Are organisations a reflection of their principles?

I was home with the flu watching CNN and listening to the debates on Donald Trump (but this is NOT a political post).  At a certain point someone in the panel said "Organisations are a reflection of their principles and up to a degree staff does not really matter". I quickly jotted it down on the paper in front of me as I did not want to lose the quote - as an HR professional why did this sentence impress me so much, and more importantly did I agree with it?  A few days have passed and my flu has gone but there is still something in the quote that rings incredibly true to me.  I believe in principles and I know how important principles are.  Principles are a reflection of our thoughts, they come out of our value and belief system and they shape who we are, how we think and ultimately how we behave.  So if I am founding an organisation it will be a reflection of my principles.  And the organisations we love and trust are ones with very strong principles we can identify and recognise.  So does it matter who we recruit?  Who the people we put in the organisation are? Do they need to reflect the principles or will these take over? I guess the easy answer is that the more these principles are shared, the better the fit and the more you will be successful in the organisation.  How many times have you asked or have been asked about your principles in an interview?  I can't say I have been asked often - but I do make sure I give as much of myself as I can to allow for the ever elusive "culture fit" to become clear on both sides.  Should we be more specific in terms of aligning our principles to those of the organisation we are applying for? And how many recruitment managers can answer the question: "What are the principles of your Company"?  But should we take it a step forward?  When we are looking at performance, should we be looking at principle alignment?  And are there other areas in which using principles can help us as HR practitioners?