① Is it fair and responsive to our customers?

② Does it respect our fellow employees and the spirit of teamwork?

③ Are we striving relentlessly to improve what we do and how we do it?

④ Will it earn, and will we be worthy of, our customer's trust?

⑤ Will it reinvent the business?

⑥ We are willing to risk short-term revenue to do the right thing for the customer and ensure long-term success.

⑦ Will we own the technology?

⑧ Does it leverage the brand to build trust?

⑨ Will it create and nurture a spirit of innovation?

About Charles Schwab

The company's leaders believed that online trading was going to become huge. Charles Schwab pioneered seamless stock trading on Internet in 1996 – much faster than their large competitors – and went from a tiny firm to the world's largest financial services company.  →  Charles Schwab's Timetable

An example
of successful application of the Guiding Principles

Initially, Schwab offered two separate products: the new e.schwab online product where customers paid a flat $29.95 per trade and regular online accounts where customers were charged 20% less than is a Schwab representative did the deal.

Schwab's front-line personnel felt that customers were confused about the dual pricing structure, and they wanted both full service and $29.95 trades.

Pottruck and Schwab, the company leaders decided to end the dual pricing structure and merge e.schwab into the organization. Though internal documents showed that by moving to flat-rate pricing the company could take a first-year financial hit of $125 million, the Pottruck and Schwab were able to make this tough decision quickly as one of the Schwab's guiding principles stated that they would be willing to risk short-term revenue growth if it was right for the customer and ensured long-term success.