Accenture CEO Julie Sweet advised new Salesforce CFO Amy Weaver to identify and master the single most important source of credibility for her new role—in this case, Wall Street. Instead of trying to learn everything at once, she focused on excelling in investor relations to quickly establish her authority.

Most corporate values statements (e.g., "integrity") are unactionable and don't change internal culture. Effective leaders codify specific, observable behaviors—the "how" of working together. This makes unspoken expectations explicit and creates a clear standard for accountability that a vague value never could.

Jensen Huang rejects "praise publicly, criticize privately." He criticizes publicly so the entire organization can learn from one person's mistake, optimizing for company-wide learning over individual comfort and avoiding political infighting.

To combat complacency, Supercell's CEO opened an all-hands meeting by showing an animated slide of their declining global ranking year-by-year. This act of transparent and painful self-critique from the top created the psychological safety and urgency needed to rally the team around a new strategy.

A decision is only a true test of values when it costs something. When Basecamp banned politics at work, they lost 20-30% of their staff and faced backlash. By sticking to their personal values, they attracted aligned talent and built a stronger company long-term.

When presenting their rebrand strategy, Ford's CEO encouraged his team to transparently share challenges they hadn't yet solved. This demonstrated deep, critical thinking and built more confidence with the board than a perfectly polished presentation would have.

A company’s true values aren't in its mission statement, but in its operational systems. Good intentions are meaningless without supporting structures. What an organization truly values is revealed by its compensation systems, promotion decisions, and which behaviors are publicly celebrated and honored.

A top-performing CEO adapted the board practice of an "executive session." He periodically removes himself from his own leadership meetings and asks an HR leader to gather candid feedback on his performance. This powerfully models vulnerability and a commitment to continuous improvement for the entire organization.

Arvind Krishna keeps a Red Hat on his shelf to symbolize the conviction behind the $34B acquisition. He believes that if a leader's conviction on a company-altering bet is wrong, they "should be fired." It represents the intense personal accountability needed to push through high-stakes strategic change.