What Are Your Values? The 3 Types of Values for Life

Your values serve as your compass

Before the 90s, Abercrombie & Fitch wasn’t doing that well. Then in 1992, Mike Jeffries took over as CEO. Within a few years, A&F’s profits skyrocketed, and the company became public in 1996.

What did Jeffries do? He turned the company around by focusing on several extreme core values. From a simple, sporting shop that sold apparel, Jeffries turned A&F into a fancy store that embodied youth. I’ve never been a fan of their clothing or image, but I can appreciate the fact they picked a set of values, and operated by them.

Jeffries explained their values and identity in an interview: “Good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that.” They pissed off a lot of people with that.

Jeffries’ values worked — for a while. But A&F received a lot of negative press because of their practices. By the late 2000s, sales were plummeting. And amid controversies, Jeffries stepped down as CEO in 2014.

As the story of A&F shows, values only work if you stick to them. The brand became popular because of its values. How cringy their values were, at some point, they started deviating from them because of criticism. That’s…