To build an organization where values are not just aspirational but **biologically embedded** and driving performance, CEOs must move beyond mere compliance. Dr. Emily Falk’s neuroscience of value calculation provides the mechanism, while quantitative business research provides the mandate. This playbook outlines three key methodologies for leaders, supported by explicit experimental examples and a call for a formal **Values Curriculum**.

1. Hardwire Individual Commitment: Self-Identity as a Value Center

The brain’s natural impulse is to defend the self, often rejecting threatening information. Leveraging the **self-relevance system** bypasses this defensiveness by affirming an individual’s core sense of self, making them receptive to change.

Concept Experimental Example & Brain Area CEO Action Plan
Self-Affirmation

Experiment: Sedentary adults who affirmed core values before viewing threatening health messages while undergoing fMRI.

Result: The affirmed group showed **greater activity** in the **Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (VMPFC)** and **Ventral Striatum (VS)**—key areas for valuation and self-processing. This heightened activity **predicted a greater decline in sedentary behavior**.

Personalized Values Integration: Train managers to explicitly connect employees’ **personal core values** to the company’s mission (e.g., “Your value of ‘Learning’ is critical to our ‘Innovation’ value”).

Values-Informed Feedback: Start performance reviews with a quick written affirmation exercise. This **primes the VMPFC**, making employees less defensive and more open to constructive feedback.

2. Scale Commitment: Group Identity as a Value Multiplier

The social environment profoundly influences the subjective value of any choice. Falk’s research on the **social-relevance system** demonstrates that individuals adopt behaviors perceived as valuable or rewarding to their in-group.

Concept Experimental Example & Brain Area CEO Action Plan
Social Influence & Synchrony

Experiment: Researchers measured brain activity using fMRI while participants viewed messages and then tracked which messages “went viral” in their real-world social network.

Result: Activity in the **Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC)** (social-relevance system) and valuation areas **predicted the real-world spread** of the messages. This indicates a social norm that **amplifies shared value**.

Cultivate Social Contagion: Systematically identify and celebrate **”Values Champions”**—employees who organically model core values. Their visible recognition serves as a powerful social cue, causing others’ reward systems to assign higher value to those behaviors.

Leadership Modeling: The executive team must consistently model values and **explicitly reference them** when navigating tough choices, thereby creating a strong social norm that syncs the organization’s approach.

3. Institutionalize Alignment: The Need for a Values Curriculum

The brain’s value system defaults to **immediate reward** over long-term alignment. To ensure sustained, values-driven behavior, the “review of values” must be a mandatory, structured part of organizational life—a curriculum for ethical decision-making.

Results: The Business Case for Values (HBR Data) The Values Curriculum Imperative

Productivity & Profitability: Gallup research cited in HBR shows organizations with high employee engagement experience a **21% increase in profitability** and lower absenteeism.

Reduced Turnover & Increased Efficiency: An HBR case study on a manufacturing firm found a direct correlation between enhanced employee engagement and a subsequent **10% increase in operational efficiency**.

Mandate a Values-Based Decision-Making Curriculum: Formalize the review process with mandatory training for all managers:

  • Values-Informed Choice: A structured tool requiring managers to articulate which core values are supported or compromised by a pending decision.
  • Defensiveness Recognition: Training on how to spot and mitigate the employee’s neurological defensiveness before delivering challenging feedback.
  • Future-Self Projection: Exercises that prompt leaders to constantly evaluate decisions against the desired, future identity of the organization, thereby overcoming the immediate-reward bias.

Values as a Competency: Integrate adherence to the Values Curriculum into key performance indicators (KPIs) for every leader, making value alignment as measurable and non-negotiable as financial performance.