Bain and Company expect their employees to be bold, do the right thing, and have the candor to tell it like it is in straightforward language. They encourage trust and tolerance among their teams, where diverging opinions are valued and counted on to identify better opportunities, which helps their teams "together achieve results that bridge what is with what can be."

"We were working with a small grocery store with an ambitious expansion plan. After auditing their business, our teams worked on where to expand. Our team leader suggested several cutbacks to justify the budget required to open several new storefronts. But, after looking at their culture, I saw several growth opportunities there and felt that we could make their company culture go viral. So, I instead suggested a more modest immediate expansion plan and suggested placing greater emphasis on employee satisfaction, offering more financial perks and incredible benefits and growth opportunities. I suggested that if we focused on making it a fun place to work and attracted recruits from everywhere, we would be better positioned to staff those new locations when we were ready. Not to mention making it a more fun place to shop. The profits would then be funneled back into the business. My supervisors loved my approach and adopted it, and everything unfolded as I predicted for the company over the next ten years."