The Small Giants Community has partnered with the Center for Values-Driven Leadership at Benedictine University in Chicago to launch an intensive, 3-year, evidence based research project to examine the connection of values and culture to profit. The study is geared toward delivering a seminal collection of case studies, data and insights on the proposed connection between culture, values and profit, The study is scheduled to include comprehensive case studies of more than 30 small/medium companies throughout the U.S. and will draw from hundreds of responses to create a broad sample of small business owners.
Download or view the most recent edition of the Executive Summary of the Return on Values Project.
For those interested in learning more about this study, nominations or in helping to fund this initiative, please contact Paul Spiegelman.
Getting Clear about Culture: Four Lessons from Remarkable Companies
A few years ago, our Center conducted a small study to identify the values publically held by companies on the Fortune 500 list. We found a wide range, and yet also a significant amount of overlap. Frequently cited values included: Accountability Commitment Diversity Excellence Innovation Leadership Loyalty Mutual respect Openness Partnership Passion Professionalism Quality Reliability 
Campsite Theory of Firing
When my children were young, family vacations were often spent at campgrounds within national parks, where one rule prevailed: leave the campsite better than you found it. The idea, of course, is to respect the natural environment by not just picking up your own trash, but by picking up rubbish others have left behind as 
The Integrity Effect
The most important thing you can do for your business is a strategy that can’t be measured with any metric. It can’t be reflected on a dashboard, reviewed in a quarterly report, or balanced on a spreadsheet. The most important thing you can do for your company is to focus on your personal integrity. Researcher 
How Good Leadership Makes You or Breaks You
How Good Leadership Makes You, or Breaks You Last month a colleague of mine, Indigo Johnson, was featured in Inc. magazine as the CEO of one of their Top 500 fastest growing companies. As you might expect, Indigo is a strategic, forward-thinking, dynamic leader. What you might not expect (but what Indigo would be quick to 



