Becoming You

Becoming You

Suzy Welch has lived a life that refuses to follow a straight line. From a feral, tie-dye childhood with artist parents to the Harvard Crimson, from a bulletproof vest on the Miami crime desk to the editor's chair at Harvard Business Review, from a very public scandal to the greatest love of her life, Suzy has built something rare — a career that keeps becoming something new without ever losing the thread of who she is. In this episode, Sarah and Sherri sit down with the NYU Stern professor, three-time New York Times bestselling author, and creator of the Becoming You methodology to talk about courage, reinvention, grief, and what it actually takes to stop living someone else's life and start building your own.    Guest Introduction: Suzy Welch is an award-winning NYU Stern School of Business professor, acclaimed researcher, and three-time New York Times best-selling author, most recently with “Becoming You: A Proven Method for Crafting Your Authentic Life and Career,” which is also a #1 bestseller on Amazon.A graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Business School, Dr. Welch is a frequent guest of the Today Show and an op-ed contributor to the Wall Street Journal. She serves on the boards of public and private companies and is the Director of the NYU | Stern Initiative on Purpose and Flourishing. Key Takeaways:  * Reinvention is not a crisis. It is a skill Suzy has practiced across every chapter of her life, and it has always led somewhere worth going. * The absence of a plan is not the same as the absence of potential. Suzy had no roadmap, no career conversations growing up, and still found her way to some of the most influential rooms in the world. * Courage rarely looks like courage in the moment. Most of the bold moves Suzy made felt like the only option available, not a calculated leap. * Knowing what you are not is just as clarifying as knowing what you are. Walking away from journalism because she couldn't ask a grieving mother how she felt was not weakness — it was self-knowledge. * The work you do inside a great partnership compounds in ways you cannot predict. Suzy and Jack taught each other things no classroom or boardroom ever could, and that exchange shaped everything that came after. * Grief has no efficient path through it. Suzy did not navigate loss gracefully at first, and saying that out loud matters more than any polished version of the story would. * Your values are not a soft concept. They are the operating system beneath every decision, and when your life is out of alignment with them, you feel it before you can name it. * The methodology that helps others find their way often comes from the season where you had to find your own. Becoming You was born directly out of Suzy's hardest chapter. Chapter Markers: 00:00 Introduction & Welcome 01:48 Suzy's Feral Childhood & Creative Upbringing 04:17 Discovering a Different World at Exeter 06:44 Harvard, Lacrosse, and a Career Nobody Planned 07:51 Landing on the Miami Crime Desk 10:22 Why She Walked Away from Journalism 14:00 The Harvard Business Review Years 20:18 The Scandal, the Story, and Meeting Jack Welch 24:48 Building a Life and a Business Together 27:52 Navigating Grief After Jack's Passing 30:43 The Becoming You Methodology is Born 31:54 Teaching at NYU Stern and the Waitlist That Said Everything 36:00 Values, Authenticity, and Living on Purpose 41:34 The Values Bridge Assessment & Resources 42:35 Lightning Round & Closing Reflections Keywords: leadership development, women in leadership, career reinvention, life purpose, authentic leadership, personal growth, executive coaching, women executives, Harvard Business School, NYU Stern, Suzy Welch, Becoming You, values alignment, career transitions, female founders, women entrepreneurs, life after loss, grief and resilience

Angie Hicks MBA’00: Path from Startup to Industry Leader

In this engaging conversation, Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie's List, shares her journey from a young entrepreneur to a successful leader in the home improvement industry. She discusses her experiences at Harvard Business School, the challenges she faced, and the growth of Angie's List. Angie emphasizes the importance of customer care and her leadership philosophy, which focuses on accessibility and understanding the needs of both customers and service providers. The conversation also touches on her personal insights, including her upbringing and the values instilled by her family.

Leslie Zane: A Pioneer in Behavioral Science

In this episode of Leadership Chronicles [www.hbswa.org/podcast], Leslie Zane [https://lesliezane.com/] (MBA'86) shares her journey as a pioneer in marketing and behavioral science. From her early career at Bain & Company to founding her own consulting firm, Triggers [https://triggers.com/about/]®. Leslie shares with us that traditional marketing is dead—breakout growth requires a new playbook. For decades, marketing has wasted billions assuming the conscious mind makes decisions. It doesn’t. People choose brands, leaders, even ideas—because of unconscious associations built deep in memory. Leslie helps brands and people bypass the conscious mind and unlock the instinctive brain—the hidden engine of choice, brand preference, and growth. When you do, brands grow faster and farther—often with less spend, less time, and less risk. She reflects on the influence of her parents, her experiences at Harvard Business School, and the challenges she faced in advocating for innovative ideas in a traditional industry. Leslie also offers valuable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and emphasizes the significance of courage and expertise in forging one's own path. Hosted by ⁠Sherri Sklar⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherrisklar/], MBA’89 and ⁠Sarah Alter⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahalter/], MBA’95.Highlights * The unconscious mind drives most of our decisions, not the conscious mind. * Family influence plays a crucial role in shaping leadership qualities. * Breaking barriers in marketing requires courage and perseverance. * Accumulating expertise is vital before starting your own business. * Leadership is about asking the right questions and being vulnerable. * Courage earns trust much faster than flattery. ABOUT LESLIE ZANE, MBA'86 Leslie Zane is an award-winning marketer, TEDx speaker and the foremost authority in harnessing the instinctive mind to accelerate brand and business growth. Like many pioneers, Zane’s ideas were dismissed early on. In 1995, she founded Triggers®, the first brand consulting firm rooted in behavioral science and, together with her team, cracked the code on accelerating brand growth. Over the past 25 years, her company has delivered over $25bb in incremental revenue growth for Fortune 100 clients. An alumna of Yale, Harvard Business School, Bain & Company and P&G. Leslie is a recipient of the Congressional Women of Distinction and the Ogilvy Award. Her work has been featured in over 25 prestigious publications including Harvard Business Review, Knowledge@Wharton, and World Economic Forum, Newsweek, and more. Her book, The Power of Instinct: The New Rules of Persuasion In Business And Life has been hailed as "the biggest gamechanger since Malcolm Gladwell's Blink." Leslie serves on the board of El Centro Hispano which empowers Hispanic immigrants with skills to thrive in the United States.

A Legacy of Service and Leadership with Secretary Elaine Chao, MBA

In this episode of The Leadership Chronicles [www.hbswa.org/podcast], SecretaryElaine Chao shares her inspiring journey from immigrant roots to becoming the first Asian Pacific American woman to serve in the U.S. President's cabinet.   This inspiring conversation is filled with wisdom, resilience, and forward-looking advice for today’s leaders as we explore: * Secretary Chao’s career in public service * The influence of family * Views on leadership - “Leadership is aboutserving others” * Importance of diversity * and the future of AI   Curiosity leads to opportunities. “Never give up. Thereare so many exciting things happening in this world – just never give up”.   Please visit her website [www.elainechao.com] and her family’s story at Harvard Business School [https://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/chaofamily/⁠].   Hosted by: Sherri Sklar [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherrisklar/], MBA’89 and Sarah Alter [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahalter/], MBA’95ABOUT Secretary Chao [http://www.elainechao.com/] is the first Asian-Pacific American woman to serve in the President's cabinet in American history.  She has been confirmed to two cabinet positions by the United States Senate on a strong bipartisan basis:  U. S. Secretary of Labor and U. S. Secretary of Transportation. She is also the longest serving Cabinet Secretary since World War II.      At the U. S. Department of Transportation, Secretary Chaofocused on keeping America’s transportation system safe and efficient; invested over $300 billion in infrastructure over three and a half years; and, engaged with new technologies including autonomous vehicles, drones, and commercial space launches to build the transportation system of the future.  During the COVID-19 health crisis, Secretary Chao’s decisive actions kept America’s transportation networks safe and moving.   As U.S. Secretary of Labor, Secretary Chao focused onincreasing the competitiveness of the American workforce in a global economy.  She set new records for workplace safety and health and ensured the retirement security of 44 millionretirees by spearheading the passage of the most significant pension legislation in 30 years, the Pension Protection Act of 2006.   Prior to becoming U. S. Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao wasPresident and CEO of United Way, where she restored public trust by reforming the governance structure and instilling a new culture of accountability and transparency after the organization had been tarnished by previous financialmismanagement and abuse.    Elaine Chao also served as head of the Peace Corps, whereshe launched programs in the newly liberated Baltic nations and former Soviet Union, including Ukraine.  She began herpublic service working on transportation and trade issues at the White House.  She was promoted in rapid succession to Deputy Maritime Administrator, U. S. Department of Transportation; Chairman, Federal Maritime Commission; and Deputy Secretary,U.S. Department of Transportation.  In the private sector, Elaine worked as Vice President of Syndications at Bank of America and Citicorp.      Elaine has been a director on numerous public boards whileout of government including News Corp, HCA Healthcare, Ingersoll Rand, Wells Fargo, Protective Life, Dole Food Company and NASD.  She currently serves on the boards of Krogerand technology companies in the mobility space. She has also been a director and trustee on many nonprofit boards including Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors, Harvard Business School Global Advisory Board, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, United Way Worldwide, Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, Los Angeles 2028 Organizing Committee of Olympic and Paralympic Games (LA28), and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center Advisory Board.   Born in Taiwan, she immigrated to America at the age of 8not speaking English and received her citizenship at age 19.  Elaine earned her undergraduate degree in economics from Mount Holyoke College, and her MBA from Harvard BusinessSchool.   She is the recipient of 38 honorary degrees.

Empowering Women in Business: Insights from Deborah Farrington, MBA'76

In this episode of The Leadership Chronicles, Deborah Farrington [https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-farrington/] shares her inspiring journey from a close-knit family background to becoming a leading venture capitalist. She discusses her experiences at Harvard Business School, the influence of her parents, and the importance of building relationships in her career.  Deborah reflects on overcoming setbacks, particularly her experience of being fired, and emphasizes the need for resilience and self-confidence. She also addresses the challenges women face in venture capital and shares her vision for mentoring future leaders. ABOUT OUR GUEST Debby is co-founder and managing partner of New York City based StarVest Partners, founded in 1998 to invest in technology-enabled business services and one of the largest women majority-owned venture capital firms. It was an early investor in Software-as-a-Service. Notable investments include NetSuite, the first SaaS ERP company (sold to ORCL for $9.2 billion in 2016); the first internet insurance company; the first digital ad agency; and the first digital contingent workforce company. Debby is a director of Dayforce, Inc. (NYSE: DAY), Cumulus Media, and Planful Inc. She graduated from HBS in 1976, where she served on the Visiting Committee, as Vice-President of the Alumni Association and chair of the HBS Club of New York. She is a graduate of Smith College and served on its Board of Trustees.  She has been named to the Forbes Midas List of Top 100 Venture Capitalists; received the Foreign Policy Association Medal for Achievement in Financial Services; and, in 2025, received the Smith College Medal and HBS Alumni Achievement Award.