Commitment and Values

The Verizon Commitment and Values are the foundation for our culture and guide our every action.

Customers First

The Verizon Commitment is to put our customers first by providing excellent service and great communications experiences. This is what we do and this is why we exist. By focusing on our customers and being a responsible member of our communities, we will produce a solid return for our shareowners, create meaningful work for ourselves and provide something of lasting value for society. As a result, Verizon will be recognized as a great company.

In order to keep this commitment, we need to always honor our core values:

• Integrity

  Integrity is at the heart of everything we do. We are honest, ethical and upfront because trust is at the foundation of our relationships with our customers, our communities, our stakeholders and each other.

• Respect

  We know it is critical that we respect everyone at every level of our business. We champion diversity, embrace individuality and listen carefully when others speak.

• Performance Excellence

  We hold ourselves to a very high standard of performance. We prize innovative ideas and the teamwork it takes to make them realities. We never stop asking ourselves how we can make the customer experience better, and every day, we find an answer.

• Accountability

  We take responsibility for our actions as individuals, as team members, and as an organization. We work together, support one another and never let the customer—or our coworkers—down.

Great companies are judged by what they do, not by what they say. To be the best, we’re going to keep pushing ourselves in new and exciting directions. These values guide our every action.

Our Ethical Standards

We Have To Do the Work

I am pleased to share Verizon's 2007 Corporate Responsibility Report, "Doing the Work." In these pages, we highlight our accomplishments and challenges in the areas that define our approach to corporate responsibility, as well as provide an in-depth look at a few of our signature programs.

The discipline of corporate responsibility is based on a big idea: that a healthy society and healthy companies are mutually dependent. At Verizon, we're taking that big idea and turning it into action, every day. We have applied ourselves in a serious way to matters that make a difference to our customers, take best advantage of our resources and have measurable outcomes.

While there are always more challenges in our path, I'm proud to say that -- with the help of our employees, our partners and our stakeholders -- Verizon is doing some pretty terrific work to improve people's lives, create a great place to work and make a difference for our customers.

Ivan Seidenberg
Chairman & CEO