Integrity. Respect. Do The Right Thing. Sound familiar?
I've been watching a trend unfold for years. The world is becoming more homogenised. Businesses are starting to look, sound and feel increasingly alike. And then AI came along and put its foot on the accelerator.
I know it. You know it. Everyone's feeding their company information into AI, hoping for something magical. But instead, we're getting a lot of the same shit, just rolled in glitter.
Why? Because AI is only as useful as the thinking you give it. And businesses are feeding it the same generic company guidelines, values and messaging as everyone else. The problem isn't necessarily the AI. It's that we've forgotten what makes us different.
So I wanted to test a theory
I've always been fascinated by company values. When I run Business Alignment Workshops, they're often one of the most powerful ways to uncover what makes organisations and teams genuinely different. Not just what a business believes in, but the underlying behaviours that drive its best work.
So I decided to investigate the Fortune 500. And what did I find? Surprise, surprise 2405 values later, I found a lot of the businesses sound remarkably similar. Integrity appeared more than 140 times in my research. Respect, Doing the Right Thing, Teamwork... the list goes on. Congratulations. We've described basic human decency.
But here's where it gets interesting. Not everyone sounds the same.
Among the generic buzzwords, I found companies communicating their values in genuinely interesting ways. Values that describe clear behaviours, inspire employees and give customers a reason to connect with the business.
That's why I created the S-to-F Company Values Tier System, to help businesses move beyond D-Tier buzzwords and uncover the behaviours that make them worth choosing. Because when you understand what makes you different, you can communicate it more clearly, stay true to your own beliefs and give AI something genuinely distinctive to work with.
The goal isn't to sound like everyone else, only faster. It's to sound unmistakably like you.
And that's what this research is here to help you explore.
Choose between our FREE or PREMIUM research options
Free Edition
Fortune 500 Company Values List
What's included
Fortune 500 companies: Explore the businesses included in the research.
2405 Value Names: We've simplified or standardised some similar names to make comparison easier.
Original wording: See what each company actually said, alongside our simplified names.
Value Source Type: Discover whether values come from core values, leadership principles, company philosophies or other published frameworks.
Source URLs and dates: See where the information came from and when it was sourced.
Evidence status: Distinguish verified sources from indirect evidence.
Full Assessment
Unlock the Studio Riz Analysis
What's included
Everything in the Free Edition: All published values, sources and verification details.
Easy-to-analyse dashboards: Quickly uncover common patterns, standout examples, and opportunities to improve.
S-to-F tier assessments: See how we've graded 2,405 values against our tier framework, from generic buzzwords to meaningful behaviours.
Top company rankings: Explore company-level rankings based on their average value scores and find businesses worth investigating further.
52 value themes: Filter by themes to compare generic values with stronger behavioural examples.
21 broad and 66 specific industry categories: Compare companies within your industry or look elsewhere for fresh perspectives and inspiration.
Fully editable workbook: Sort, filter, add your own notes, change assessments and explore the data in new ways.
What's included
Fortune 500 companies: Explore the businesses included in the research.
2405 Value Names: We've simplified or standardised some similar names to make comparison easier.
Original wording: See what each company actually said, alongside our simplified names.
Value Source Type: Discover whether values come from core values, leadership principles, company philosophies or other published frameworks.
Source URLs and dates: See where the information came from and when it was sourced.
Evidence status: Distinguish verified sources from indirect evidence.
Easy-to-analyse dashboards: Quickly uncover common patterns, standout examples, and opportunities to improve.
S-to-F tier assessments: See how we've graded 2,405 values against our tier framework, from generic buzzwords to meaningful behaviours.
Top company rankings: Explore company-level rankings based on their average value scores and find businesses worth investigating further.
52 value themes: Filter by themes to compare generic values with stronger behavioural examples.
21 broad and 66 specific industry categories: Compare companies within your industry or look elsewhere for fresh perspectives and inspiration.
Fully editable workbook: Sort, filter, add your own notes, change assessments and explore the data in new ways.
Research Usage & Attribution
© 2026 Studio Riz. All rights reserved in Studio Riz's original research compilation, structure, categorisation, analysis and tier assessments.
We encourage you to share and discuss insights, individual findings and brief excerpts from this research, including on social media, provided you mention and credit either Rizwan Nawaz and/or Studio Riz, as well as link back to this original research page.
The spreadsheets are provided for personal or internal business use. Redistribution, resale, republication of substantial portions, or commercial distribution of the spreadsheets or their underlying Studio Riz analysis is not permitted without prior written permission.
Research Disclaimer
Some value names have been standardised for comparison; original published wording is provided separately. Tier assessments are subjective evaluations of published statements, not measures of actual company culture, uniqueness or performance. Source coverage and verification status vary by company. E-Tier misalignment cannot be established from published wording alone.
Published company values remain attributable to their respective organisations.
