The Story Maker
Insights from the Affection Economy:
where values are lived, not told.
Values-led leadership, cultural change, and human connection.
Welcome to The Story Maker — Jet Swain’s blog exploring how we live, lead, and belong through the lens of The Affection Economy.
Here you’ll find reflections, case studies, and practical strategies for leaders, teams, and communities ready to build trust, lead with kindness, and create meaningful change.
Week Fourteen — Empathy (The Heart)
Empathy is a practice, not a personality trait. This week explores how small, deliberate acts — listening fully, considering context, and choosing curiosity — strengthen leadership, improve decisions, and build trust.
Week Thirteen — Clarity (The Self)
Clarity is created, not found. This week explores how small, deliberate acts of simplification — defining priorities, communicating clearly, and closing open loops — lead to better decisions, stronger leadership, and more focused work.
Week Twelve — Meaning (The Sacred)
Meaning isn’t something we find at the end. It’s something we notice along the way — in how we begin, what we pay attention to, and what we choose to hold as significant.
Week Eleven — Stewardship (The Lineage)
Agency in leadership begins with small decisions — speaking up, taking responsibility, and acting in alignment with your values. Week 10 of the 365 Acts of Affection explores how agency builds trust, credibility and cultural change.
Week Ten — Agency (The Flame)
Agency in leadership begins with small decisions — speaking up, taking responsibility, and acting in alignment with your values. Week 10 of the 365 Acts of Affection explores how agency builds trust, credibility and cultural change.
Week Nine — Stability (The Roots)
Stability is built through small, steady acts. Week Nine explores how order, consistency, and reliability quietly earn trust and confidence over time.
Week Eight — Compassion (The Heart)
Compassion is strength expressed through care. Week Eight explores how patience, grace, and staying open shape trust, culture, and connection.
Week Seven — Self-Awareness (The Self)
Week Seven of 365 Acts of Affection is Self-awareness.
Self-awareness is the discipline of noticing — how you feel, how you react, and the tone you set inward. Week Seven explores why alignment begins within.
Week Six — Reverence (The Sacred)
Reverence in leadership means choosing presence over reaction. Week Six explores how stillness, intention, and gentle endings shape culture and trust.
Week Five — Continuity (The Lineage)
Week Five of 365 Acts of Affection invites us to widen the lens — to remember that nothing begins with us. Continuity is about recognising what shaped us, honouring whose work we build on, and acting with care for what comes next. It’s not about nostalgia, but responsibility. Not urgency, but lineage.
Week Four — Courage (The Flame)
Courage doesn’t arrive as force or volume.
This week, it showed up as honesty, alignment, and the quiet act of standing with what’s true.
When values are declared — and how we help people actually live them
What happens when values are beautifully articulated — but not fully felt?
I came across an agency culture page that stopped me in my tracks. Its values were simple, human and quietly ambitious: Imagine. Grow. Respect. Perform. Enjoy.
And yet, I’ve spent years listening to people who want to live values like these — without always being given the conditions to do so.
This piece explores the quiet gap between stated values and lived experience, and why values aren’t slogans at all — they’re creative infrastructure.
365 Acts of Affection: A Practice, Not a Performance
365 Acts of Affection is a daily practice — one small act each day — designed to be lived rather than performed. Grounded in the Affection Economy, these acts translate values into behaviour through presence, care, and attention. Not a challenge or a checklist, but a rhythm to return to. One moment. One act. One day at a time.
