Trust Issues - Empty Company Values

According to award winning Pizza Hut Restaurants CEO Jens Hofma, creating shareholder value over upholding company values has led to a crisis of trust in business. He says that leaders have become “experts at saying the right thing, but doing something different".

We hear this a lot on our programmes, and we and they find it deeply frustrating! A focus on ‘doing the right thing’, not in a blindly naive way, but in conjunction with sound business goals, engages staff at all levels and is a prime cause of true motivation.

On becoming CEO at Pizza Hut in 2012, Hofma worked two restaurant shifts a week for a year to better understand his employees and their concerns. He says that “The values we preach should be less about the top team. Why don’t we all focus on being good to each other, working hard, and being constructive and functional?

We agree that responsibility of recognising that values exist, whether written down or not lies with everyone; but it’s the leader who must ensure that they are the right ones!