Success can be deceptive. A company can be profitable, a nonprofit can hit its metrics, a program can be funded, and a leader can keep delivering results – and still be out of alignment with the future they say they want to build.
The question is not simply, “Is this working?” The better question is,
“Is this working toward where we say we are going?”
That is where mission, vision, and values become more than statements. They become frameworks for decision-making. Your mission should clarify why the work matters. Your vision should shape what you are building toward. Your values should influence how decisions are made along the way. If those three things do not affect where you invest, what you measure, what you redesign, what you stop doing, and what you build next, they are not actually guiding the organization.
Success Can Hide Misalignment
Failure usually gets our attention quickly. Success can do the opposite.
A program may be well attended and still create barriers for the people it was intended to serve. A company may be growing while its systems, leadership structure, or financial infrastructure are no longer equipped for the next level. A nonprofit may continue funding an established program because it has always worked, even when the community, market, or mission has evolved.
The same thing happens personally. A leader can continue performing at a high level while quietly realizing that the future being built no longer matches the future they actually want.
Working and aligned are not the same thing.
Misalignment has a cost. It can show up in resources being invested in work that no longer advances the vision, teams carrying programs that have outlived their purpose, or leaders making decisions based on precedent instead of strategy. It can also show up when organizations measure what is easiest to report rather than what matters most.
Vision Should Change Today’s Decisions
A vision statement should not describe a future that has no influence on the present. It should force better questions.
Are our current programs moving us toward the future we say we want? Are our systems designed for the people we intend to serve? Are our resources aligned with our highest priorities? Are we continuing something because it is effective, or simply because it is familiar?
And perhaps the most important question is this:
If we keep operating exactly as we are today, will the organization we’ll have created five or ten years from now actually fulfill our mission?
That is strategic alignment: Alignment is the discipline of comparing today’s decisions with tomorrow’s vision.
The Alignment Test
Before continuing, expanding, funding, or scaling something, leaders should ask five questions:
Mission: Does this still serve why we exist? Is it actually working for the people it was designed to serve?
Values: Are we doing it in a way that reflects how we say we operate?
Vision: Does this move us toward where we want to go? If we continue this for the next five or ten years, are we building what we want to become?
These questions matter for organizations, but they also matter personally. The hardest thing to change is not always what failed. Sometimes it is what succeeded. Failure forces reflection. Success can postpone it. You do not have to wait until something is broken to decide that something needs to evolve.
Alignment Requires Courage Before Crisis
The goal is not constant change. The goal is intentional alignment.
That means keeping what still serves the vision, strengthening what needs to evolve, redesigning what creates barriers, and stopping the investment of time, money, or energy in work that no longer takes you where you intend to go.
The strongest leaders do not wait until circumstances force change. They are willing to examine what is working and still ask whether it deserves to continue.
That is not failure: It is leadership. It is strategy and it is alignment.
Are you willing to switch gears from what is working with what is aligned to the vision you have for tomorrow?
AI & Authenticity Disclaimer: The ideas, frameworks, lessons, lived experiences, and professional perspective reflected in this article are Bridget B Espinosa’s. AI may be used to research, organize, refine, finesse, or format outlines and outputs. Bridget personally performs the final edit and retains final authorship and approval.
So far we’ve had two big events this year, Cheers with Business Alianzas and Chelas con Contratistas which took place on January 18th at La Posada restaurant. During both events, besides networking with everyone present, our priority was to register as many contractors as possible for Lead Abatement, a course that explains how to safely work with lead and asbestos. There’s still availability for those interested in this free program.
By the end of the event we registered approximately 10 contractors! Additionally, they were able to exchange contact information between each other. Huge thank you to La Posada Restaurant for allowing us to host this event at their business and to their employees for their attention with us.
Lastly, we want to thank each and every member of the 150 small businesses that form part of Business Alianzas. Our 1 year celebration would not have been possible without all of you! Thank you for allowing us to help you every step of the way. We look forward to continuing working with all of you this year. We enjoyed celebrating with all those who joined us at Los Altos Restaurant, via zoom, and in Puerto Morelos. Thank you to Los Altos for hosting this afternoon with many shared conversations and laughs. Here’s to many more years of assisting entrepreneurs.
Visit our Business Alianzas website to stay up to date with our upcoming events. We hope to see you at our next event!
Puente Cultural Integration, LLC is the leading bilingual consulting agency in the State of Michigan supporting Hispanic small businesses and providing coaching to startups in the City of Detroit. We have worked with over a dozen agencies providing program development, project management, and as consultants to nonprofit organizations and governmental departments. Our most important work is helping immigrant business owners formalize their business practices. We start each day determining which businesses need our help.
We have a unique and multi-faceted approach to outreach to the immigrant communities we serve. Puente provided direct, door-to-door outreach to the West Vernor & Springwells Business Improvement District in Southwest Detroit from 2017-2021. During the pandemic, we shifted to direct phone calls, many months making up to 500 calls to ensure that business owners knew of the most recent changes to COVID-19 protocols, grants, and resources.
We currently have a mailing list of over 1000 email contacts, over 500 phone numbers, and we have over 100 direct clients that we are coaching through Business Alianzas.
I was recently interviewed about how deportations are directly affecting small businesses in Southwest Detroit by Hub Detroit, a publication dedication to telling stories about the neighborhoods. As a consultant working with a number of nonprofit organizations in Southwest Detroit, I spend most of my days working directly with small business owners, helping them to access resources and to solve problems.
Over the last year, one of the greatest challenges for Southwest Detroit businesses is their shrinking client base due to immigration threats. People are in disaster preparation mode, staying out of public spaces and saving money in case of an emergency. The somber change in the vibe of the neighborhood was palpable right after the election, it has now evolved into a state of resignation as people attempt to continue living their lives. Stories of raids, detentions, and the hardship that children and spouses are suffering when the bread winner is deported have shifted from shocking to normalized.
HUB Detroit, November 22, 2017 misunderstood the name of my business in our phone interview. (Puente de) Conexion is the name of our nonprofit organization, the name of my company is Puente Cultural Integration.
Both the image of the Southwest mural and the image above are from Posada Mexican Restaurant and Market, one of my absolute favorite hole-in-the-wall authentic Mexican restaurants in the world. (This is a common scene in SW, owner, Juan Romo (right) sitting with me discussing business with the owner of DMex Printing, Cesar Escobedo. (My favorite butcher, Salvador Enriquez from Carnicería Guadalajara is seen in background.)
I am really proud to be part of a bilingual collaborative that helps provide resources to the business owners in Southwest Detroit. We decided to join forces last year and have had wonderful results.
Estoy muy orgullosa de ser parte de una colaboración bilingüe que ayuda proporcionar recursos para los dueños de negocio en Southwest Detroit. Decidimos juntarnos hace un año y hemos tenido excelentes resultados.
In November, it was my honor to be the interpreter for Don Rodrigo Padilla, from Taquería el Nacimiento, as he received not only a grant award from the DEGC’s MotorCity Re-Store program, but was also asked to tell his story at the event. (He is also featured on billboards around the city!)
En Noviembre, tuve el honor de ser intérprete para el estimado Don Rodrigo Padilla, de la Taquería el Nacimiento cuando no solo recibió un premio por parte de Motor City Re-Store, sino también le pidieron que contara su historia en el evento.
Rodrigo Padilla with interpreter Bridget Espinosa, Motor City Re-Store Round 2 Awards November 28, 2017 – as featured in Latino Press 12/7/2017 (Also a MMR Winner!)
Southwest Detroit received more awards than any other neighborhood, in part due to the hard work of our collaboration. Four businesses from the BID – West Vernor – Springwells Business Improvement District, for which I provide outreach, received grants and eight TechTown SWOT City clients in in my Southwest Detroit portfolio received awards, including:
Follow these businesses on Facebook so you can see the progress as they help to beautify Southwest Detroit with new murals and other exterior improvements.
Southwest Detroit recibió más premios que cualquier otro vecindario, nuevo de cuarenta y uno, debido al trabajo colaborativo de nuestras agencias. Cuatro negocios en el BID – el Distrito Comercial de Mejoramiento de West Vernor – Springwells, por la cual apoyo en las comunicaciones, y ocho de mis clientes de TechTown SWOT City recibieron premios.
Sigue los negocios en Facebook para que puedas ver el progreso mientras ayuden embellecer a Southwest Detroit con murales nuevos y otras mejoras exteriores.
Don Rodrigo – Taquería el Nacimiento 7400 W. Vernor Detroit, MI 48209
Last month, I spent five days helping to run a camp in the Dominican Republic. I need to do more. Now I know. I need to go back. These kids, this community, they touched me.
First Day of Camp – Basketball as a Mission, Dominican Republic 2015
When I was in high school, I knew I needed to go to Mexico – to live, to learn, to meet these people I had studied. It wasn’t a whim. I knew I had to become bilingual – I didn’t want to just learn textbook Spanish – I wanted to understand everything about the culture too. Street Spanish. Everyday Spanish.
In college, after spending six months living with a family in Morelia, Michoacán and traveling throughout Central Mexico, I dreamed of going into the Peace Corps or becoming a missionary in Latin America. My professors talked of living among the Mayan Indians in Mérida and of studying civilizations across the globe. “I’m going to do that too,” I thought.
But, life happens. The last 21 years happened.
Finish college at 21.
Get the phone call NHS needs a Spanish teacher
Fight it! “I’m not ready to be an adult yet!”
I am hired.
Grad School in Mexico = Grad School Debt
Marry the Mexican man of my dreams
Kids (2 beautiful bilingual boys)
Decide after 21 yrs to leave teaching
Travel to the DR as a volunteer
Now what?
My heart needs to help. I dreamed of teaching in the inner-city. I dreamed of building schools in rural Latin America. I want to help build lives, give love, provide skills.
Last Day of Camp – Basketball as a Mission, Dominican Republic 2015
Can I afford to follow my heart? Can I afford to ignore this ache again? I think I know the answer. Can’t wait to see what powerful things are going to happen!
If you are interested in reaching disadvantaged kids in Latin American or would like to find out more regarding Basketball as a Mission. Contact us here or go to www.basketballasamission.org.
If your company is in the Metro Detroit or Chicago areas and would like Puente Cultural Integration to provide consulting, cross-cultural or diversity training for your staff, please contact bridget@puenteci.com for a quote.
