Culture isn't just a feel-good idea; it’s the backbone of sustainable success. At Avery Dennison, our culture is grounded in eight core values: Integrity, Courage, External Focus, Diversity, Sustainability, Innovation, Teamwork and Excellence. These values guide our daily decisions, shape our technology strategy and empower our teams to deliver lasting impact.

As noted in a recent Harvard Business Review article, successful cultures align with strategy, embed values into behaviors and evolve with the needs of the organization. This alignment is evident in how our IT teams approach digital transformation, anchored in values and focused on outcomes.

Integrity: the foundation of trust. Integrity is the foundation of everything we do. In IT, this translates to operating with transparency and accountability. During a global system implementation, we faced unexpected delays. Rather than downplaying the issue, we communicated openly with our business partners, provided realistic timelines and worked collaboratively to realign expectations, preserving trust and strengthening our relationships along the way.

Courage: leading through uncertainty. Courageous leadership means navigating complexity and embracing change, even amid uncertainty. One IT leader demonstrated this during a critical cybersecurity threat. Through swift, decisive action and strong leadership, incident triage time was significantly reduced, preventing disruption and reinforcing our commitment to resilience.

External focus: innovating with stakeholders. Our best ideas begin with listening. By staying attuned to evolving customer expectations, we unlock opportunities for breakthrough innovation. The Dallas Cowboys recently launched Embelex by Avery Dennison in their retail environment. Our team partnered with them to enable this through our innovative cloud-based, in-venue personalization solution. This system empowers fans to create unique jersey designs via interactive touchscreens. Integrated tools then handle inventory, process orders and precisely project the personalized designs onto the jerseys, minimizing errors during creation.

Diversity: harnessing inclusive ideas. We believe innovation flourishes when everyone feels heard, respected and empowered. Last year, one IT team led extensive accessibility testing to enhance digital tools for users with visual impairments and cognitive differences. By embedding inclusive design standards, they not only improved usability but also broadened market reach and helped eliminate barriers for all users.