Innovating Leadership:
Co-Creating Our Future

Hosted by Maureen Metcalf

Conversations with global thought leaders on leadership, culture, and innovation—designed for executives navigating complexity and building resilient organizations.

Effectively Addressing Values Conflicts

Episode Description

John Heiser explores what happens when personal and organizational values collide, and how addressing those conflicts directly strengthens both engagement and performance. He centers the discussion on the Giving Voice to Values framework, a proven methodology that helps employees and leaders articulate concerns when a company’s practices clash with their personal principles. Drawing on leadership experience across DuPont, Merck, and Bausch & Lomb, he makes the case that a workforce empowered to speak up about values is both more satisfied and more productive.

Key Takeaways

Misalignment between personal and organizational values quietly undermines engagement.
Addressing values conflicts leads to a more engaged, satisfied, and higher-performing workforce.
The Giving Voice to Values framework gives people practical ways to articulate ethical concerns.
Employees need mechanisms to speak up when practices clash with their principles.
Values-driven leadership pairs ethical clarity with superior business results.

Why This Episode Matters

Executives come away with a practical framework for surfacing and resolving values conflicts, turning ethical clarity into stronger engagement and performance.

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Featuring

John Heiser, former CEO of LabVantage

Episode Topics

Culture Change • Culture to Performance • Ethics & Moral Decision Making

Podcast Air Date

August 13, 2019

Episode Duration

37min

Watch the episode

Season 5

Episode Number 15

Episode Content:

We hear a lot about family values and personal values…but what about business values? And what happens when your company’s and personal values conflict?

Values conflicts arise frequently in the workplace. Addressing them leads to a more engaged and satisfied workforce (who also drive superior performance). Guest John Heiser explains how, and shares details on the “Giving Voice to Values” (GVV) program, which provides a proven framework for organizations to implement.

Produced in conjunction with the International Leadership Association: https://ilaglobalnetwork.org.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

Adaptive Leadership & Culture Change with Ron Heifetz
Building Communities within Your Business with Alice Yoo LeClair
The New Era of Stakeholder Value with Keith Tuffley

Resources:

The Giving Voice to Values website John mentioned is https://www.darden.virginia.edu/ibis/initiatives/gvv. The seminal book on this topic is Mary Gentile’s Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What’s Right (available in paperback at https://amzn.to/3Td4GTF and as an audiobook at https://amzn.to/49NSEr6).

Our host, Maureen Metcalf, posts a newsletter every week on LinkedIn. You can subscribe here.

Maureen’s latest book is Innovative Leadership & Followership in the Age of AI. You’ll find details about it at https://bit.ly/LeaderInAI. Her other 10 books are available on Amazon here.

Books we’re reading for fun or personal development right now include:

Everyday Ubuntu: Living Better Together, the African Way by Mungi Ngomane. Hardback (https://amzn.to/48Doh6j) and audiobook (https://amzn.to/48YCRF4)
Nerve: Lessons on Leadership from Two Women Who Went First by Martha Piper & Indira Samarasekera. Paperback (https://amzn.to/3tOtzg4) and audiobook (https://amzn.to/41OYdT5)
Jilly Truit murder mysteries by Beverley McLachlin:
- Full Disclosure – https://amzn.to/46TxW6Q (paperback) https://amzn.to/46VDL3Q (audiobook)
- Denial – https://amzn.to/46YCbhs (paperback) https://amzn.to/3GJc0AA (audiobook)
Women and Leadership: Journey Toward Equity by Sherylle J. Tan & Lisa DeFrank-Cole

NOTE: As an Amazon partner, we may make a small commission from books you buy through these links.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy

Turning Conflict from Avoidance to Advantage with Mike Morrow-Fox
Getting Positive Results from Hard Conversations with Dr. Marcia Reynolds
The Good Fight: Using Productive Conflict with Liane Davey

Guest(s):

John Heiser, former CEO of LabVantage

Guest(s) Bio:

John Heiser was Chief Executive Officer of LabVantage Solutions, Inc. LabVantage is a leading global developer of laboratory information management systems. Prior to joining LabVantage, John served as President and COO of Magnetrol International, Inc. John began his career as an attorney in private practice before transitioning into business, where he has held numerous leadership positions in legal, government affairs, sales, and marketing with DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company, DuPont Pharmaceuticals, Merck & Co., Inc., and Bausch & Lomb. He served on the boards of the International Leadership Association and Aspire Chicago. John earned his BA degree in Political Science/Sociology from the University of Iowa, a JD from Tulane University, an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a PhD from the Center for Values Driven Leadership at Benedictine University. He is now a faculty member of the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.

Transcript