Scaling with Soul: Values-Based Hiring at Mary's Gone Crackers
by Alicia Korten
Values Keynote Speaker | Leading Voice on Workplace Culture
As Mary's Gone Crackers Director of Culture and Communications, my role was to help ensure that as the company grew, the high-performing culture responsible for their rapid growth grew with it.
One of the fastest-growing gluten-free snack companies in the country, the founders credit that growth to an amazing product built on values and to the founders' values-based leadership style.
This article showcases how sometimes hiring to values, can be more powerful than hiring to experience.
Go to our resources page to see more real world examples of organizations operationalizing shared principles to shape leadership decisions, culture, and organizational results.
Alicia Korten
Values Keynote Speaker
Award-Winning Author
A Fulbright Scholar and architect of the We Culture Framework, Alicia brings 20 years of experience building high-performing workplace cultures to the national stage.
Core Values Build Brand Loyalty: Meeting a Passionate Customer
At a health food store in New York City, Mary’s Gone Crackers' co-founder Dale Rodrigues noticed a woman walking through the aisle holding a bag of his company's crackers.
Recognizing a passionate customer, Dale approached her and asked what she thought about the product.
Her response was immediate and enthusiastic.
"I love these crackers. They They changed my life," Mary Anne Madonia said.
A Celiac, she explained that the crackers gave her a delicious alternative to the wheat snacks she was allergic too.
Dale then asked her: “Would you like to meet the founder, Mary?”
Mary Anne reacted as if she had just been offered the chance to meet a celebrity. Dale found his co-founder Mary in another aisle and introduced them.
Before leaving the store, Dale invited her to join the team the following day at the Fancy Foods trade show where Mary’s Gone Crackers was exhibiting.
This hiring decision was a step forward for the brand in building a high-performing workplace culture rooted in an authentic passion for the product.
Customers Buy What a Company Stands For
Customers don't just buy products. They buy what the company stands for.
Values alignment creates customer trust and builds brand loyalty.
The Values-Based Hiring Decision
Mary Anne arrived at the booth the next day with an energy that immediately connected with the staff and customers. She had little direct experience in natural foods sales, but she brought something more important: a genuine passion for the brand.
At the end of the show Dale turned to me and asked a question that captured a classic values-based leadership decision:
“Should we hire her?”
There was no open position. But she clearly embodied the spirit of the company.
My answer? Knowing she was interviewing for jobs, I said “Yes! Immediately.”
Right there at the trade show Dale invited Mary Anne to spearhead their New York City sales efforts.
She went on to stay with the company for nearly a decade, advancing through a series of promotions that culminated in the role of Vice President of Sales for New York and the surrounding area.
During this period, Mary's Gone Crackers experienced rapid national growth.
The company expanded distribution across natural and mainstream grocery retailers becaming a leading brand for organic gluten-free crackers.
Maintaining a strong culture was critical to the successful scaling of the company and the development of their high-performing workplace culture.
Case Example:
Hiring Through Values
A single question — “Should we hire her?” — captured what values-based leadership looks like in action.
Mary Anne had no formal sales background. But she embodied the brand’s spirit.
There was no open role.
No formal process.
Just a clear answer:
“Yes. Immediately.”
Impact⤵
A decade-long career culminating as VP of Sales.
Result⤵
She helped drive the company’s expansion.
💡
Values-based leadership means recognizing potential and alignment — even when there’s no formal role or perfect timing.
Hiring for Alignment: Beyond the Resume
The Mary Anne moment illustrates how organizations operationalize core values in hiring decisions.
Instead of focusing primarily on resumes or past titles, the leadership team looked for a deeper signal: alignment with their mission.
This approach reflects a principle of values-based leadership: hire people who already believe in what the organization stands for.
Mary Anne's career trajectory illustrates a central principle of values-based hiring: when organizations hire people who truly believe in the mission, they often become the leaders who help scale and build high-performing workplace culture.
The Alignment
Hiring Principle
Don’t just hire for experience. Hire for alignment with values and belief in the mission.
People who already believe in what you stand for are more likely to grow into leaders who scale your culture.
💡
The strongest hires aren’t always the most experienced. They’re the ones who already believe in your mission.
The Framework: Hiring for Alignment
The year prior, I'd worked with the leadership team to define Mary’s Gone Crackers’ core values. While Mary and Dale ran the company with a strong focus on their personal values, when I arrived they did not yet have core values written down that could drive their high-performing workplace culture.
This new values clarity meant that, when someone like Mary Anne showed up, the company could move quickly to bring her on board.
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Know who you are as a company and clearly articulate your core values
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Look for people who already connect with the organization’s purpose
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Create opportunities for candidates to interact with customers or staff before hiring
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Observe how candidates behave in real situations rather than relying only on resumes and traditional interviews
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Hire for values alignment and train for specific technical skills
Mary Anne's deep commitment to the mission and values of the company, made her an indispensable asset in building their high-performance workplace culture and sales strategy.
Values-Based Hiring Process
Define Core Values
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Identify Alignment
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Create Real Interactions
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Observe Behavior
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Hire to Values,
Train for Skill
Key Takeaways: Scaling a Unified Workforce
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Values-based leadership prioritizes alignment with purpose over traditional credentials
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Candidates who genuinely believe in a company’s mission often become powerful brand ambassadors
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Real-world interaction can reveal cultural fit more effectively than resumes or interviews alone
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Hiring people who share core values strengthens high-performing workplace culture
Bringing It All Together
From leadership decisions to hiring practices, core values shape how organizations operate, collaborate, and perform every day.
Translating Shared Principles into Performance: The Values Keynote
As a workplace culture keynote speaker, Alicia Korten draws on client experiences and engaging audience participation to build unity.
Her culture keynotes include practical implementation models and inspiring stories for using values to build high-performance workplace culture.
Impact of a Workplace Culture Keynote
Unified Teams
Create a shared language that breaks down silos.
Human Connection
Strengthen the bonds that drive daily collaboration.
Sustainable Results
Build the 'We Culture Framework' for long-term growth.
More Examples of Operationalizing Core Values
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Operationalizing Core Values in Action: How Eileen Fisher Is Igniting Extraordinary Customer Service
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Values-Driven Leadership: How Eileen Fisher Preserved Culture During an Economic Downturn
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Operationalizing Core Values: How Eileen Fisher Transformed Product Development
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Workplace Culture and Values: The Foundation of High-Performing Organizations
About Alicia Korten
Alicia Korten is a workplace culture and values keynote speaker for mission-driven leaders across industries, including finance, insurance, energy, and healthcare.
A Fulbright Scholar with over 20 years of experience building high-performance workplace cultures in retail, manufacturing, finance, and wellness, her We Culture Framework has helped organizations achieve Best Place to Work recognition and sustained industry leadership.
Alicia is the award-winning author of Values Ignite and Values Sustain, guidebooks used by organizations to leverage their values to build unified culture, strengthen employee engagement, and retain and attract top talent.
Unify Your Workforce
A high-impact company values keynote creates alignment by turning core values into a shared language, practical action and momentum.
⤷ Explore a Company Values Keynote
Watch Synergy Success:
A Culture Keynote that Amplifies Shared Values
Watch a video demonstrating how Alicia Korten's Synergy Success company values keynote connects shared principles o practical models and real organizational stories.