When Values Are Tested: A Reflection on Faith, Identity, and Professional Integrity

At Dignity Solutions, we often talk about standing firm in your values. We believe leadership should be rooted in compassion, service, and integrity. That belief is not just theoretical. It is tested in real situations. This week, I experienced one of those moments.

During a call with a potential client, what began as a standard conversation about services quickly shifted. After asking about the principles behind my company, I explained that we operate from a foundation of faith and servant leadership. Her response was immediate and unexpected. She told me she would never do business with a Christian. She called Christianity “a white man's religion” and told me that as a Latino, I was no better than the people she resents. She ended the call with explicit language and abruptly hung up.

I will not share her name or business. This is not about retaliation or public shaming. It is about drawing a clear line around who we are, what we stand for, and why that matters.

I do not use my faith as a sales tool. It is not a marketing hook or a transactional tactic. It is the lens through which I treat others with dignity, fairness, empathy, and excellence. These values are not barriers to professionalism. They are the very foundation of it.

The unfortunate reality is that discrimination still exists in all directions. Whether based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or worldview, intolerance has no place in a world that demands empathy and inclusion. When it shows up in business, it does damage to more than just the deal. It chips away at the decency that should define our work.

Faith, when held with humility and love, is not a weapon. It is a compass. It keeps us centered in how we lead, serve, and speak, especially when the world offers us reasons to lash out. My faith is the reason I stayed calm on that call. It is the reason I wrote this with clarity, not anger.

If you are reading this and you have ever been dismissed or devalued for your background, beliefs, or convictions, know that you are not alone. Your integrity is not something to be compromised in order to fit in. The right people, the right clients, and the right partnerships will value you not in spite of who you are, but because of it.

At Dignity Solutions, we help the people who help people. We serve professionals and families with humanity at the center. That includes those who look, think, and believe differently than we do. Respect is not a perk we offer our clients. It is the baseline standard.

This experience, as unpleasant as it was, reminded me of something important. The world does not need more people who say the right things when it is easy. It needs more people who live their values when it is not.

We will continue to build a company that does just that.

—
Dr. Ryan S. Reyes
President, Dignity Solutions