My So-Called Midlife with Reshma Saujani
Episode: Revisit: Finding Your Purpose with Suzy Welch
Date: December 24, 2025
Podcast Host: Reshma Saujani
Guest: Suzy Welch

Episode Overview

In this heartfelt and insightful episode, host Reshma Saujani sits down with author, business professor, and management expert Suzy Welch to explore the elusive quest for purpose in midlife. Suzy shares her signature "Becoming You" methodology, offering tools and hard-won wisdom for anyone stuck at a crossroads or struggling to realign their life with their true values. The episode is rich with personal stories—career pivots, love and loss, resilience, and starting over—making it a powerful listen for anyone reckoning with “Is this it?” in their own lives.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Suzy Welch’s Wild Life Journey

• Early Career & Serendipity (04:32–10:00)

  • Suzy details her accidental, winding career path, from Harvard to crime reporting in riotous Miami, to falling into business journalism and eventually management consulting.
  • Quote: “The irony of me teaching career planning is just unreal. ... I said to myself one day, going home on the subway, maybe I'll have a baby or maybe I'll learn about business.” (07:13)
  • She recounts failing upward, learning new things on the fly, and embracing uncertainty.

• Love Story & Loss (10:09–14:58)

  • The true-love-at-first-sight story with Jack Welch, their decades-long partnership, and his death during COVID.
  • Suzy on grief: “I can't face the world without him. All ... he had said to me, ‘Susie, go get your life when I'm gone.’” (11:26)
  • The importance of being present during a loved one's final days.

Midlife and the Search for Purpose

• Re-examining Values in Midlife (03:54–04:06, 19:21–21:20)

  • Suzy and Reshma explore how midlife, far from being an ending, is the perfect time to reassess your values and corresponding life choices.
  • Quote: “Midlife is a great time to take stock of your values … because you’re gonna bring wisdom to that answer.” – Reshma (00:40)

• Introduction to the 'Becoming You' Methodology (19:23–21:20)

  • Purpose = intersection of your deeply held values, your aptitudes (what you’re uniquely good at), and your economically viable interests.
  • Suzy: “Your purpose lies at the intersection of your deeply held values, your aptitudes as you're uniquely good at, and your economically viable interests.” (20:00)
  • Many don’t know their real values or aptitudes—Suzy’s process helps excavate these.

Defining and Reconciling Values

• Why Do We Struggle to Name Our Values? (21:20–22:38)

  • Values aren’t taught in school, are often politicized, and people confuse virtues with values.
  • Suzy: “You can be taught what the volume of a cylinder is, but you're not going to be taught in high school or college what values are.” (21:38)

• Examples of Core Values & Common Conflicts (22:38–28:35)

  • Suzy introduces “scope” (how big/small you want your life), family centrism, achievement, affluence, and more.
  • Quote: “Scope is a reflection of how big or small you want your life to be. Some people want a big, exciting life ... others want steadiness.” (24:12)
  • Discussion about Gen Z’s high prioritization of pleasure (“eudaimonia”), and how value priorities shift with age.

• How to Choose Between Conflicting Values (28:13–29:43)

  • Suzy’s two options: 1) Prioritize some values, accept the trade-offs. 2) Diversify your ‘values portfolio’ but stop re-litigating your choices daily.
  • “You force the values, bridge results into your own shape ... I'm gonna put family centrism first for these 10 years.” (28:41)

• Do Our Values Really Change in Midlife? (29:43–30:18)

  • Values are stable; it’s about finally expressing them fully in midlife, not changing them.
  • “The reordering ... is about how much permission you're giving yourself to live [your values].” (30:18)

Tools and Tests: The Values Bridge

• Quantifying Your Values (30:55–32:02)
  • The Values Bridge test provides:
    • Rank-ordering of your values
    • Scores for conflicting values and how much variance there is between lived and felt values

Grief, Renewal, and Spirituality

• Coping with Grief and Widowhood (32:34–37:22)

  • The story of "Susie the Swan" as metaphor for working through widowhood and choosing life after loss.
  • Suzy: “I choose to live. He would have wanted me to live.” (37:22)

• The Role of Faith (37:28–39:31)

  • Both Suzy and Reshma reflect on the importance of spirituality in healing and purpose.
  • Faith as a core value—either top or bottom of people's lists, but often comes forward in midlife.
  • “My faith is my number one value. ... I typically see it skew as your top value or your last value.” (38:20)

Finding Growth Through Discomfort—Scarephoria

• Coining 'Scarephoria' (39:31–41:30)
  • Suzy’s term for moments that are both scary and euphoric, essential for growth.
  • “Scarephoria is that moment where you're scared, but you're euphoric. And to me, that's where growth occurs. … Growth does not occur in your comfort zone.” (39:37)
  • Advice: Start with small discomforts; failure is survivable and humanizing.
  • “Celebrate failure.” (Reshma points to her sweatshirt) (41:30)

Memorable Quotes

• “Your purpose lies at the intersection of your deeply held values, your aptitudes as you're uniquely good at, and your economically viable interests.” — Suzy Welch (20:00)
• “The reordering that is going on is not how much the value matters to you or not. It's about how much permission you're giving yourself to live it.” — Suzy Welch (30:18)
• “Growth does not occur in your comfort zone. If only! Wouldn't it be marvelous if we all grew when we were comfy in our warm bath?” — Suzy Welch (39:37)
• “I choose to live. He would have wanted me to live.” — Suzy Welch (37:22)
• “I think midlife is maybe the best time to start assessing [your values] because it's—you bring to it the wisdom of your years.” — Suzy Welch (42:28)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Suzy’s life and early career journey: 04:32–10:00
• Love and partnership with Jack Welch; navigating loss: 10:09–14:58
• The “Becoming You” methodology explained: 19:23–21:20
• Defining values & why it’s hard: 21:20–22:38
• Examples & conflicts of values: 22:38–29:43
• Permission to fully express values in midlife: 29:43–30:18
• Quantifying values with the Values Bridge: 30:55–32:02
• The story of Susie the Swan (widowhood and moving forward): 32:34–37:22
• Spirituality and faith’s role: 37:28–39:31
• ‘Scarephoria’ and embracing discomfort: 39:31–41:30
• Advice for midlifers on getting unstuck: 41:17–42:11

Tone and Style

The conversation is wise, vulnerable, slightly irreverent, and full of practical encouragement. Suzy is open about her failures, struggles, and her sometimes accidental approach to life—a major theme being that purpose emerges not always from planning, but from embracing life’s serendipities, reflecting deeply on your core values, and not being afraid of starting over.

Final Takeaway

This episode offers a roadmap for anyone in midlife (or beyond) yearning to rediscover their sense of meaning. Suzy’s advice: dig deep for your true values, give yourself permission to prioritize them, embrace “scarephoria,” and don’t be afraid to begin again—your next chapter could be your most authentic yet.

Notable Resource Mentioned:

• Suzy Welch’s book: Becoming: The Proven Method for Crafting Your Authentic Life and Career

For more insightful episodes on midlife reinvention, follow My So-Called Midlife with Reshma Saujani on your favorite podcast platform.