In a recent New York Times article, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said that all employees need to "be a CEO of something." Its a terrific mantra and speaks to the importance of ownerships, responsibility and incentive structures. It turns out that it - specifically "Be CEO: own outcomes" - is just one of Zynga's six core values. Here is a picture of Zynga's core values, all of which speak to culture (ownership, responsibility, growth, people) and success (innovation, speed, gameplay).
At eBay, each employee was awarded a "core values" badge card that was worn atop the security card... and therefore all the time. It was a simple, constant reminder of company-wide behaviors and themes. Consequently the values were engrained in everyone's head and that's a powerful driver of culture.
