leading well, feeling good about their contributions, fully using their skills and learning new ones, and having fun — they’ll do what’s right for the customer. When they’re properly supported, rewarded, encouraged and recognized, they’re even more satisfied with their jobs, providing even better service for our customers. This generates more revenue — which results in greater profit — which fuels a higher stock price.

Capital goes where it is wanted and stays where it is well treated.

That goes not just for financial capital; it goes for human and intellectual capital. We must, therefore, be known as a great place to work. A place where our associates can build a career that can last a lifetime. We want to be an employer of choice, a company that really cares about people, where teamwork is valued and rewarded. Our relationships with our customers and partners are only as strong as our relationships with each other. 

Our associates are our most important constituents because they’re the most important influence on our customers. Some people say loyalty to a company is a thing of the past. We don’t believe that. People naturally aspire to a larger purpose beyond just themselves. They want to believe in their company and the good it can do. Don’t we all? People will believe in their company, however, only if they believe their company believes in them — if their company values them and their contributions — if their company appreciates the complexity of their lives — if they’re offered opportunity and challenge and, most importantly, if that company lives by its vision and values. 

This will result over time in a higher stock price that will benefit all of us because virtually all of us own stock in our company.

We value the contribution every associate can make toward our company’s success by: 

• Leading by example.
• Caring about each other and showing it. 
• Holding ourselves personally accountable for results. 
• Having the courage to speak what we believe is the truth. 

Each year, we will invest in training for education, mentoring and coaching, developing management and leadership skills for the benefit of our associates. We believe the greatest skill is the skill to learn new skills. We’re expected to take charge of our own career development. We need to understand the skills required for our next opportunity and then find ways, with our supervisor’s help, to develop those skills.

There’s another important way we influence behavior: recognition. We can never do enough of it. Try this: Give so much recognition to your associates for a job well done that it becomes counterproductive. You can’t!

We want every associate to be able to say, “I chose the right company. I’m valued. I’m rewarded. I’m recognized. We work hard, but we have fun, too. I can improve my professional skills here. I can reach my career goals. I enjoy my work.” 

2. Ethics

We strive for the highest ethical standards with associates, customers, our community and shareholders.

Honesty, trust and integrity are essential for meeting the highest standards of corporate governance. They’re not just the responsibility of our senior officers and our board of directors. We’re all responsible. Corporations don’t have a conscience. People do. Our ethics are the sum of all the decisions each of us makes every day. If you want to find out how strong a company’s ethics are, don’t listen to what its people say. Watch what they do. This is even more important in our industry because everything we do is built on relationships. It doesn’t happen in one day on the job, or in one quarter. It is earned relationship by relationship.

We behave ethically when we:

• Value and reward open, honest, two-way communication. 
• Hold ourselves accountable for, and are proud of, our decisions and our conduct.
• Only make promises we intend to keep—do what we say we’ll do. If things change, let people know. 
• Avoid any actual or perceived conflict of interest.
• Comply with the letter and the spirit of the law.
• Acknowledge and apologize for our mistakes, and learn from our errors so we don’t make them again.

We want compliance to be part of our culture, an extension of our code of ethics. Everyone shapes the risk culture of our company. We encourage all associates to identify and bring risk forward. We should thank them for doing so, not penalize them 

We value what’s right for our customers in everything we do.

We’re proud when we can do what’s right for our customers and community and make a fair profit at the same time. Our customers  are our friends. We advocate for their best interests. We want them to feel as if they’re part of our family—We put their interests first by:

• Starting every discussion with what’s best for them. 
• Exceeding their expectations—to surprise and delight them. 
• Investing in relationships that we want to last a lifetime.

3. Diversity

We value, and learn from, the diversity of  associates

We want all our associates to feel valued for their culture, skills and traits, and to know they can fulfill their ambition and succeed together. We want them to feel comfortable and enjoy being part of our company. We can’t be a great company unless we become more diverse and inclusive. It’s a tremendous business opportunity — because it enables us to use creativity and multiple perspectives to respond fast and effectively to customer needs.

We must promote diversity and inclusion in every aspect of our business and be accountable for measurable results. We must always look to improve recruiting, placing and retaining diverse associates and people of color, women and other diverse groups in senior leadership.

The spirit of diversity and inclusion doesn’t exist on a balance sheet. It lives in our hearts and minds, and most important, in our behaviors, including:

• Attracting and retaining a diverse workforce.
• Making sure diverse candidates are part of the selection process for positions for which we’re responsible.
• Building diverse leaders by rotating them through jobs in a variety of functions and businesses to give them a broad view of the company. 
• Seeking out diverse perspectives. 
• Supporting the diversity of our associates, customers and communities.
• Earning each other’s mutual trust. 
• Getting outside ourselves and taking a clear, objective view of our behaviors — to see ourselves as others see us.

By making diversity a competitive advantage, we can make our company a better place to work, better understand our diverse customers’ needs, and give customers and communities outstanding service and deliver more value to our stockholders. 

4. Leadership

We’re all called to be leaders.

We believe everyone can be a leader — that leadership is not the exclusive domain of senior managers. We’re all called to be leaders — to be the link between our vision and our customers. We define leadership as the “act” of establishing, sharing and communicating our vision and the “art” of motivating others to understand and embrace our vision. Leaders are accountable. They share the credit and shoulder the blame. They give others the responsibility and opportunity for success. A good leader inspires a team to have confidence in her or him; a great leader inspires a team to have confidence in themselves.

When a customer is waiting for an answer, we have to be able to respond to them fast, on the spot. That’s a competitive advantage. They consider themselves equal partners in a team effort to achieve our vision. When the team needs help, leaders pitch in just like everyone else. They’re involved. They’re hands on and available. They take personal ownership for a customer’s problem and don’t let go until that problem is solved. No one tells them to do it. They just do it.

The best leaders believe in the inherent knowledge and talent of every associate. They believe our people have the answer to every problem and every opportunity. They empower their people to develop ideas, test them, quantify the results, and then share the good ones with other functions throughout the company.

Leaders connect to our vision. They share their passion and their discipline about how to make our vision come alive. Only when an associate understands how much the leader cares does the associate then permit the leader to lead. Leaders learn from each other. That’s an advantage of being big. We share ideas, give ideas and search for the best ideas. We don’t resist a good idea simply because “it wasn’t invented here.” We’re always searching for the single best way to do something and adopting it wherever it applies — to improve the customer experience, keep customers, attract new ones, increase revenue and reduce expenses. It’s not the strongest or most intelligent who survive in our industry, but those who best adapt to change. By being common where possible and custom where it counts, we can take full advantage of the knowledge, experience and the creativity of all our associates.