At KAK Logistics, the company values are printed prominently on the wall just past the reception desk. Integrity. Teamwork. Excellence. Courage.
New employees are shown the wall during onboarding. HR even pauses there for emphasis.
“This is who we are,” they say. But every Ghanaian employee knows the real test of company values doesn’t happen on the wall. It happens on a random Tuesday at 10:17 a.m., in a meeting you didn’t plan to speak in.
That was the case for Kojo.
Kojo had been at KAK Logistics for a year. Sharp guy. Always early. Never missed a deadline. When delivery targets kept slipping, and drivers were burning out, he decided to speak up during a team meeting.
He didn’t shout.
He wasn’t rude.
He simply said, “I think the workload is affecting our output. Maybe we should look at how routes are assigned.”
Silence.
Someone cleared their throat.
Someone avoided eye contact.
After the meeting, a colleague pulled him aside and whispered, “Charlie, you be courageous oo… but take care.”
By Friday, Kojo had a new unofficial title: “That guy who talks too much.”
Interestingly, courage is one of KAK Logistics’ core values.
This is where some workplaces struggle.
We say we value courage, but we only like it when it’s quiet.
We say we value transparency, but only upward, never sideways.
We say we value teamwork, but questioning decisions is considered disrespectful.
So employees learn fast.
They learn to nod in meetings and complain in the corridor.
They learn to say “Noted” in emails and vent on WhatsApp.
They learn that “open door policy” actually means open door, closed mind.
And over time, values stop being lived—they become decor.
The painful part?
When people stop living by the values, companies start losing the very things they claim to want. Courage turns into silence. Integrity turns into survival mode.
Excellence turns into “do what you’re told and go home.”
Then leadership asks, “Why don’t people speak up anymore?”
But the Ghanaian employee already knows the answer.
Because the last person who tried was labelled a rebel.
Because feedback was punished rather than appreciated.
Because values were celebrated on LinkedIn but discouraged in real life.
Company values are powerful, but only when they are safe to practice.
If courage is truly a value, then speaking up shouldn’t cost someone peace of mind.
If transparency matters, then feedback shouldn’t feel like career suicide.
If teamwork is real, then disagreement shouldn’t be mistaken for disloyalty.
Otherwise, let’s be honest, they’re not values. They’re just nice words on a wall, watching quietly as employees learn to keep quiet, too.
Gene’s Office Survival Tip
Before you “live the values,” first observe how they are treated in practice.
Watch who speaks up and what happens to them after.
In some offices, wisdom is not just knowing the values but also knowing when, how, and where to apply them.
Speak with courage, yes, but also with strategy.
Because in the Ghanaian workplace, survival is often about balancing truth with timing.
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Work culture and everything in between.
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