What It Actually Means to Build a Values-Driven Business with Tzvi Doron
There’s something I say about my husband Tzvi all the time, both to his face and to anyone who will listen: he is the most ethical, values-driven person I know.
Full stop.
I’ve watched him walk away from well-paying, well-respected positions because something deeper told him his time there was done. I’ve watched him navigate the hardest decisions with a clarity that truly baffles people. I’ve watched him sit with someone wrestling through a dilemma and ask exactly the right question to get underneath it and help them connect with their inner knowing.
Over 17 years together, I’ve never seen him make a significant decision without first asking himself: is this in line with my values?
So when I started thinking about Season 4 of Bold Women in Business and who I wanted to bring on as the first guest, Tzvi was a no-brainer.
In this episode, we dig into what it actually means to live a values-driven life — and why that matters so deeply for the businesses you’re building.
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You Can’t Live by Values You Haven’t Named
The first thing Tzvi says in this conversation is that you have to have crystal clear clarity on what your values actually are. And going one step further, you need to know the hierarchy of your values, because your values will sometimes conflict with each other. That’s a when, not an if.
Think about how that shows up in your business. Maybe you value your clients deeply, and you also value your own sustainability. Those two things will come into conflict. The question is: which one wins, and why?
When you know the hierarchy, the decision makes itself.
The Real Work Is Getting Underneath
One of the things I love most about this conversation is how Tzvi talks about the way he helps people work through dilemmas. He doesn’t tell people what to do. He asks questions. Pointed ones. Because the surface dilemma is almost never the real issue at hand.
“People may have a dilemma about what to do in a given situation… The only reason they’re struggling to understand what to do is because they haven’t really clarified what is underneath those decisions.”
— Tzvi Doron
I hear this in my own work constantly. Someone comes to me saying they need a better website or stronger messaging, and what’s actually underneath it is that they haven’t fully gotten clear on what they’re building or why. The website is just where the confusion became most obvious.
When you get underneath what’s driving your decisions, everything gets clearer.
Your Body Knows Before Your Brain Does
I asked Tzvi if he feels it physically when something is out of alignment with his values, and his answer was immediate: yes. For him, it shows up as tension in his face.
For you it might be something different. Tightness in your chest. A knot in your stomach. Resistance you can’t quite name.
The point is: your body is often ahead of your brain when it comes to knowing whether something is right (or not). The question is whether you’re tuned in enough to catch it.
Getting in tune with that requires doing the work of actually clarifying your values first. The physical signal doesn’t mean much if you have nothing to measure it against.
If you’re anything like me, you hate paying through the nose for the tools you need to run your business. That’s why I switched to NeetoCal. It’s a super affordable meeting scheduling tool, with all the bells and whistles of their big competitor (you know, the one that rhymes with “balendly”). Do yourself a favor and switch to NeetoCal!
People Know
This might be my favorite part of the whole conversation. I asked Tzvi how you tell the difference between someone who talks about their values and someone who actually lives them.
His answer?
“Everyone knows.”
We have very good bullshit meters, evolutionarily baked in. The people who are real — who make mistakes, admit them, say “that’s a good point” in a disagreement — are the ones who attract the people who value that. And, on the flip side, people can instantly feel it when they encounter someone who talks a big game but doesn’t back it up.
In business, this plays out in every direction. Your clients can feel the difference between someone who genuinely cares about the impact of their work and someone running the right scripts. Your community can feel it. Your potential clients can feel it.
Living by your values is your most powerful brand differentiator. There’s no template for it.
The Cost of Living Out of Alignment
When I asked Tzvi about the tangible cost of building something that doesn’t reflect your core values, he said a few things that stayed with me.
Your reputation will take the hit eventually. People talk. That’s just human nature. If your actions don’t match your words, the people around you will notice, and they’ll tell others.
It costs you in close relationships. This is true with clients, with collaborators, and with the people who matter most to you.
It costs you your soul. This one is the most intangible. Something just feels off deep within you. You feel it even when you can’t name it.
If something in your business has felt just… not quite right… this might be worth sitting with.
His Highest Value
I asked Tzvi at the end of this episode to name his single highest value. His answer was so specific to him and so deeply personal, that I didn’t want to paraphrase it.
He described it as a kind of spiritual magnetic pole — an absolute direction that collects everything else: how to act in business, how to treat people, how to care for yourself. His highest value is to line himself up with that arrow, to the best of his flawed, human ability.
“That is all of life.”
— Tzvi Doron
I love that. And I think it says everything about why clarity on your deepest value is the starting point for everything else.
So much of the work I do with my clients — whether that’s helping them with their brands, websites, or content — comes down to clarifying their values. This is deep work, but if you want an easy starting point, take my free quiz that will help you get clear on the type of communication that’s most authentic to you. of your week.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
- NeetoCal — The calendar booking tool I use to keep my business running smoothly
- Tzvi’s Substack — Deep dives on ethics, life, and becoming a better human
- Tzvi’s LinkedIn — Connect with Tzvi
