The recent news that rural store Tractor Supply has about-faced on its diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) goals, reneged on its climate goals, and ceased reporting to the Human Rights Campaign is not surprising, though it is a crucial lesson about how a company defines its core values, communicates them, and ultimately commits to them.

Of course, the issue with Tractor Supply is that that it’s bowing to conservative pressures and ending its DEI promises. At least, the public now understands how insufficient (and misleading) the company’s “values” were to begin with.

It's a matter of core company values. What are they? What do they mean?

Types of Values

For context, there are three types of values that a company can foster. 1) Personal values are those held by the individual; best hiring practices include building your team with employees who, hopefully, share similar personal values. 2) Team values are for guiding teamwork and team unity so that the working environment is positive and productive. These would be included in a new hire’s onboarding kit to guide responsible interactions between employees and customers. 3) Core values—the ones we’re really looking for when we research a major company and its massive financial, social and environmental influence—are those beliefs identified and held by the company as their north star. These define the company’s biggest goals for engaging with the world as a trusted and influential financial entity. Core company values are beacons for ongoing improvement and are the very basis for decision-making. Core company values are bold and powerful and can be an expensive investment.

What are examples of core company values? There are many, but I’ll list some bold ones—values that are strong enough to make a difference because they are woven into the fabric of the company’s mission, its hiring practices, its promotion and HR activities, its financial donations, its support of nonprofits and foundations, its product development, and its sourcing and vendor partnerships.

• Women-empowering. A company supports women’s equity and pursues a just economy.
• Accessible. A company designs its stores to be wheelchair and baby-carriage friendly; its information is readable for the elderly or sight-impaired.
• Circular. A company designs its products with a no-waste goal, knowing how the plastics, glass, paper or other elements of a product will be broken down at the end of the product’s lifespan and responsibly reused.

How Tractor Supply Got It Wrong

On its Mission & Values webpage, Tractor Supply lists 10 values: “ethics, respect, balance, winning attitude, communication, development, teamwork, change, initiative, and accountability.”

There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of these values, but they sow confusion when they are misconstrued to be core company values (they’re not). Here’s why: Tractor Supply’s list comprises team-unity values, not core company values. This list tells employees how to get along with each other and with customers. “Winning attitude” and “respect” dictate how employees treat each other and their customers. Be nice. Go the extra mile. Work as a team. This list would be better pinned to the corkboard in the employee break room or posted in the cafeteria than published on their website; it’s misleading because it doesn’t describe real core company values at all.

Instead, Tractor Supply should have gone deeper to describe how the company gives back to its communities (Tractor Supply operates in more than 2,200 locations in 49 states). Its list does not describe the company’s ethic, nor its hiring practices, nor its stance toward women’s or minority equity, operating an ecologically sound distribution process, sourcing from ethical vendors, supporting women- or minority-owned company partners, or selling materials that are safe, hygienic, family-made, certified organic, made with certified fair trade, made with regenerative rubber, or guaranteed not tested on animals. Their listed values don’t describe how they can be held accountable as a major U.S. company raking in millions per year, or how their governing policies will be transparent.

The new Company Statement posted on Tractor Supply’s website shares that its first act of capitulation will be to “no longer submit data to the Human Rights Campaign.” This actually is their first step in communicating a true core company value; in this case, it’s anti-human rights. I don’t agree with it, but it’s a real company value instead of a list of daily behaviors expected by employees. I’d rather see a crystal-clear value presented by a company even if I don’t agree with it than read vague words that are arbitrary, meaningless, and misleading. At least I can avoid the company and, instead, back its competitors.

Misleading Values

In my 30 years guiding natural and organic product businesses, I’ve learned that far too many companies fail to understand values. Or like Tractor Supply, they mis-use a set of team-unity values to indicate to the broader public what the company stands for. This practice is disingenuous, superficial, and can lead to the type of fiasco now evident in Tractor Supply’s seeming “about-face.” Were it not for being lauded for good diversity practices in 2022 and 2023, this would appear to be not an about-face at all because we’ve never officially been told about the true values Tractor Supply holds.

Companies in all industries have an obligation to use their public platform and significant financial and social influence to 1) clearly communicate their stance on social and environmental issues so that employees, vendors, partners and consumers can make responsible purchasing decisions; and 2) signal to the world what their values really are. And customers increasingly demand it. Pro Purpose, an Australian charity, notes that 72% of adults in general expect companies to be mission-driven. It’s not enough to publicize break-room lists of employee behavior expectations in lieu of actionable and transparent core company values. It’s not enough to hire immigrant workers to gain diversity ratings without actually implementing a measurable outward purpose. The world expects (and deserves) transparency.

Strategy Consultant

I help businesses work strategically to identify core values, implement a company-wide, indelible purpose, and develop alignment strategies that are bold, progressive, and world-changing. If your company needs transformation, talk with me about team training, strategic planning, and next steps.

About the Author

Holly Bellebuono, MPA, is the founder of Selle Impact Consulting and is a fierce advocate for revolutionary company missions that elevate business and culture. She is a global speaker, 8X author, and strategist for values-based leadership. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration: Environmental Policy from Appalachian State University, and executive certificates in Nonprofit Finance, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and Impact Measurement & Management of the UN Sustainable Development Goals from Cornell, London Business School, and Duke University. She has served on the Martha’s Vineyard Climate Action Plan Steering Committee (Economic Resilience) and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s Community of Practice, among others. She is known for celebrating the human experience and empowering business leaders seeking a worthy purpose.