Decoding Confidence

EP17: Unlocking Confidence Through Values with Dr. Jackie La Fèvre

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What if the key to greater confidence, less stress, and better decision-making was already inside you? In this episode, Advita speaks with Dr Jackie Le Fèvre, founder of Magma Effect, about how understanding your personal values can transform how you lead, work, and live.

 

From her unexpected journey from zoology to human behaviour, Jackie brings a fascinating, science-backed perspective on why values matter and what happens when we ignore them.

Whether you're a leader trying to build a more authentic culture, an HR professional supporting your people, or simply someone who wants to feel more grounded in your choices this one's for you.

What we cover:

  • How Jackie went from wildlife conservation to human values and behaviour
  • The surprising biological link between humans and chimpanzees
  • Why surfacing your core values boosts confidence and sharpens decision-making
  • The science behind values, cortisol, and stress resilience
  • How to handle the tension between personal and organisational values
  • Practical tools and reflective questions to identify what truly matters to you
  • How to have brave conversations when your values don't align with your organisation's
  • The gap between declared values and lived values — and what to do about it

    • Timestamps:

    • 00:00 — Introduction
    • 02:02 — Jackie's journey from zoology to human behaviour
    • 03:00 — The biological link between humans and chimpanzees
    • 07:10 — How values shape confidence and decision-making
    • 08:09 — The benefits of naming and articulating your core values
    • 15:30 — Values, stress, and cortisol regulation
    • 22:05 — Managing personal vs. organisational values conflicts
    • 25:28 — Values and leadership culture
    • 35:59 — Reflective questions to uncover what matters most
    • 41:04 — Closing the gap between declared and lived values
    • 44:13 — How to raise values misalignment with leaders
    • 45:02 — Closing thoughts

      • Resources mentioned:

      • Magma Effect 
      • Values Exercise Tool
      • Decoding Confidence by Advita Patel - Pre-order now available
      • Jackie on LinkedIn

        • More about Jackie's work:

        Jackie Le Fèvre FCMI is the founder of Magma Effect and was awarded her doctorate for exploring the link between conscious connection to value and well-being by the University of Hertfordshire in November 2023. Originally qualified as a zoologist and after more than a decade in nature conservation Jackie turned her attention to human behaviour and has been trying (often unsuccessfully) to understand people ever since.

         

        Following a career in the voluntary and community sector working at local, regional and national level Jackie began to specialise in consciously values-based practice in 2004. Jackie is National Advisor on Values to Wellbeing Teams which in 2018 won three national awards for values-based recruitment including the Guardian Public Service Award for HR. As a member of the Subject Matter Experts Group of the Chartered Institute of Management Jackie holds a remit for values and culture. Jackie is also a member of the UK Values Alliance and is a founder member of the Global Values Alliance. 

         

        In the last 7 years Jackie has developed a storytelling methodology for surfacing values from lived experience. To date 30 values and storytelling projects have been undertaken with organisations ranging from Chailey Heritage Foundation and Neighbourhood Midwives to the Health and Safety Executive, English Sport, Which? and the University of Manchester. Between 2020 and 2022 Jackie worked with NHS organisations in the South West on the values present in patient and family stories of end of life and palliative care https://www.careopinion.org.uk/blogposts/1030/values-inside-stories.

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        Decoding ConfidenceBy Advita Patel