What happens when you’re suddenly asked to lead the very people who used to be your peers?

For Carolynn Smith, that moment came with her first big promotion. It taught her lessons about courage, discomfort, and how leadership often begins by stepping into the unknown.

Today, Carolynn is Head of U.S. Service and Enterprise Process Excellence at Prudential Financial. She oversees large-scale transformation efforts and shapes how customer care is delivered at one of the country’s leading financial services companies.

In this conversation, guest host Karen Lellouche Tordjman sits down with Carolynn to talk about seeking discomfort, the role of AI in reimagining customer experience, and what it really takes to grow into leadership. Along the way, Carolynn reflects on raising a family while rising through the ranks, and why leaning into discomfort has been her best teacher.

1:59 Core Values and a Promotion

3:13 Business vs. Personal Relationships

4:50 Surround Yourself With People Smarter Than You

8:18 Seeking Discomfort

10:15 “Work-Life Blend”

14:03 AI and Customer Experience

17:45 Managing Customer Expectations

Links:

Carolynn Smith on LinkedIn

Suchi Srinivasan on LinkedIn

Kamila Rakhimova on LinkedIn

Karen Lellouche Tordjman on LinkedIn

About In Her Ellement:

In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn’t just arrived—you were truly in your element?

About The Hosts:

Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.

Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.

Karen Lellouche Tordjman is a Managing Director & Senior Partner at BCG. She has spent over 2 decades in the firm supporting clients across Europe, the US and Latin America. She leads the Customer Experience topic globally for BCG, and is an expert in omnchannel & AI transformation.

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The Power of Seeking Discomfort with Prudential’s Carolynn Smith