In 2021, a few months into his role as the chief HR officer at UPS, Darrell Ford got his first taste of company culture in action. As a snowstorm blanketed the Midwest and other delivery companies were sidelined, Ford's HR team sent him photos of UPSers out on their routes, working "arm in arm, like a human supply chain" to get the job done.

"When you talk about discretionary effort, I don't think it gets any better. When everybody else is down, our folks are out there," says Ford, who notes the culture of UPS is focused on "hard work, heavy grit."

"There are high expectations on accountability: Do what you say and mean it," he says.