Values as a Sharp Knife
Rewrite company values as deliberate filters, then hardcode a scoring formula that removes people who don't fit.
- Difficulty
- Expert
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 90%
McCabe reset Intercom's culture by rewriting the values specifically to be a 'sharp knife' — a filter to cut out the people and behaviors that wouldn't be effective in the new company. He then built a quarterly process that scored people on both goal performance AND behavior against values, with a founder-hardcoded formula that took the decision out of managers' hands. A few quarters of this reshapes an organization deliberately in the image of the values you want.
Origin
Eoghan McCabe on rebuilding Intercom's culture after returning as CEO, when he had the lowest Glassdoor rating for a CEO he had ever seen.
Core principles
- 01Values are not decoration — design them explicitly as a filter for the company you're becoming
- 02Score behavior against values with the same rigor as goal performance
- 03Hardcode the consequence into a formula so managers can't dilute it
- 04Culture is set by a small number of people, so it can shift fast once the process bites
- 05You then hire in the image of the people who remain
How to run it
- 1
Rewrite values as a deliberate filter
Author values chosen to sharpen and exclude — e.g. resilience, very high standards, working incredibly hard, optimizing for shareholder value — even (especially) where they will be controversial to the incumbent crowd.
Pro tip Make the values pointed enough that the wrong-fit people self-identify; the friction is the feature.
Watch out Expect real backlash — letters to the board, attempted 'soft coups,' and unhappy long-tenured staff.
- 2
Score performance AND behavior every quarter
Run a quarterly process where each person gets a grade for performance against goals and a separate score for behavior against the values.
- 3
Hardcode the consequence into a formula
Set a founder-controlled formula so that anyone below a threshold is exited — 'respectfully and lovingly' — removing the decision from individual managers so it's applied consistently.
Pro tip Do it for just a small number of quarters and the org visibly reshapes toward the values.
Watch out This is authoritarian and top-down by design; do not attempt it as a professional caretaker without a founder mandate.
- 4
Hire in the image of who remains
Once the wrong-fit people leave, hire the entrepreneurial, brave, high-standard types who match the survivors, compounding the culture you built.
Pro tip Frame exits as a favor — people who want a gentle democratic environment will be happier elsewhere, so it's a 'loving push out the door.'
In the wild
McCabe rewrote the values as a filter, installed quarterly performance-plus-values scoring with a hardcoded formula, and exited people below the bar over several quarters despite a soft coup attempt and letters to the board.
→ Roughly 40% employee turnover over a couple of years, but an anonymous survey ~15-16 months in showed 98-99% approval of management, leadership, and new strategy — up from the lowest CEO Glassdoor rating he'd ever seen.
Common mistakes
Leaving the exit decision to individual managers
McCabe deliberately 'took it out of the manager's hands' with a hardcoded formula — without that, managers dilute standards and the culture reset stalls.
Expecting a values reset without friction
Changing the rules in a company built for democracy and committee decisions guarantees resistance — a soft coup and board letters — and leaders who aren't prepared for that pain abandon the reset.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founder-CEOs deliberately transforming a comfortable, plateaued late-stage culture into a high-performance one during a strategic pivot.
Not ideal for
Organizations that need stability, highly collaborative/democratic cultures, or leaders without founder-level moral authority to absorb 40% turnover and a coup attempt.
From the transcript
“I rewrote the values designed to be a sharp knife to cut out the parts of the company that I just knew wouldn't be effective.”
“And I hardcoded a formula myself.”
“if people got below a certain mark, respectfully and lovingly, we would say, "Thank you for your service. We're going to go forward without you."”
“we had a 98 to 99% approval of management leadership and new strategy”
“Could be something ultimately like 40%.”
From the episode
How Intercom rose from the ashes by betting everything on AI
Eoghan McCabe (founder and CEO)