When Values and Business Collide: Choosing Alignment in Heavy Moments

There are times when staying quiet feels safer. I just dedicated an entire episode to this on my podcast, The McClain Method.

Not because you don’t care, but because everything feels heavy, confusing, and uncertain. For many business owners, especially creatives, it’s hard to know how to bring deeply human concerns into work without feeling like you’ll lose clients, opportunities, or stability.

But when news headlines tell stories of real people being harmed, silence isn’t neutral.

In Minneapolis, in recent months, federal immigration enforcement actions under the Trump administration have drawn intense scrutiny and public outcry. U.S. citizens including Renée Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot by ICE or Border Patrol agents during enforcement operations — events that have sparked protests, legal challenges, and broad concern about federal tactics and accountability.  

This isn’t debate language. This is human life.

Silence Still Communicates

When harm becomes normalized, something inside you shifts.

Being neutral is not invisible. Silence still communicates something — whether you intend it to or not. That doesn’t make you a bad person. But it does make this moment worth examining.

Your business is not separate from you.

You don’t walk into your office and suddenly become a value-free version of yourself. Your decisions, your boundaries, your policies, your client relationships — all reflect what you believe is acceptable.

Even if you’ve never explicitly named your values, they are already shaping your business.

The Golden Thread of Values

Think of your values as a golden thread.

This isn’t a slogan. It isn’t marketing language. It’s a steady line running through your choices, decisions, standards, and boundaries — the things you don’t compromise on because, without them, you can’t rest.

This is not about only working with people who think exactly like you. That’s unrealistic and unhealthy. But there is a difference between differing opinions and values that are fundamentally misaligned with respect, dignity, safety, and compassion.

Speaking from your values may cost you clients or opportunities.

That is not failure — that’s filtering.

What you gain instead is trust. Alignment. A business that reflects not just what you do, but who you are.

Creatives Feel This Differently

Creative professionals often process the world more deeply. Higher emotional sensitivity and empathy are common traits.

That sensitivity doesn’t make you weak. It makes you perceptive.

The same wiring that helps you notice nuance, beauty, and detail also means injustice lands harder in your body. If you’ve been overwhelmed, distracted, or emotionally exhausted, nothing is wrong with you. This is your nervous system doing exactly what it’s designed to do.

Values give emotion structure. They move you from raw feeling into intentional action.

Asking a creative to separate their values from their business is like asking water not to be wet.

What Alignment Can Actually Look Like

Speaking up does not require shouting.

Alignment is usually quiet. Consistent. Unperformative.

Here are three grounding ways to bring your values into your business:

1. Define your non-negotiables.
Write down three to five values you won’t compromise on. Ask yourself: What behavior crosses a line? What would I never excuse if it happened to someone I love? What do I want my business to quietly stand for?

2. Build values into your infrastructure.
If your values only live in your head, they disappear under pressure. Thoughtful website language, onboarding materials, and deliberate written content matter. Quiet signals still speak.

And remember — you do not owe the internet your nervous system.

3. Create checks and balances for client alignment.
You don’t need ideological agreement, but you do need value compatibility. Listen on discovery calls. Be clear about boundaries. Address behavior when it crosses a line.

You are allowed to say, “This doesn’t work for how we operate.”

Choosing Alignment Over Comfort

You can acknowledge complexity without abandoning your values.
You can be kind without being silent.

Your business will always tell a story — especially when you say nothing.

The question is whether that story reflects who you really are.

Take this one step at a time.
Choosing alignment over comfort matters.
You’re doing the best you can.