350: How to Lead Values-Based Decision Making with Jenny Bates Heaton

Jenny Bates Heaton is the founder of Bates Leadership and has a brilliant new TEDx talk.

What really blew me away during our chat was how Jenny used her personal journey facing a massive medical decision after a cancer-risk mutation diagnosis to completely rewrite the script on how we make choices.

It got me thinking about my own life and how often we make decisions based on what we think we should do, rather than what aligns with our deepest values. For me, everything comes back to fairness, justice, and a whole lot of strength. When things feel off-balance in the world, my mental health definitely takes a hit with serious anxiety, but anchoring into those core values is what keeps me grounded.

Jenny’s framework isn't just a clinical exercise. It’s a warm, slightly humorous, and deeply practical guide to finding your own word—whether that's power, strong, or serenity—and letting it do the guiding when life is A LOT.

Key Themes From the Conversation

• The Power of Personal Reflection Prompts: True decision-making frameworks cannot be imported from someone else. Decisions must be organically mined from an individual's unique motivations and joys.

  "I started circulating my questions to everyone, and I didn't really get any reaction from people. because they weren't their questions. They didn't focus on their values. Now, I guide people through exercises to pull out their word to guide their decisions." — Jenny Bates Heaton

• The Intersection of Imposed Limitations and Good Intentions: Well-meaning colleagues often inadvertently sideline individuals, particularly from historically marginalized groups, by assuming their needs or limitations rather than asking them directly.

  "People with the best of intentions trying to protect me said, 'Oh gosh, I know you're going through a lot so let's catch up in a couple of months.' I had to advocate for myself quite a bit to convince them like, 'No, no, I'm good.'" — Jenny Bates Heaton

• Shifting toward Employee-Led Talent Management: Organizations must move away from paternalistic, closed-door succession and promotion processes and actively integrate the employee's voice to reduce systemic bias.

  "Think about how many times you don't have the employee's voice in the room for talent review and for promotions. Most companies do not allow an employee to put their name in the box for the roles that they would like to apply for. That's weird." — Jenny Bates Heaton

• Embracing the "Good Day, Bad Day" Culture: Cultivating psychological safety in a corporate system requires acknowledging that organizations, like people, will have off days without those mistakes defining their permanent identity.

  "The good day, bad day is one of my favorite exercises because it gives you permission to talk about the bad because it's just a day. It doesn't mean that you're always going to be bad, everyone has a bad day. Corporate culture personas are very much that way with good days and bad days just like humans." — Jenny Bates Heaton

Actionable Takeaway

Audit your favorite activities to find your decision-making anchor. Take a notebook and write down one or two hobbies you love to do consistently (like gardening, skiing, or reading). Ask yourself: What is the underlying feeling or motivation that compels me to keep doing this? Distill that feeling into a single core word—such as strength, control, or connectedness—and actively use that word as a litmus test for the next major professional or personal decision you have to make.

Connect with Jenny at https://www.batesleadership.com/