Valentina Drofa, Founder and CEO at the PR firm for eminent finance and fintech brands Drofa Comms.
For any business, it’s important to consider how growth is pursued. Building new products, chasing new markets, growing the client base—these are the steps that usually attract the most attention.
I want to talk about another layer: values. For a long time, I did not understand them. Values and mission statements felt like vague fluff without any particular meaning attached. They seemed purely cosmetic in nature and completely separate from serious work.
And the thing is, yes, they are optional to a certain extent. You can run a business and even be profitable without clearly defined values. But only if you’re thinking in the short term. If you want your company to be something you’d be proud to eventually pass on to the next generation, values stop being optional and become the backbone that supports everything else.
Values Have To Be Lived, Not Invented
For my company, the shift happened about five years ago. We had already been in business for years, and things were going well enough. But my perspective as a founder was gradually changing. I began to see my company not just as a profit-generating business but as a legacy. That’s when I realized we needed to define our values—not the kind copied from a consultant’s PowerPoint, but the ones that genuinely reflected who we were, who I was as a business leader.
This is where I think many companies go wrong: they outsource their values. A coach or consultant comes in, interviews a few people on the team and delivers a set of core values that look great on a webpage. But if the founder doesn’t truly live those values, they’re worthless.
And people aren’t so easy to trick. It won’t take much for employees to spot the gap between what’s said and what’s actually being practiced. It’s like telling your kids not to spend all day on their phones while scrolling through yours at the dinner table.
If employees see your value system as a sham, they’ll grow disillusioned and feel that they were deceived. They may also leave your company in favor of some better option.
How To Get It Right
Values that actually work have to be based on what you already believe. In my case, honesty is something I care about a lot, so I apply it as a guiding principle not just in day-to-day life, but in my business as well.
In our industry, it’s common to see PR teams who present clients with republished articles and pass them off as unique results of their own work. That’s misleading and not how we operate. At my company, we’re upfront with clients about what our team genuinely achieved and what was simply a positive side effect. Transparency builds far more long-term trust than appearances. Clients see the real picture, not an embellished version.
The same applies when we bring in external contractors for large projects. Sometimes outsourcing is necessary, and the deciding factor is always quality of delivery. It’s never about saving money or any personal gain a partner might offer. We promise clients the best results and put in genuine effort to deliver. It’s a simple principle that leaves no room for cutting corners.
That same honesty also defines how we respond to challenges. When transparency is in your business DNA, you don’t sweep problems under the rug; you confront them directly. This is true for both internal team matters and in external crisis management.
In tough situations, which inevitably happen from time to time, honesty gives you a ready-made decision framework. You already know you’re not going to try and dodge accountability, so you plan ahead on how to communicate with partners or clients to reassure them and retain trust. Because of this approach, both clients and employees have trusted me and the company for many years. They know there’s no hidden agenda. What you see is what we do.
The Impact On Growth
Once our values were clearly defined, the company started changing in noticeable ways at a rapid pace. The right people started joining the team, naturally aligned with our approach. The wrong ones left quickly, or we didn’t hire them in the first place. Clients who shared our worldview came to trust us more and stayed in collaboration longer.
Values also made decision making faster and more efficient. Instead of debating in circles, we could just ask: Does this idea align with who we are? If yes, we move forward with it. If not, then we don’t bother. There’s no point in pursuing things that don’t align with your core culture.
Honesty is just one example. The same dynamics work with any value, whether your company only has one or many more. The main point is that these values should reflect what actually goes on in your mind, instead of being empty words.
For founders who have yet to define their company values, the one word of advice I can offer is this: Start with yourself. What principles have guided your decisions so far? What would you refuse to compromise on, even if it costs the business money?
When you can come up with clear answers to these questions, you pretty much have your values right there. And once you’ve clearly articulated them, they’ll act as your operating system, quietly shaping all of your processes.
The best part? When your values are real, you don’t have to enforce them. The right people will feel at home. The wrong people will opt out. And your company will grow in a direction you can be proud of—not just in size, but in substance.
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