At Brandemix, our employer brand philosophy is grounded in the tenets of our founder’s book, The Talent Brand, first published in 2017. While much has changed since then, one principle remains: pillars only work when they are behavioral, observable, and unique to your organization. Let’s see if yours pass that test.
So, Let’s Play a Game
Open your careers page.
Scroll to the section about culture.
Read your pillars out loud:
Innovation.
Collaboration.
Excellence.
Integrity.
Customer first.
Now ask yourself something slightly uncomfortable:
Could your biggest competitor say the exact same thing?
If the answer is yes, and it usually is, you do not have culture pillars.
You have industry wallpaper.
And wallpaper does not differentiate an employer brand. It just fills space.
Culture pillars are supposed to be structural beams. The problem is, most organizations build them like decorative molding. Polished. Pleasant. Completely non-load-bearing.
If your EVP is meant to define what it is truly like to work inside your organization, your pillars cannot sound like everyone else’s.
Let’s talk about why this happens and how to fix it.
What Are Culture Pillars in an EVP?
Culture pillars are the foundational commitments that define how work actually gets done inside an organization. Within an Employee Value Proposition, they clarify the lived experience of employees—not just leadership aspiration.
When built correctly, culture pillars influence hiring decisions, leadership behavior, performance standards, recognition programs, and internal communication. They guide action.
They are not slogans.
They are operating principles.
If they do not shape decisions, they are not pillars.
Think of them as structural beams, not decorative molding. They hold weight in the way work happens every day.
The approach we use at Brandemix—and the one detailed in The Talent Brand—focuses on observable behavior, not aspirational words, as the foundation of meaningful pillars.
The Innovation, Collaboration, Excellence Problem
There is a reason so many companies land on the same five words. It is not laziness. It is safety.
When executives gather in a workshop, no one wants to object to integrity. Nobody argues against excellence. These words feel responsible. Mature. Corporate. And the more people in the room, the safer the language becomes.
By the end of the session, what survives is not what is most distinctive. It is what is least controversial. That is how you end up with pillars that sound impressive and interchangeable.
From an EVP perspective, this is where the architecture cracks. Your Employee Value Proposition is not meant to describe what sounds admirable in theory. It is meant to describe what is specifically true about working inside your organization.
When every company says “innovation,” the word stops signaling anything. It becomes atmospheric. And what does not signal anything cannot differentiate.
Why the Same Words Keep Surviving EVP Workshops
Three quiet forces are usually at play:
- Executive Safety – Leaders gravitate toward language that reflects well externally. Words that feel responsible or mature survive. Protective language rarely reveals identity.
- Consensus Culture – Workshops are designed for agreement. Sticky notes go up. Voting happens. The words with the broadest acceptance rise to the top. Differentiation rarely survives consensus.
- Aspirational Bias – Companies describe who they want to be, not who they consistently are. Aspirational language feels polished, but it doesn’t guide actual behavior. Candidates experience reality, not aspiration.
Aspirational vs. Actual
Aspirational pillars look good on slides. Actual pillars show up in decisions.
Examples:
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Aspirational: We value collaboration.
Actual: We debate openly in meetings and do not revisit decisions in side conversations.
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Aspirational: We strive for excellence.
Actual: We do not ship work we would not proudly attach our names to.
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Aspirational: We are innovative.
Actual: We test before we perfect. Progress beats polish.
Actual pillars are observable. They imply trade-offs. That’s what makes them real. Without trade-offs, they’re just decoration.
The Competitor Test
Could your competitor claim your pillars too? Could a company in a completely different industry claim them as well?
If the answer is yes, refine them. Push for specificity. Employer branding becomes powerful when it articulates what is actually true inside your walls, not what sounds admirable on a website.
The goal of an EVP is not to be universally liked. Generic pillars aim for universal appeal. Specific pillars aim for clarity. Clarity wins.
The Exercise That Forces Specificity
Ask one question for every pillar: What breaks if we remove this?
Not emotionally. Operationally.
- Would hiring criteria shift?
- Would performance evaluations change?
- Would product timelines adjust?
- Would leadership behavior be affected?
If nothing breaks, it was never structural. Structural pillars hold weight. They influence behavior, decisions, and consequences.
Examples:
- Collaboration: “Our delivery model depends on cross-functional teams. Without collaboration, our workflow collapses.”
- Innovation: “We test ideas in public, learning fast and iterating before investing heavily. Remove this, and innovation stalls.”
These kinds of observable behaviors are the ones that make a pillar real.
Culture Pillars as Structural Beams
Think about a building. The beams are not decorative. They are not flashy. But everything depends on them.
Culture pillars should function the same way. They should shape hiring, onboarding, promotion criteria, performance conversations, recognition programs, and leadership behavior.
If employees cannot explain your pillars without opening a slide deck, they are artwork, not structure. Artwork does not hold weight.
Alignment between stated pillars and lived experience builds trust. Misalignment erodes it. Employer branding is not about making promises louder—it’s about making promises accurate.
The Courage to Be Specific
Specificity can feel risky. But generic feels safe only until you realize it makes you invisible.
When candidates understand exactly what it is like to work at your organization—your pace, standards, communication style, decision-making logic—they self-select intelligently. Alignment improves. Retention strengthens. Engagement deepens.
Strong pillars are not impressive. They are true. They reflect decisions made when no one is watching. They shape conflict, reward, and recognition.
Your Next Step
If you want pillars that actually hold weight, start by asking the right questions, observing behaviors, and identifying trade-offs. That’s the approach we’ve been using at Brandemix for decades, based on the principles in The Talent Brand.
FAQs
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What is the difference between culture pillars and core values?
Core values describe what an organization believes. Culture pillars define how those beliefs show up in daily behavior and decision-making. Pillars are operational, not just philosophical.
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Why do most company culture statements sound the same?
Most organizations prioritize consensus and safety during workshops. Neutral, widely accepted language survives, while more distinctive and behavior-based language gets removed.
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How do you create differentiated EVP pillars?
Start by identifying observable behaviors and decision-making patterns. Ask what would break if a pillar were removed. If nothing changes, it was never foundational.
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How many culture pillars should an EVP include?
Most effective Employee Value Propositions include three to five pillars. Fewer pillars create clarity. Too many dilute focus and reduce impact.
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Can culture pillars be aspirational?
They can reflect direction, but they must align with reality. If the employee experience does not match the messaging, trust erodes quickly. Read more
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jody Ordioni is the author of “The Talent Brand.” In her role as Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Brandemix, she leads the firm in creating brand-aligned talent communications that connect employees to cultures, companies, and business goals. She engages with HR professionals and corporate teams on how to build and promote talent brands, and implement best-practice talent acquisition and engagement strategies across all media and platforms. She has been named a "recruitment thought leader to follow" and her mission is to integrate marketing, human resources, internal communications, and social media to foster a seamless brand experience through the employee lifecycle.
