When you refuse to Align – You rot

The title of my post today sounds as if I’m an alignment zealot. But this is my belief or as my friend Giselle Martin once told me in high school..

It’s an inevitable consequence. It has to happen!

Rotting is the consequence of refusing to align with who you are, and with what you are here to do.

When Thoreau remarked that most men live lives of quiet desperation – he could not have foreseen how prevalent that desperation would become.

We have more and more outlets available to talk about what’s wrong with the world – about potential war, climate change, human rights and wrongs, about tariffs, rising prices alongside, frustration, boredom anxiety and psychotic breaks. Generally about a lack of fulfillment in our lives. A gnawing sense of misalignment in our lives and leadership.

My neighbor shared a piece by Sony Thang via WhatsApp that started with me thinking deeply about Sony’s words, followed by needing to express my own thoughts around how shadows can be instructive.

Sony’s piece, a rant if you will, is about America and what we are seeing unfolding before us – which looks like chaos…many moving parts…and much of it not necessarily making sense in the moment.

What struck me was this:

If you never face your shadow, your shadow will rule you. It will distort your judgment. It will destroy your allies. And eventually, it will consume you.

Sony Thang’s “Empires don’t heal, they collapse” isn’t just political commentary. It’s a masterclass in what long-term misalignment looks like—nationally, organizationally, and personally.

America’s descent didn’t begin with chaos. It began with denial.

Denial of consequences. Denial of responsibility. Denial of its own shadow.

• Every war justified.
• Every delusion normalized.
• Every lie protected because it served the illusion of success.

That’s how misalignment works.

Not in loud explosions—but in quiet betrayals of truth, repeated over time.

Eventually, misalignment becomes the system:

• Propaganda replaces vision
• Power replaces purpose
• Projection replaces responsibility
• Delusion replaces discipline

And by the time the world sees the collapse, the rot has already been there—decades deep.

This isn’t just about empires. This is about any structure—business, team, brand, leader—that avoids the hard work of alignment.

If you don’t face your truth, your truth will eventually face you.

• Your shadow will run the show.
• Your systems will get louder but not better.
• Your actions will become more extreme, just to avoid accountability.

And like tariffs in a failing economy, your decisions will start to hurt you more than help you.

Collapse isn’t failure. It’s consequence.

And often, it’s the first honest thing that happens after years of pretending everything’s fine.

So if you’re running a business, a team, or even just your own life—ask:

Are you aligned with what’s true? Or are you sustaining an illusion that’s quietly destroying your foundation?

Sony Thang wasn’t just talking about geopolitics.

He was talking about what happens when anything—a nation, a company, a leader—refuses to face the truth.

Misalignment doesn’t always show up in obvious ways.

• Sometimes it hides in the systems we protect.
• The myths we sell.
• The team dynamics we won’t address.
• The offers we keep pushing even though they no longer work.

Over time, delusion becomes strategy. Avoidance becomes culture. And then one day… collapse.

Not because we’re cursed. But because we’re out of alignment—and pretending we’re not.

Collapse is often the first honest thing a broken system does.

The question is: are you going to wait until that moment? Or are you going to choose to face what’s off—and realign before it costs you more?

Reflection Prompts:

1. Where in your business or leadership have you normalized dysfunction?
2. What have you avoided so long that it now feels “normal”?
3. What have you been holding in place—out of habit, fear, or pride—that may need to fall apart so something true can emerge?

Ready to face your shadows? Download the free Business MRI™ that fits your business type and discover your biggest constraint—before it costs you more time, energy, or revenue.

🔗 [Solo Pro MRI™ – for independents] 🔗 [Nonprofit MRI™ – for mission-led teams] 🔗 [Business MRI™ – for companies with 25–100 employees] 🔗 Read the piece by Sony Thang here