DS Cohen & AssociatesDiscover why hiring for values, not résumés, can transform engagement, retention, and bottom‑line results.
By Stacey Chillemi
Values aren’t slogans on the wall… they’re the daily behaviors that decide whether your company thrives or merely survives.
– David Cohen
In an era where corporate buzzwords too often substitute for genuine purpose, David Cohen has spent three decades cutting through the noise. A former educator‑turned‑global consultant, he helps companies uncover the behaviors that actually power engagement, retention, and performance… and then teaches leaders how to hire and lead accordingly.
In this candid interview, Stacey Chillemi digs deep with David to explore why values alignment is more than an HR slogan, how covert behaviors reveal a culture’s true DNA, and what practical steps any organization can take to build teams that thrive. Whether you’re a C‑suite executive, an HR professional, or an emerging leader, David’s insights will challenge you to rethink how, and why, you bring people into your company.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to get to know you better. Can you share your backstory?
I actually began my career in the classroom and fully expected to stay there until parents convinced me that my talents might serve a wider audience elsewhere. That revelation nudged me into management consulting more than three decades ago, and since then, I’ve logged millions of miles helping organizations decode their culture. Everywhere I go, I focus on the same questions: Who are you? What behaviors make you great? How can those behaviors be scaled? My latest book, Selecting the Best, distills those lessons into a practical framework for hiring people whose values naturally synchronize with an organization’s purpose.
What first inspired you to explore the link between authentic company values and employee happiness?
I grew up in a household steeped in conversations about justice, fairness, and “doing the right thing,” so values always felt like a living force, not an abstraction. Later, my doctoral work in moral education, built on the Harvard Social Studies Project, showed me how ethical frameworks shape human motivation. When I entered the corporate world, I kept seeing talented people thrive in one setting and flounder in another despite identical technical skills. The common denominator was alignment: when what people believe mirrors how the organization behaves, they experience purpose, engagement, and genuine happiness at work.
How do you authenticate values at work and translate them into real-world engagement?
I start by throwing out one-size-fits-all surveys because they reflect the survey designer’s values, not the company’s. Instead, I sit down with employees across levels and ask, “How do you solve problems? How do you celebrate wins? How do you recognize each other?” Those granular stories reveal the covert values—the unwritten rules that actually govern behavior. Once those are visible, leaders can decide whether to formalize them, celebrate them, or, if necessary, transform them; but until the real story surfaces, any glossy poster on the wall is just décor.
Can you share an example of a team that became more productive once they felt aligned?
At a major pharmaceutical plant, engineering and maintenance had long operated like rival factions. After we collectively drafted a behavioral “code,” team members gained permission and responsibility to call out violations. The long-standing engineering chief realized his dismissive stance toward maintenance no longer fit and voluntarily resigned after twenty years. Conflict evaporated, stress levels plummeted, and cross-functional projects finished faster because everyone finally rowed in the same direction.
Why does alignment with values encourage people to take ownership of their projects?
Ownership is emotional, not procedural. When a maintenance technician told me, “We’re the most important people here,” he wasn’t bragging; he was connecting his role directly to the company’s mission of saving children’s lives through vaccines. Because every faucet he fixed and every incubator he calibrated protected that mission, accountability felt personal. When an organization makes that line of sight crystal clear for every employee, people don’t need to be managed into caring… they already do.
In your experience, how does values-fit influence employee retention and long-term loyalty?
Values-fit is the single best predictor of whether someone will stay when a recruiter waives a 10 percent raise in front of them. At a green-field project in Corpus Christi, we hired solely for behavioral alignment. When the project stalled and later restarted, several former employees moved back on their own dime and accepted pay cuts just to rejoin the team. They weren’t chasing money; they were chasing the rare satisfaction of working where their beliefs and behaviors felt naturally at home.
What common barriers prevent companies from living their stated values, and how can they overcome them?
The first barrier is the “new broom” CEO who believes every predecessor’s practice must be swept away, eroding trust faster than any strategic misstep. The second barrier is hiring for résumé glitter rather than behavioral compatibility, which seeds daily friction. Boards and talent teams can neutralize both risks by demanding that leaders and candidates demonstrate how their personal behaviors reinforce, not rewrite, the organization’s foundational values. Intentional alignment starts at the hire and carries through every promotion.
Why can a leadership change derail a once-healthy culture so quickly?
Culture is transmitted behaviorally, so when a high-visibility leader models different norms, the signal reverberates overnight. Think of Home Depot under Nardelli: metrics over service replaced “people first,” and employees felt the shift immediately. When values are disrupted at the top, cascading disengagement follows because frontline staff take their cue on what really matters from leadership behavior, not from annual-report slogans. Restore the original behaviors, and morale often rebounds just as quickly.
How do corporate mergers illustrate the clash of competing cultures?
In any merger, there’s no such thing as a 50-50 “marriage”; there’s always an acquirer whose behaviors dominate. After United and Continental combined, Continental’s rulebook prevailed, and United pilots suddenly felt like cultural orphans. Passengers noticed the resulting tension in cabin crews that had once delivered consistent service. Without an intentional integration of values, the stronger culture wins by default, and half the workforce feels displaced.
While researching Selecting the Best, what insight surprised you most?
I was stunned by how tenacious hiring myths remain, especially the notion that psychometric tests or AI can single-handedly predict success. Tests measure traits, not on-the-ground behaviors, and AI often amplifies the very biases companies hope to eliminate. Yet organizations pour money into these tools and then reverse-engineer success stories to justify them. No algorithm can replace a values-based, behaviorally anchored conversation between humans.
What misconceptions do leaders still have about “hiring for culture”?
Many equate culture fit with cloning themselves—same school, same hobbies, same demographic profile—which merely narrows the diversity of thought. Genuine culture fit is about shared behaviors and purpose, not carbon-copy résumés. You can assemble a team of wildly different ages, genders, and nationalities who still thrive together because they all prize humility or curiosity. Misunderstanding that distinction leads to homogeneous teams that look the part but can’t innovate.
What ethical issues should HR teams watch for when using AI in hiring?
AI struggles with accents, under-indexes people over forty, and misreads facial expressions for darker skin tones… all documented realities. Workday is facing litigation for alleged age bias, and Amazon scrapped its résumé filter when it favored men. Unless an algorithm is rigorously stress-tested within your unique talent pool, you risk institutionalizing discrimination at scale. AI should assist human judgment, not replace it.
Briefly tell us about your earlier books, Inside the Box and The Talent Edge.
Inside the Box champions the idea that values are a strategic advantage and highlights stories like the Calgary Police Service, which maintained public peace during a G8 summit by leaning into community-oriented behaviors. The Talent Edge, written more than twenty-five years ago, introduced behavioral interviewing before it was mainstream. While both remain relevant, Selecting the Best refines those concepts with two decades of additional data and an even sharper focus on aligning motivation to purpose. Together, they form a trilogy on how values drive performance.
If a leader could implement just one change tomorrow to strengthen alignment, what would you recommend?
Stand in front of your team and admit the behavioral value you personally find hardest to live, then invite them to hold you accountable. That single act of vulnerability proves the values are non-negotiable… starting with you. It also signals that feedback is safe and expected, which accelerates collective ownership of the culture. Authenticity at the top breeds authenticity everywhere else.
What key takeaways would you like listeners to remember from today’s conversation?
First, know your own value behaviors; they’re your professional compass. Second, verify an organization’s real behaviors, what I call the covert values, before you join. Third, remember that skill gets you in the door, but shared purpose keeps you satisfied and successful. Finally, silence is golden in interviews; if a candidate pauses, let the pause work so you can hear their authentic story.
Where can readers find your books?
All three of my books are on Amazon and other major online retailers. Inside the Box and The Talent Edge are available as e-books, while Selecting the Best comes in both print and digital formats. Each book offers practical tools for weaving values into everyday business decisions. Pick the format that fits your reading style and dive in.
Could you summarize the services SAG Ltd. provides?
We help organizations translate values into action through values identification, behavioral interviewing systems, bias-free 360° feedback, succession planning, and high-potential identification. Everything we design aims for fairness, accuracy, and long-term cultural health. Whether you’re launching a green-field project or revitalizing a century-old institution, our frameworks ensure the right people are in the right roles for the right reasons. The result is sustainable performance without cultural compromise.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Visit sagltd.com for articles, tools, and case studies, or connect with me on LinkedIn, where I publish weekly insights on corporate culture, hiring, and leadership alignment. I welcome thoughtful dialogue and love hearing how other leaders are putting values to work.
Thank you for sharing your valuable insights with us today, it’s been a pleasure having you.
Absolutely my pleasure, Stacey. Thank you for the thoughtful questions and for championing workplaces built on authentic values.
Founder and principal of DS Cohen & Associates, David Cohen has spent over 30 years advising organizations on how to embed authentic values into every facet of their operations. A former educator with a doctorate in moral education, he is the author of three books, including the newly released Selecting the Best, and a sought‑after speaker on corporate culture, leadership alignment, and values‑based hiring.
