What is values alignment?

Example: You say you value deep work — you've read the book, you quote it in meetings, you tell your team to protect their focus time. Then you check your calendar: 23 meetings this week, Slack notifications on, no blocks longer than 45 minutes. Your espoused theory is 'deep work matters.' Your theory-in-use is 'availability is what I actually optimize for.' The gap between those two is not hypocrisy. It is data.

This concept is part of Contradiction Resolution in the How to Think curriculum, which builds the epistemic infrastructure for contradiction resolution.