“As a parent, or as an entrepreneur, you begin imprinting your beliefs from day one, whether you realize it or not. Once the children, or the people of the company, have absorbed those values, you can’t suddenly change their world view with a lecture on ethics.

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to reinvent a company’s culture. If you have made the mistake of doing business one way for five years, you can’t suddenly impose a layer of different values upon it. By then, the water’s already in the well, and you have to drink it.

Whatever your culture, your values, your guiding principles, you have to take steps to inculcate them in the organization early in its life so they can guide every decision, every hire, every life strategic objective you set.

Whether you are the CEO or a lower level employee, the single most important thing you do at work each day is communicate your vales to others, especially new hires. Establishing the right tone in the inception of an enterprise, whatever its size, is vital to its long-term success.” -From, “Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built A Company One Cup At A Time” By: Howard Schultz