How to Bring Your Values to Life—Even When It’s Hard

A Welcome to ValuesCrafting

View from where I write, reflect, and begin again. Welcome to ValuesCrafting.

How to Bring Your Values to Life—Even When It’s Hard

A Welcome to ValuesCrafting

You don’t have to live your values perfectly. But you do have to decide they matter. Whether you know it or not, your values are already shaping the life you’re building.

Welcome to ValuesCrafting, a space for people who want to live, lead, and love in a way that reflects their core values, even when life feels uncertain, overwhelming, or just plain hard.

ValuesCrafting isn’t about ten steps, lofty theory, or quick-fix solutions. It’s about presence, integrity, kindness, empathy, and the messy, meaningful work of trying again when you don’t succeed perfectly.

I’m Susan Heathfield. I’ve spent five decades helping people lead, build culture, and live their values. Alongside my late husband Bill, I helped create an employee-owned company grounded in respect, trust, and love—not just as ideals but embedded into our processes, relationships, and decisions.

I’ve walked beside people through layoffs, growth, reinvention, and grief. I’ve watched what happens when people lead with values—and what happens when they don’t.

At this stage of life, I’m asking new questions. And I’m still learning.

• What kind of difference can I still make with the time I have?

• What does it mean to live with grace when the path is uncertain?

• How can we treat people with care, even in high-pressure environments or messy situations?

That’s what ValuesCrafting is about.

It’s about finding a better way to be with people—at work, at home, and in your heart.

It’s about designing systems that uplift people rather than impede their progress and hinder their success.

It’s about listening instead of judging. Acting with intention. Leading with care.

And yes, on occasion, I’ll bring faith into the conversation—Jesus, God, maybe even Catholicism and Judaism—not as doctrine but as another lens through which I understand grace, loss, and purpose.

Because ambition doesn’t end with age, care belongs at work as much as it is cherished at home.

Every week, I share grounded stories and real-life strategies for people who still want to grow, who wish to lead wisely, live kindly, and leave something better behind.

What You’ll Take Away from ValuesCrafting

ValuesCrafting is for people who want more than surface-level inspiration.

It’s for people who want to live, lead, and relate with greater clarity, courage, and care, even when life is messy or uncertain.

When you subscribe, you'll receive weekly reflections and examples that help you:

• Recognize the values that matter most to you and act on them daily, becoming a person whose behavior matches their beliefs.

• Stay grounded in your values when the pressure is on, or when your choices feel difficult or conflicting.

• Be a better leader, partner, or parent, even when you’re unsure how to translate your values into action.

• Build stronger relationships through empathy, trust, and integrity.

• Feel more grounded, even when life or work gets complicated or messy.

• Influence others by your example, not by your title or authority.

• Find alternatives to leadership advice that feels too corporate, vague, or disconnected from real life.

• See values lived in action, so you can picture what’s possible in your own environment.

• Understand how to respond when care, trust, and purpose seem missing from the spaces around you.

• Live more meaningfully, even when the path isn’t clear—drawing on examples that stretch your vision and intentions.

Whether you're guiding others or simply trying to live with more clarity and purpose, ValuesCrafting offers wisdom, stories, and encouragement to help you align your actions with what matters most.

If this sounds like you, I hope you’ll stay a while.

Let’s walk this path together.