Staying the course: The value of values in a changing world

These days, it's tempting to view company values as mere window dressing - statements meant for websites and annual reports rather than guiding decisions. Recent shifts in the political and business climate have only intensified that tendency. Commitments to climate action have been softened or altogether "sunset." Former champions of stakeholder capitalism - which always fell short of the truly regenerative business action the planet needs - are walking back their language. It may seem like a change in context justifies a change in course. But that misunderstands the nature of values.

Company values as a leverage point

At the Schneider Electric Sustainability Research Institute, we used a combination of expert elicitation and network theory to understand how climate-related risks interact. The complete analysis, published in our climate risk network report, outlines how these interconnections shape strategic vulnerability and resilience (you can read the full report here).

What does that have to do with values? Among the dozens of risks we assessed, including geopolitical disruptions, supply chain breakdowns, and market shifts, the node labeled 'Company Values' emerged as a leverage point. It wasn't the biggest risk, and it wasn't the most likely, but it was among the most connected. That's what made it powerful.

What the risk network reveals

The climate risk network we built visualized Schneider Electric's risks as a system. Some risks had high severity or likelihood on their own. Others, however, like internal knowledge, internal data collection, and company values, were highly connected. These were the kinds of risks that, while smaller in isolation, could trigger ripple effects throughout the system that added up to much more impact than any individual risk had.

Access the report: How Schneider Electric's climate risks interact

Company values showed up in both categories: influential and influenced. In systems language, that's a leverage point. Handle it well, and cascading benefits will follow. Neglect it, and damage spreads fast and, if you're unlucky, out of control.

This kind of influence is often hard to quantify. It doesn't show up neatly in financial statements. However, by applying network theory (the same type used by Google to rank web pages), we can mathematically demonstrate its importance.

In this case, values don't just "matter." They shape outcomes across the entire climate risk system by helping sustain learning loops and adaptive capacity, indirect effects that strengthen resilience even in areas not obviously connected to them. And they do that precisely because they persist. Causes du jour that collapse under short-term pressure lack the lasting, system-wide influence of genuine values.

Short-term focus creates long-term risks

It's worth asking why values like equity, care for nature, or wellbeing of future generations are hard to sustain in business. The answer often lies in the system itself. A system that demands quarterly returns over long-term resilience will nudge decision-makers toward what looks good now, even at the cost of what works later.

This doesn't excuse anyone. However, it does highlight why organizations seeking to lead on climate or equality need systems-internal structures, incentives, leadership cultures-that support their values over time. One example of such a structure is the stewardship businessmodel, which legally separates money and power: managers functioning as stewards for the company hold the control rights, while a different (charitable) organization holds the capital shares and economic rights. Steward ownership is designed to work as the ropes around Odysseus while sailing past the sirens: to prevent originally well-intentioned leaders from "selling out" in a moment of weakness.

External shifts are needed too

At the same time, we need shifts outside company walls. Today's economic system often fails to reward long-term value creation. If we want more organizations to behave in line with the values they claim, we need a broader shift toward an economy that recognizes and reinforces those choices. Without structural change through policy, metrics, and public expectations, leaders risk being punished for true leadership. That's a missed opportunity for everyone.

One direction this shift could take is the wellbeing economy, a model that prioritizes human and ecological flourishing over short-term financial gains. In such a system, in which the way profits are realized matters distinctly for economic performance, values-aligned organizations wouldn't merely survive but thrive because of their long-term commitments.

Company values are not soft issues

This isn't about sacrificing profits to do good. It's about recognizing that long-term resilience is profitability, just on a different timescale. The companies that endure aren't the ones that hedge every bet. They're the ones who stand for something and organize around it.

In the network model, we mapped dozens of climate-related risks. But it wasn't physical risks like floods or storms that had the most systemic influence. It was the behavioral aspects, including data sharing, internal knowledge, organizational agility, and, yes, values.

These are often dismissed as soft issues. But they're the kinds of risks that sit upstream of everything else. Get them right, and the rest will fall into place. Ignore them, and small cracks turn into system-wide failures.

Leadership that holds

Senior MIT lecturer Otto Scharmer once defined leadership as the ability to sense what wants to emerge and help it come into being. That kind of leadership requires courage, especially when market signals point in the opposite direction. But it's also the kind that will matter most in the years ahead.

What we do now, what we prioritize, and what we stay true to will reverberate in society in ways we can't always trace. That's why values matter-not because they're easy to market but because they're hard to fake.

The companies that stay the course now will be best positioned for a future that demands resilience, trust, and coherence-a future that may come faster than we think.

Let's make sure we're ready for it.

Tags: corporate values, Sustainability, sustainability research institute