Becoming You with Suzy Welch

If Suzy Welch Was Your Mother, Would You Just Automatically Become You? Let’s Find Out, Shall We

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 get ready for an illuminating — and intimate — Becoming You conversation. 

The Always and Forever Question

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 twisty-turny journey to the answer, or maybe even better than OK. Speaking of questions, Suzy also takes a few from you, our beloved listening audience, about decision-making, passion, and boredom. Get a cuppa something, and press play. 

Four big hairy things get in the way of living authentically. What are they?

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 press of expectations, and the interruption of events might be exactly why your life is moving in the wrong direction. Also: What you can do to change that.

“I’m on My Way to Somewhere, I Swear”

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 they needed to know about themselves — their values. Also in the episode: Invaluable wisdom from the brilliant businessman, and Suzy’s good friend, Claudio Fernández-Aráoz who came to sit down with Suzy all the way from Argentina. Plus, a surprise life lesson that you didn’t know existed, but you don’t want to miss: the Golden Rule of Mountaineering. 

Hate Is Not a Feeling. It Is a Piece of Data.

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 and pontificates about what Belonging means to her, and how she learned that through her messy and often fraught relationship with her grandmother Francesca, a radical woman who had much to teach, both positive and negative. Also in this episode, Suzy apologizes for a rookie mistake she recently made, but corrected when her old friend Andy shamed her into doing so. Go Andy! Press play to hear the whole sordid story.
 
Listen to this episode next, for the full "Whose life do you want?" exercise: The One When Suzy Says Networking Doesn't Work

Every Successful Person Is A Complete Failure (First) with Karissa Bodnar

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 – $150 million dollars to cancer patients and causes. And yet, Karissa would tell you that she’s failed along the way so many times she even has a playlist of “failure songs.” We share some of those tunes, plus so much more, in this interview that happened when Karissa stopped by Suzy’s house to reminisce, compare notes, challenge each other, and, as usual, talk about the ageless question of how to know your values – and live by them. Also in the pod, we answer: Can your boss be your friend? And, importantly, can gray hair be cured?

Denying Your Values is Like Hiding a Secret. Bad For Your Health.

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 Couple,” and ruminations on the desire…never to work. Hit play!

Land Your Next Interview, Promise

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 supposed to.

“But You Don’t Understand, She’s Special.”

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 then, oops, drops an epic rock & roll story on us out of the blue. Also in the pod: A new hack to get your coworkers to disagree with you in the most productive way imaginable. Hit play!

Change is bad.

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 secret mentor crush who can lay someone low with a velvet glove. That’s talent.