Becoming You with Suzy Welch

What happens when two forces, your home life and your work life —both central to your identity—need you with equal urgency at the exact same moment? Well, chaos happens. Or guilt. Or angst. Or sheer, utter exhaustion. Or...all of the above. In this episode, Suzy gets into a heart-to-heart with Jennifer, a woman who finds herself caught in a battle between two of her deepest values: her unwavering...

The demise of a job is rarely fun, whether it's by our own volition or not. Whether you've been fired or quit or somehow just eased out by mutual agreement and angst, every company separation is a little bit of a public death, and sometimes a personal one too. That's why it's OK to mourn, it's OK to rage -- for only a bit. After that, the work has to start. The inner work. In this podcast, Suzy sh...

You can want more in life. You can want less. You can choose to take a walk in dark and snowy woods with four crazy dogs, or you can choose to stay inside by the fire reading Jane Eyre. How edgy, wild, and exciting your life is, or how contained, chill, and peaceful it is – that choice is on you. The answer depends on your value of Scope. And the truth is, all values choices are on you. Except the...

Because we all so ardently want to find our purpose, it's not unusual for people to enter the Becoming You process with the question, "How will I know when I've found what I'm looking for?" In this week's episode, Suzy answers that query with a list of the five stages that invariably lead up to getting there -- all the way there. To the unique place that you were meant to live and work; the territ...

It's so bad out there, isn't it? There's war. Violence. Polarization. And sometimes, there's our own work too, weighing us down, because it's so much less than we want and need. So why bother even trying to find our purpose in the morass? What's the point? Hello! Here at the Becoming You pod, we're so happy you asked! Because we have an answer to that question, which is, basically, the case for ho...

It has just 15 words -- simple, clear, and powerful. And the minute you're fluent in it -- which is the exact point of this episode -- suddenly the world starts to make a lot more sense, starting with how you're feeling about life, and what you need to do to make yourself feel that much better, more fulfilled, and more authentic. Essentially -- more you. Listen in, and get ready to transform your...

And that's what you'll get on Christmas, too -- if you look at your wishlist with new eyes. In this episode of Becoming You, Suzy suggests that your Christmas desires -- unwrapped -- are usually big, flashing arrows pointing directly at your values. And to demonstrate that, she takes us through the three things she is hoping to see under the tree Christmas morning, and ponders what they reveal abo...

Career success, life success – you want them, but here’s the thing, they will remain ever elusive until you know your aptitudes. Don’t bolt! We know that word sounds like jargon. Or like pure academic BS. But aptitudes are real, and you have very specific ones, and knowing what they are can and will change your life. Take it from Suzy, who in this week’s gasp-worthy pod (yes, just wait and see) te...

It is not uncommon for people undertaking Becoming You’s self-discovery journey to notice that the process is, well, impacting their marriage, or even making them wonder if they should get married at all. After all, isn’t there something inherently freeing about finally and fully becoming ALL YOU? It’s a big question, and here’s a shocker, Suzy has a big answer, which includes the best (and only)...

Sometimes, we’re happy-ish and that’s fine. After all, we tell ourselves, no one is overjoyed about everything all the time! But other times, we’re not-so-ok and sense our lives could be fuller, richer, or somehow more authentic. What then? Suzy takes on that exact question this week when she responds to two pod listeners: Barbara, a successful marketing executive who has everything a person could...

Buckle up because this week the topic is change -- big change. Specifically, we're talking about career pivots, which are not only good for your personal growth, but often necessary for your professional survival. Does that make them easy? Good freaking lordy-lord no! Are you kidding? That's why this week, Suzy talks to a person who made a brilliant and heroic pivot, only to walk through fire befo...

You could fill a library with all the books written about leadership, and Suzy's read most of them (and written a few herself.) But over the past several years, she has developed a new rubric which elucidates the four key "personality clusters" -- e.g. personality traits -- that she believes are the true gateway to professional success. In this podcast, Suzy reveals and explains those traits, and...

It's been a week, hasn't it? No matter your political affiliation, or how you felt about the election, big and raw emotions were everywhere, and, well, let's just say, not everyone was at their nicest. But here's a question to ponder. What would it look and feel like if suddenly, one day, everyone showed up and said, "Whoever you are, and whatever you believe, I love you?" Astonishingly, Suzy had...

Suzy thought she was going to England for 48 rushed hours of work insanity, only to encounter four strangers — and four questions — that turned her trip the kind of self-discovery journey we all need to take sometime in our lives. In fact, you can take it right now, by traveling along with Suzy as she grapples with her unexpected queries -- and finding answers all your own.  The Values Bridge digi...

It’s said the cobbler’s kids have squeaky shoes, so could it be life coaches have confused kids with crappy careers? This week’s guest, Suzy’s daughter, Sophia, is here to answer that question once and for all, and as it turns out, she and Suzy share an intertwined story about self-discovery, self-challenge, mistakes, love, loss, and parenting that might just resonate with us all. Press play, and...

Why is it, even after we grow up, we still always wonder what we should do when we grow up? It's crazy -- or maybe it's not. In this episode, Suzy tells the story of finding herself in a room full of hyper-accomplished women, and discovering, much to her surprise and then joy, that they are all asking humanity's always-and-forever question themselves. It's enough to make you feel OK about the twis...

There are the famous Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which are not just big and hairy, but incredibly terrifying. Then, there are what Suzy calls "The Four Horsemen of Values Destruction." They are also fearsome, and, unfortunately, real enough to gallop away with your life. Listen in this week as Suzy describes and illustrates how the desire for economic security, the lure of expediency, the pre...

We laughed. We cried. We admitted we were idiots. We counted the ways. Then we said we’d do it all over again. Actually, that was only some of us. On today’s episode, Suzy reminisces about her days at Quadio, the college music streaming company she helped run. Quadio didn’t end up making it, but guess what? This is a story with a happy ending. It is! Quadio taught everyone on the team something th...

If you're human, you've hated someone. OK, maybe you're special, and you've only stooped to dislike someone, and, if so, good for you. But that's not what this episode is about. It's about the value we call "Belonging," one of the most complicated in the Becoming You lexicon because it's about friends. How we take care of them and how they take care of us, or not. In this episode, Suzy ruminates a...

Ten years ago, Suzy traveled to Seattle to film a Today Show segment about a young make-up entrepreneur who was doing business differently. For every pair of false eyelashes she sold, she gave away a set to a chemotherapy patient who was losing her hair. At the time, Thrive Causemetics was based in Karissa Bodnar’s kitchen. The company has been so successful Karissa gave away – HELLO, GAVE AWAY –...

Our topic this week is the value of fame – yes, fame is a value! – but why leave it there? In this episode, we also talk about how much we can lie to ourselves about this particular value, not to mention a few others we have hiding in our hearts. Why do we do this? Because we’re human. No getting around it. Also in this episode: Suzy’s profound take on the fluffy Netflix mini-series “The Perfect C...

When it comes to getting a job – say, the job of your dreams – you have to get existential before you get tactical. But what’s really killer is when you’re both at the same time. And that’s what this episode of the pod is all about, with tips galore from Suzy on both. Being existential, that is, and tactical. Also this week, the Becoming You values-probing question that makes everyone cry. It’s su...

There’s a little voice inside all of us telling us we were born to do something. You know it’s true. Sometimes, this voice translates into our “passion,” and as we grow up, we have to decide whether or not to admit this passion aloud and chase it, for all the world to see, or be logical, and go do “normal work.” In this episode, Suzy discusses the eternal conflict between these two routes, and the...

Ok, not really! Change is good — usually. And really, these days, what choice do we have anyway? But sometimes, it’s worth the energy it takes to resist change, because you’ve built something worth keeping the same. Tune in to this episode for a story to make that point, and sorry not sorry, there will be blood, we mean “crying.” Plus down-and-dirty advice on landing your dream job, and a new secr...

Worried about Suzy the Swan? Yes, you and many other listeners too! In this episode, Suzy (the human, not the swan) gives an update on her missing spirit animal, and somehow also manages to make a point about allowing yourself to change, whether you want to or not. Also on the agenda: Madonna, not knowing which path to take, and advice for working parents. The Values Bridge digital assessment is a...