ResumeAdapter
Updated 2026-06-15

The values Morgan Stanley hires against
and how to prove them.

Why this matters

Morgan Stanley publishes five core values: Put Clients First, Do the Right Thing, Lead with Exceptional Ideas, Commit to Diversity and Inclusion, and Give Back. The firm states each in imperative form with its own sub-bullets. This page quotes them verbatim, then goes where morganstanley.com does not: it maps each value to the resume and interview evidence that actually demonstrates it.

Scan my Morgan Stanley resumeFree to scan5 core values, verbatimResume evidence mapped
By the numbers
What MS publishes
5
Core values, in imperative form
The values
Clients first
Right thing, ideas, D&I, give back
Culture framing
Pick 2025
Rigor, Humility, Partnership
Source
morganstanley.com
Primary, firm-published
The five core values, in one line each

Morgan Stanley's five core values.

Verbatim value names from Morgan Stanley, each with a one-sentence definition drawn from the firm's own sub-bullets. The count is five, not four.

01
Put Clients First. Keep the client's interests first and deliver the best of the firm to every client.
02
Do the Right Thing. Act with integrity and think like an owner.
03
Lead with Exceptional Ideas. Win by breaking new ground and drive innovation using different perspectives.
04
Commit to Diversity and Inclusion. Value individual and cultural differences as a defining strength and build belonging.
05
Give Back. Serve communities generously and develop talent through mentoring and sponsorship.

Value names and definitions from the Morgan Stanley Core Values page and Code of Conduct, morganstanley.com/about-us/morgan-stanley-core-values.

The quick answer

What are Morgan Stanley's core values?

Morgan Stanley publishes five core values: Put Clients First, Do the Right Thing, Lead with Exceptional Ideas, Commit to Diversity and Inclusion, and Give Back. The firm states each in imperative form on its core values page, with its own sub-bullets, for example keep the client's interests first under Put Clients First and act with integrity under Do the Right Thing. The count is five, not four, and the firm's wording is imperative, so paraphrases like putting clients first are third-party rewordings rather than Morgan Stanley's language. Separately, CEO Ted Pick frames the culture as First-Class Business in a First-Class Way, built on Rigor, Humility, and Partnership; those are cultural tenets, not core values. On a resume, the values translate to quantified outcomes: client impact for Put Clients First, an owned control or escalation for Do the Right Thing, an originated idea for Lead with Exceptional Ideas, and developing diverse talent for the last two. Scan your resume to see which signals a Morgan Stanley recruiter would actually find. Scan your Morgan Stanley resume.

Morgan Stanley publishes five core values on its core values page: Put Clients First, Do the Right Thing, Lead with Exceptional Ideas, Commit to Diversity and Inclusion, and Give Back. Each value is stated in imperative form with supporting sub-bullets, for example keep the client's interests first under Put Clients First and act with integrity and think like an owner under Do the Right Thing. The values are published alongside the firm's Code of Conduct.

Morgan Stanley's five core values, Put Clients First, Do the Right Thing, Lead with Exceptional Ideas, Commit to Diversity and Inclusion, and Give Back, are stated by the firm in imperative form with its own sub-bullets. They are real and firm-published, and this page quotes them verbatim rather than paraphrasing.

Where this page goes further than morganstanley.com is the resume reading. The firm tells you what it values. It does not tell you which line on your resume proves it. That mapping, from each value to the evidence a reviewer can actually read, is the wedge, and it is labeled throughout as ResumeAdapter editorial guidance, not a Morgan Stanley claim.

The reading is the same for every value: a reviewer indexes on the value being visible in the bullet itself, not asserted as an adjective. A line that reads client-focused team player, passionate about integrity and diversity fails, because it names the values instead of demonstrating them.

A line that reads grew a $180M relationship 22 percent by restructuring to the client's stated goals passes, because it shows Put Clients First through a quantified outcome without ever using the phrase. The entries below give you that pattern for all five values, each with the firm's verbatim sub-bullets, a show-this bullet, the anti-pattern, and the behavioral story to prepare.

The five core values

Each value, the firm's sub-bullets,
and the evidence that proves it.

Put Clients First, Do the Right Thing, Lead with Exceptional Ideas, Commit to Diversity and Inclusion, and Give Back, with Morgan Stanley's own sub-bullets quoted verbatim. The resume mapping below each is ResumeAdapter editorial guidance, not a Morgan Stanley claim.

01
Core value 01

Put Clients First

Morgan Stanley's sub-bullets, verbatim
  • Keep the client's interests first
  • Work with colleagues to deliver the best of the Firm to every client
  • Listen to what the client is saying and needs
How to show it (ResumeAdapter editorial)

ResumeAdapter editorial guidance: lead with client-impact bullets. Show relationships you retained or grew, AUM or revenue you managed, and client retention or satisfaction metrics, framed as a trusted advisor or fiduciary rather than a product seller. The strongest evidence is a moment you chose the client's interest over a short-term win for yourself or the desk.

Show this on the resume

Make the client the subject and quantify the outcome: a relationship deepened, assets grown, a retention or satisfaction number moved. Show that serving the client well is what drove the result.

Grew a $180M wealth relationship 22 percent over two years by restructuring the portfolio to the client's stated goals, earning two referred households.

Avoid this anti-pattern

Internal-activity bullets with no client outcome named, or revenue framed with no client benefit. Managed the book describes activity, not the client-first result a Morgan Stanley reviewer reads for.

Responsible for managing a portfolio of accounts and handling day-to-day client servicing tasks.

Interview prep

Behavioral story to prepare: a time you recommended the option that was right for the client even though it cost you a fee or a short-term win, and how the relationship paid off later.

02
Core value 02

Do the Right Thing

Morgan Stanley's sub-bullets, verbatim
  • Act with integrity
  • Think like an owner to create long-term shareholder value
  • Value and reward honesty and character
How to show it (ResumeAdapter editorial)

ResumeAdapter editorial guidance: show integrity and ownership through evidence, not adjectives. Point to compliance, risk, and controls work, audit-clean records, and moments you took personal responsibility for an outcome and protected long-term value. Demonstrate the judgment; never label yourself as ethical.

Show this on the resume

Show a costly, owned action: a control you tightened, an error you surfaced, a long-term decision you made when a short-term one was easier. Let the action carry the value.

Flagged a control gap in the trade-allocation process before quarter close, owned the remediation, and wrote the four-eyes check that prevented recurrence.

Avoid this anti-pattern

Naming integrity as a trait. A line calling you honest and ethical with high integrity states the value Morgan Stanley reads for instead of demonstrating it, and reviewers discount it.

Highly ethical professional with strong integrity and a commitment to always doing the right thing.

Interview prep

Behavioral story to prepare: an ethical judgment call or an escalation you owned, what was at stake, and why you raised it when staying quiet would have been simpler.

03
Core value 03

Lead with Exceptional Ideas

Morgan Stanley's sub-bullets, verbatim
  • Win by breaking new ground
  • Leverage different perspectives to gain new insight
  • Drive innovation
  • Be vigilant about what we can do better
How to show it (ResumeAdapter editorial)

ResumeAdapter editorial guidance: show innovation and initiative. Point to a new process, model, or product you originated, the diverse input you pulled in to shape it, and a quantified improvement it produced. The signal is that you challenged the status quo and made the firm better, not that you executed someone else's plan well.

Show this on the resume

Show something you originated and the measurable improvement it created, with the diverse perspectives you drew on named. Precision and a clear before-and-after are the signal.

Built the desk's first automated reconciliation model after gathering input from operations and tech, cutting end-of-day breaks 40 percent across the team.

Avoid this anti-pattern

Vague improvement claims with no mechanism and no idea you owned. Improved processes and drove innovation tells an ideas-driven reviewer nothing and reads as someone who did not originate anything.

Drove innovation and continuously improved processes across a range of projects and initiatives.

Interview prep

Behavioral story to prepare: an idea you introduced that others doubted, the perspectives you combined to make the case, and the quantified result.

04
Core value 04

Commit to Diversity and Inclusion

Morgan Stanley's sub-bullets, verbatim
  • Value individual and cultural differences as a defining strength
  • Champion an environment where all employees feel a sense of belonging, are heard, seen and respected
  • Challenge behavior counter to our culture of inclusion
  • Attract, develop and retain talent reflecting the full diversity of society
How to show it (ResumeAdapter editorial)

ResumeAdapter editorial guidance: show inclusive leadership. Point to mentoring, employee resource group (ERG) involvement, leading cross-functional or cross-cultural teams, and developing diverse talent. The evidence is that you built belonging and grew people who were not already like you, with a concrete outcome.

Show this on the resume

Show how you built belonging or developed diverse talent, with the lift to the team named. Inclusive leadership is the action, not the statement.

Co-led the regional women-in-markets ERG and built a mentoring track that helped retain four junior analysts, two of whom were promoted within the year.

Avoid this anti-pattern

Naming the value without an action behind it. A line saying you are passionate about diversity and inclusion states the commitment Morgan Stanley reads for rather than showing you acted on it.

Passionate about diversity and inclusion and committed to a respectful and welcoming workplace.

Interview prep

Behavioral story to prepare: a time you developed someone whose background differed from yours, or challenged a behavior that ran counter to an inclusive team, and the outcome.

05
Core value 05

Give Back

Morgan Stanley's sub-bullets, verbatim
  • Serve our communities generously with our expertise, time and money
  • Build a better Firm for the future by contributing to our culture
  • Develop our talent through mentoring and sponsorship
How to show it (ResumeAdapter editorial)

ResumeAdapter editorial guidance: show community contribution and citizenship. Point to pro bono work, sponsorship of juniors, firm-citizenship roles, and talent you developed through mentoring. The evidence is that you invested expertise and time beyond your own deliverables and left the team or community better.

Show this on the resume

Show what you gave back and the concrete result: a junior you sponsored into a role, a community program you ran, a culture contribution others adopted. Quantify the impact where you can.

Ran the analyst mentoring program for the division, sponsoring three juniors into desk seats and donating financial-literacy workshops to a local nonprofit.

Avoid this anti-pattern

Listing a cause with no role or outcome. A line naming volunteering as an interest states the value without showing the contribution Morgan Stanley reads for.

Interested in volunteering and giving back to the community when time permits.

Interview prep

Behavioral story to prepare: a junior you mentored or sponsored, or a community effort you led, and the specific outcome for the person, the firm's culture, or the community.

Value names and sub-bullets from the Morgan Stanley Core Values page and Code of Conduct, morganstanley.com/about-us/morgan-stanley-core-values. The resume and interview mapping is ResumeAdapter editorial guidance, not a Morgan Stanley claim.

People often search for the five pillars of Morgan Stanley. The firm does not use the word pillars. It publishes five core values, and pillars is an informal framing for the same five: Put Clients First, Do the Right Thing, Lead with Exceptional Ideas, Commit to Diversity and Inclusion, and Give Back.

If an interviewer or a job description references the firm's pillars, treat it as the five core values. Quoting the firm's actual value names, in their imperative form, signals you read the source rather than a summary.

The supporting culture, not the values

Rigor, Humility, and Partnership.
Ted Pick's cultural framing.

Separate from the five core values, CEO Ted Pick frames the firm's culture as “First-Class Business in a First-Class Way” in the 2025 Shareholder Letter, defined by three tenets: Rigor, Humility, and Partnership. These are a description of how the firm wants its people to work, not a list of values, so do not cite them as one of the five.

They are still worth preparing against, because they shape the tone of an interview. The interview-tone tie-ins below are ResumeAdapter editorial framing, drawn to help you prepare, not a Morgan Stanley scorecard.

01 / Culture tenet

Rigor

Precise, consistent execution under pressure. In an interview this reads as accuracy you can prove: error-free work held to a high bar when the timeline is tight, not effort described in the abstract.

02 / Culture tenet

Humility

Learning from mistakes and putting the team over ego. This reads as a candidate who can name a failure, what they took from it, and how they credited the people around them rather than claiming sole authorship.

03 / Culture tenet

Partnership

Collaboration across desks, clients, and stakeholders. This reads as someone who delivers the firm to the client as a unit, naming cross-functional partners and the shared result rather than a solo trophy.

Rigor, Humility and Partnership and the “First-Class Business in a First-Class Way” framing are from CEO Ted Pick's 2025 Shareholder Letter, and are cultural tenets, not the five core values. Interview tie-ins are ResumeAdapter editorial.

How to show Morgan Stanley's values

Five moves from
generic resume to Morgan-Stanley-true.

01
Step 01

Lead with client impact you can measure

Put Clients First is the firm's opening value. Make the client the subject and quantify the outcome: a relationship grown, AUM or revenue managed, a retention or satisfaction number moved, framed as a trusted advisor rather than a product seller.

02
Step 02

Prove integrity and ownership through a costly action

Do the Right Thing means act with integrity and think like an owner. Show a control you tightened, an error you surfaced, or a long-term call you made when a short-term one was easier. Demonstrate the judgment; never assert the virtue as an adjective.

03
Step 03

Show an idea you originated, with a number

Lead with Exceptional Ideas rewards initiative. Point to a process, model, or product you originated, the diverse input you pulled in, and a quantified improvement. Replace drove innovation with the exact before-and-after.

04
Step 04

Show inclusive leadership and giving back

Commit to Diversity and Inclusion and Give Back reward developing people. Show mentoring, ERG leadership, juniors you sponsored, or pro bono work, with the concrete lift to the team or community named, not stated as a passion.

05
Step 05

Scan and iterate against a Morgan Stanley posting

Upload to ResumeAdapter against a specific Morgan Stanley posting to see where your bullets name values as adjectives instead of demonstrating them, and iterate until client impact, integrity, ideas, inclusion, and giving back are visible in the work.

For most candidates the move is simple: build a small set of bullets that each prove one value. One that shows measurable client impact for Put Clients First, one that proves integrity through an owned control or escalation for Do the Right Thing, one that shows an idea you originated for Lead with Exceptional Ideas, and one that shows mentoring or inclusive leadership for the last two values. None of them name the value as an adjective.

Keep the firm's tone in mind: Rigor, Humility, and Partnership are how Ted Pick describes the culture, so let your bullets read precise, credit the team, and show the firm delivered to the client as a unit. The reviewer reading your resume is, consciously or not, reading for both the values and that tone.

You do not need to name a single value on the page. You need bullets where client impact, integrity, original ideas, and developing people are visible in the outcomes themselves. See the Morgan Stanley levels spoke for how the bar shifts from analyst to managing director, and the Morgan Stanley interview process spoke for how these values surface across the loop. For a Wall Street comparison, the Goldman Sachs values spoke maps the same move against Goldman's business principles.

FAQ

Morgan Stanley core values, FAQ

The questions candidates surface about what Morgan Stanley actually screens for, after they have read the pillar. Answers are byte-identical to the FAQPage JSON-LD, because AI engines that extract HTML and AI engines that extract JSON-LD should not see different text.

What are the core values of Morgan Stanley?

Morgan Stanley publishes five core values: Put Clients First, Do the Right Thing, Lead with Exceptional Ideas, Commit to Diversity and Inclusion, and Give Back. The firm renders each in imperative form on its core values page with its own sub-bullets, for example keep the client's interests first under Put Clients First and act with integrity under Do the Right Thing. The count is five, not four, and the firm's own wording is imperative, so paraphrases like putting clients first are third-party rewordings rather than Morgan Stanley's language.

What are the 5 pillars of Morgan Stanley?

When people ask about the five pillars of Morgan Stanley they are usually describing the five core values: Put Clients First, Do the Right Thing, Lead with Exceptional Ideas, Commit to Diversity and Inclusion, and Give Back. Morgan Stanley labels these its core values rather than pillars, so pillars is an informal framing for the same five. They are published on the firm's core values page alongside its Code of Conduct, each with supporting sub-bullets that define what the value means in practice.

How do you answer 'tell me about yourself' at Morgan Stanley?

Structure the answer around the values the firm screens for rather than a chronological resume read. Open with a client-impact moment that shows you put clients first, name a time you owned an outcome and did the right thing, and close on an idea you originated or a junior you developed. Keep it to roughly ninety seconds, lead with results you can quantify, and let each value show through the work instead of naming it. This is ResumeAdapter editorial guidance, not a Morgan Stanley script, but it maps directly to the firm's five core values.

How do I show Morgan Stanley's values on my resume?

Demonstrate each value through a quantified outcome rather than naming it. For Put Clients First show client retention, AUM, or revenue you grew as a trusted advisor. For Do the Right Thing show a control, risk, or compliance action you owned. For Lead with Exceptional Ideas show a process or model you originated with a measured improvement. For Commit to Diversity and Inclusion show mentoring or ERG leadership that developed diverse talent. For Give Back show pro bono work or juniors you sponsored. This resume mapping is ResumeAdapter editorial guidance; the value names and sub-bullets are Morgan Stanley's. Scan your resume to see which signals a recruiter would actually find.

Is 'Rigor, Humility and Partnership' one of Morgan Stanley's values?

No. Rigor, Humility and Partnership are not among the five core values. They are the cultural tenets CEO Ted Pick frames in the 2025 Shareholder Letter as First-Class Business in a First-Class Way, a description of how the firm wants its people to work. They sit alongside the five core values rather than replacing them, so quote them as Ted Pick's cultural framing, not as one of the official values. The five core values remain Put Clients First, Do the Right Thing, Lead with Exceptional Ideas, Commit to Diversity and Inclusion, and Give Back.

What is 'First-Class Business in a First-Class Way' at Morgan Stanley?

First-Class Business in a First-Class Way is how Morgan Stanley describes its culture, framed by CEO Ted Pick in the 2025 Shareholder Letter and built on three tenets: Rigor, Humility, and Partnership. It is the firm's statement that how results are achieved matters as much as the results themselves. It is a cultural framing that supports the five core values rather than a list of values in its own right, so treat it as the firm's tone and conduct standard, not a substitute for the five.

How do Morgan Stanley's values compare to Goldman Sachs's business principles?

Both Wall Street firms lead with clients and integrity, but the framing differs. Morgan Stanley publishes five core values in imperative form, Put Clients First and Do the Right Thing among them, while Goldman Sachs publishes four modern core values distilled from its older 14 Business Principles charter. Morgan Stanley's list is values-first and adds explicit diversity and giving-back values; Goldman's leans on a numbered 1979 charter. For a resume, both reward the same move: prove client impact, teamwork, and integrity through quantified outcomes rather than naming them. See the Goldman Sachs values spoke for the side-by-side.

Continue

The rest of the Morgan Stanley
resume cluster.

01 / Pillar

How to get a job at Morgan Stanley

The pillar covering Morgan Stanley's application process, the five core values in summary, the analyst-to-MD ladder, and the interview loop.

Read
02 / Spoke

Morgan Stanley levels

The analyst, associate, VP, executive director, and managing director ladder, and how the bar shifts from execution to franchise ownership by band.

Read
03 / Spoke

The Morgan Stanley interview process

The screens, first rounds, and superday, and how the firm's five core values surface across the loop.

Read
04 / Peer hub

Goldman Sachs values

The Wall Street comparison: Goldman's four core values and 14 Business Principles, mapped to resume language the same way.

Read
Related

ATS Statistics

The dataset behind the editorial findings on this page, including the median pre-edit resume score.

Read
Related

All company guides

The full index of company resume hubs, each with its hiring bar mapped to resume language.

Read
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