Are your Values Aligned?

One of my professors, during my days at Northwestern, asked if my personal values match with my company’s values. The point was that if there is a mismatch in values, maybe it is best to part ways with the company.

I have since started looking at values of different companies and almost all of them seem like good values. Why would a company choose “Bad Customer Service” or “Employees Last” or “Dishonesty to the Core” or “Less Quality” as their value?

Even more, what percent of employees know their company’s values? Probably a small number (I’d like to know if there’s a precise number from a reliable study). Assuming a vast majority of employees don’t know their company’s values, why even bother defining values? Are setting values on minds of founders of start-ups.

On a more practical note, I think vision, mission, and values should be at the fingertips of leadership team. Their every action should reflect company’s values and should encourage all employees to align to the same. What if employees don’t align to the same? What if employees’ personal values aren’t aligned with your company’s values? How do you identify them? How do you deal with them?