When the Ground Shifts, Your North Star Can’t
In this moment, as major corporations like Target face consumer boycotts and shareholder backlash for dialing back DEI efforts, as state-run bridges consider purging diversity initiatives to secure funding, and as CEOs are even relocating their companies in protest of restrictive abortion laws, knowing what you stand for isn’t optional. Your North Star is your protection, your commitment, and your leadership in action.
Your North Star is more than just your brand story. It is intended to be your shield, your compass, and your leadership test.
Clients will test your boundaries. Teammates will disappoint you. Consultants will overpromise. Critics will talk. People will misunderstand you. And if you don’t have a rooted sense of self, your values, your standards, your why, every bump becomes a breakdown.
But when your North Star is clear (and more importantly, when it’s operationalized) those same challenges become moments of alignment, not unraveling.
Why Today’s Climate Demands Moral Clarity
The political headwinds are real. We’re watching institutions roll back rights that once felt secure. Equity is being framed as a threat. Inclusivity is being cast as a liability. Companies are being told, subtly and overtly, to dilute their values in the name of neutrality.
But here’s the truth: neutrality is a myth. Inaction is a message. And every leader has to decide what they are (and are not) willing to stand for when the cultural tide turns. If your organization’s values are not crystal clear, consistent, and actionable, someone else (a client, a funder, a loud minority) will define them for you.
The North Star Is Not a Slogan
A lot of organizations mistake vision statements for North Stars. But a true North Star is not a slogan. It’s a system:
It shows up in how you hire, onboard, and promote.
It shows up in what clients you take and which ones you walk away from.
It shows up in how your team communicates under pressure.
It shows up in what gets approved, what gets revised, and what never makes it out the door.
If your team doesn’t have a shared understanding of your core principles, you’ll spend every crisis backpedaling. You’ll waste time clarifying what should’ve already been codified. And you’ll confuse the people who were looking to you for leadership. You can’t pivot every time the world gets loud. That’s how brands lose trust. That’s how missions get diluted. That’s how teams burn out.
Crisis Reveals the Foundation
At some point, something will go wrong:
A team member will misstep.
A client will cross a line.
A political event will demand a public stance.
When that moment comes, the question isn’t just “What do we believe?” It’s “Did we build the structure to act on it?” This is why communication infrastructure matters: internal protocols, escalation processes, feedback loops, even team sync agendas. These are not just project tools; they’re value reinforcement mechanisms. If your North Star is real, it should live in the mundane, not just the mission deck.
The Real Test of Leadership
Leadership is not about being liked. It’s about being legible. When people look at your organization (your team, your work, your voice) can they tell what you stand for without you saying it out loud? If they can’t, it’s time to go back and rebuild. Because when the ground shifts, and it will, your North Star has to hold. And if it does, you won’t just survive the storm. You’ll lead through it.