Companies are under greater scrutiny than ever in connection with how they do business, rather than simply what they do. This is fundamentally about behaviors, yet most companies are not as well placed as they might be to establish and reinforce the expectations of the right behaviors. Their codes of conduct, which ought to be the primary resource and guide here, are too often failing to connect with company purpose and values, leaving employees uncertain about why the right behaviors matter.

Combine this with a fairly narrow focus on compliance, a lack of business relevance, and content that is dry, uninspiring, and unhelpful, and it's no wonder that these codes languish in desk drawers or on seldom-visited intranet pages. This paper lays out a vision and set of leading practices for a more effective approach—one that connects employees with a sense of a purpose-inspired mission and a commitment to values-based behaviors that can build sustainable, resilient, and thriving organizations.

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