Today in Apple history: Apple lays out its core company values

On September 23, 1981, Apple publicly laid out a formal mission statement known as "Apple Values." The move is recorded in retrospectives of the company's history and described as establishing a positive, productive corporate ethos. The item appears in a Today in Apple history piece by Luke Dormehl for Cult of Mac.

Apple issued a succinct statement of organizational purpose and workplace expectations under the heading "Apple Values." The content emphasized company culture and how the organization wanted to operate internally, positioning mission and behavior ahead of product specifics or short-term financial targets.

In the early 1980s Apple was growing beyond a garage start-up into a company with national attention. Publishing a consolidated set of values helped provide staff and stakeholders with an axis for decision making and workplace conduct. It documented the company's intent to treat culture as an explicit priority.

The "Apple Values" statement is referenced in Apple history rundowns as an early, formal expression of how the company wanted to behave. Contemporary write-ups, like the Cult of Mac piece, treat the statement as a milestone in Apple's internal governance and corporate identity.

• Corporate values can be as consequential as products because they shape hiring, management choices, and public perception.

• The moment is part of a broader timeline of Apple milestones that includes product launches and public communications about identity.

This brief is based on a Today in Apple history feature by Luke Dormehl published on Cult of Mac. The piece summarizes the September 23, 1981 entry as the date when Apple laid out "Apple Values" and framed it as a mission statement intended to foster a positive, productive corporate ethos.

The 1981 "Apple Values" publication is a concise historical point: Apple made an explicit statement about company culture at a moment of early growth. The statement is treated in Apple histories as a clear example of the company prioritizing how it worked as well as what it made.