Values & Work Misalignment
When your compass points one way and your career pulls another
Values aren't luxuries—they're your operating system. We help you spot misalignment and iterate toward environments where you thrive.
Your values are your operating system
Values aren't abstract ideals or motivational poster quotes. They're the core drivers that determine what energizes versus depletes you, what feels meaningful versus hollow, what sustains versus erodes your wellbeing.
Psychologist Shalom Schwartz identified 10 universal human values recognized across cultures—from self-direction and stimulation to security and tradition. But here's what matters: your unique hierarchy of these values creates your personal operating system. When your daily work violates this system, you experience "misalignment burnout"—a distinct form of exhaustion that emerges not from overwork, but from the chronic stress of living against your nature.
The research is sobering. A 2024 Gallup study found that 42% of professionals report burnout, jumping to 48% for Gen Z. But dig deeper and you find something striking: those experiencing values misalignment show higher burnout rates than those simply overworked. Why? Because you can recover from exhaustion with rest. You can't recover from becoming someone you don't recognize.
Your brain knows the difference. Neuroscience shows that values-aligned actions activate reward circuits, releasing dopamine that reinforces behavior. Values-misaligned actions trigger threat detection, flooding your system with cortisol. Do this day after day, and you're not just tired—you're fundamentally dysregulated.
Where values and work collide
Direction Conflict
You value autonomy and creativity, but your role demands conformity and following prescribed paths. Every process feels like a cage, every meeting another layer of control you never wanted.
Impact Disconnect
You're driven by making a difference, but your work feels removed from any real human impact. The metrics you optimize don't translate to meaning. Success is measured in abstractions, not transformation.
Integrity Tension
Your need for authenticity clashes with organizational politics. You value transparency but navigate carefully worded emails. You believe in merit but watch advancement happen through relationships, not results.
Recalibrating your internal compass
Values Architecture
Using validated frameworks from cross-cultural psychology, we map your unique values hierarchy—not what you think you should value, but what actually energizes and depletes you.
Conflict Resolution
We identify where competing values create internal tension. Sometimes the problem isn't misalignment with work, but unresolved conflicts between your own values—security versus growth, achievement versus connection.
Aligned Action
We develop concrete strategies that honor your values within real constraints. This isn't about perfect alignment but strategic compromise—knowing which battles matter and which concessions won't cost you your soul.
The neuroscience of living aligned
Your values aren't preferences—they're neurological drivers that shape how your brain processes experience. Understanding this changes everything about how you approach alignment.
Values as competing forces
Schwartz's research reveals that values exist in dynamic tension. Self-direction opposes conformity. Achievement conflicts with universalism. Security battles stimulation. This means perfect alignment is neurologically impossible—your brain is wired for value conflicts.
The professionals who thrive don't eliminate these tensions. They consciously navigate them. They know when they're trading security for growth, or sacrificing autonomy for stability. The difference between burnout and balance isn't the absence of trade-offs—it's the consciousness of them.
The hierarchy that drives you
Everyone has all 10 universal values, but in different priorities. Your unique hierarchy determines what feels like success versus selling out. A person with high self-direction forced into rigid structures experiences different distress than someone with high security navigating constant change.
This is why generic career advice fails. "Follow your passion" means nothing if your top value is security. "Take risks" is toxic if tradition and conformity anchor your wellbeing. Our approach starts by mapping your actual values hierarchy, not the one you think you should have.
Misalignment as data, not disaster
Here's what changes everything: values conflicts are information, not indictments. That Sunday dread? It's your self-direction value signaling that autonomy is being violated. The guilt after aggressive negotiations? Your benevolence value registering distress.
Instead of numbing these signals with workaholism or wine, we teach you to decode them. Each point of friction reveals something about your values architecture. This isn't therapy that makes you feel better about misalignment—it's strategic work that helps you understand exactly what needs to shift.
The recalibration process
Values clarity doesn't mean knowing what you value—it means understanding how your values interact, compete, and complement each other. Our Values Navigator (launching January 2025) will help you map this internal landscape. Until then, Power20 sessions offer rapid assessment of your most pressing values conflicts.
The path forward isn't about finding perfect work. It's about conscious alignment—knowing which values you're honoring, which you're compromising, and ensuring the trade-offs align with your life stage and larger goals.
Map your values architecture
The Values Navigator helps you understand your unique values hierarchy and how competing values create internal tension—the foundation for making aligned decisions.
Explore the Values NavigatorCommon questions
How do values actually influence my daily experience?
Values operate like an internal GPS. When aligned, decisions feel natural and work energizes you. When misaligned, every choice requires willpower, leading to decision fatigue and that persistent sense that something's off.
What's the difference between values I chose and values I inherited?
Inherited values come from family, culture, or early success formulas. Chosen values emerge from your lived experience. The tension between them often explains why external success can feel internally empty.
Can values change over time?
Core values remain relatively stable, but their priority shifts with life stages. What drove you at 25 might drain you at 35. Recognition and recalibration prevent you from living by an outdated blueprint.
How do I handle competing values within myself?
Values naturally compete—security versus adventure, achievement versus balance. The key isn't choosing one over another but understanding their dynamic tension and making conscious trade-offs rather than unconscious sacrifices.
What if my values don't match what's rewarded in my industry?
This is the heart of misalignment burnout. Sometimes you can find niches within your field that better match your values. Sometimes the mismatch signals it's time to redirect your talents toward more aligned opportunities.
Ready to decode your internal compass?
Understanding your values architecture is the first step toward conscious alignment.
Explore the Values Navigator