Becoming You - What we learned from Suzy Welch

Do you know your values? You might think you know your values, but are you living your values, right now? 

In this solo episode, Judy Oskam reflects on a recent experience she shared with her daughter, Danielle. Together, they attended the Becoming You intensive led by Dr. Suzy Welch at the NYU Stern School of Business. The New York workshop centered on values and purpose. It encouraged participants to explore what matters most and to design a life that aligns with those priorities.

Judy shares insights about tools such as the Values Bridge assessment, the Enneagram, and various aptitude tests. She also includes a short soundbite with Dr. Welch, about advice for new graduates.  Later, Dani offers her perspective on how what the process revealed to her.

In this Episode You’ll Learn

• Why self-discovery is a lifelong journey
• How the Values Bridge assessment measures the gap between your current and ideal life
• How Dr. Suzy Welch advises students to begin their careers
• What the “Four Horsemen” framework reveals about barriers to growth
• Dani's insights from the workshop

Quotes

“Self-discovery isn’t a one-time thing. It’s really an ongoing journey.” – Judy Oskam

“You have to know your values. You can’t be guessing.” – Dr. Suzy Welch

“The more you know about yourself, the better you are able to navigate through undiscovered things.” – Danielle Oskam

I hope this episode encourages you to keep learning, reflect on your values, and stay open to growth. Thanks for listening!  

Resources and Links

• Suzy Welch – NYU Stern Initiative on Purpose and Flourishing
• Try the Four Horsemen Quiz – a free tool 
• Learn more about the Becoming You program and methodology.

Hi Friend - Thanks for listening!

Check out my TEDx talk. Why you should take action - then figure it out.

Episode Transcript

Judy Oskam (00:02):
Hey, welcome back everyone.
I'm Judy Oskam and in this soloepisode of Stories of Change
and Creativity, I want to sharean experience that I had
recently that had a big impacton me and maybe you might find
it interesting.
As a professor at Texas State,learning is part of my daily
life.
I think that's maybe why Ibecame a professor, so I could

(00:24):
just keep learning forever.
I did that as my job as ajournalist, where I was learning
and interviewing people, andthen in public relations, but
maybe that's really why I kindof got into academia.
I really enjoy working withsmart students and faculty.
My main goal with students isto help them master the course

(00:44):
content and prepare them for acareer.
But that's just the beginning.
What matters maybe even more islearning about yourself.
What makes you tick, how youlearn, where your strengths and
talents show up.
That kind of self-knowledgereally becomes the foundation
for everything else and it helpsyou design your life.

(01:08):
It puts you in the driver'sseat.
Earlier this month, my daughterDanielle and I attended the
Becoming You three-day intensiveat NYU Stern with Dr Suzy Welch
.
She directs the Initiative onPurpose and Flourishing at the
NYU Stern School of Business.
She created the Becoming Youmethodology as part of her

(01:32):
doctoral research.
The program and the three-dayworkshop, if you will, was full
of lectures, exercises andassessments.
Dr Welch challenged us to thinkdeeply about who we are and
what we value and how we liveour lives around those values,

(01:52):
and one of the most fascinatingtools was the values bridge
assessment.
By answering questions, theassessment ranks your values,
but it also shows the varianceor how far your current life is
from your ideal life.
For me, that part of theassessment was eye-opening.

(02:13):
For me, my top value was what'scalled beholderism, and what
that means is that aestheticsare important to me.
They matter how places, spacesand objects and people look and
feel.
But my variance was high.
It showed I needed and I cravemore beauty, more order and more

(02:36):
design in my world, and I canrelate to that because at this
point in my life I can see thatI really do.
It would benefit from that.
My second value was what Susiecalls eudaimonia, and that's all
about fun, enjoyment andwell-being.
My variance was high there too,which makes sense.

(02:58):
I'm always looking for ways toadd joy to my life and make
things more fun.
But we didn't stop there.
We also explored the Enneagram,the PIE 360, and an aptitude
test and a megatrends assessment.
Each one gave us another layerof data and another layer of

(03:20):
insight about how we show up inthe world, and what struck me
the most especially sharing itwith Danny is that
self-discovery isn't a one-timething.
It's really an ongoing journey,and at this workshop there were
people from all ages and allcareers and all stages of their

(03:42):
life.
It was fascinating, and I wasexcited to grab a quick
soundbite with Suzy Welch aboutgraduating seniors and what
advice she has for students thatare just about to launch their
career.

Suzy Welch (03:57):
I think you have to know your values.
You have to.
You can't be guessing and youcan't be changing them for what
you're being told you should do.
You need to dig deep and do thetesting and know your aptitudes
and then figure out what workcalls you emotionally and
intellectually and do thesynthesis of that and start your
job journey there.

Judy Oskam (04:14):
And I love the four horsemen, is that a good place
to start for them too.

Suzy Welch (04:18):
It's very important to find out which horseman is
getting in the way of you livingyour values.
Is it expectations, is itexpedience, is it events, or is
it economic security?
Get to the bottom of thatbefore you go anywhere.
This has been great, great forme.

Judy Oskam (04:32):
I've enjoyed it a lot.
If you had to do this overknowing now what you know now,
where would you start?

Suzy Welch (04:36):
What would you do differently, and that's a big
question.
That is a big question.
I'm happy where I ended up.
I probably just would havestarted this work earlier and
just gone faster, but I got here.

Judy Oskam (04:50):
When the workshop ended, dani and I headed to
LaGuardia Airport, and while wewaited for our flight, I asked
her to share a couple ofreflections, and I wanted you to
hear her perspective as well.

Danielle Oskam (04:59):
Personally, I've done kind of extensive research
before on my aptitudes, careerand personal related, but it was
cool to have that reaffirmingdata as well as some new
information points that I hadn'treally dug as deep into before.
Like my values, I thought thatwas super super cool and the

(05:22):
Enneagram that was interesting,that was.
Enneagram was very interestingas well, that was right on
target for me.

Judy Oskam (05:26):
I don't know about you, but that was right on
target for me.
Mine was also right on targetas well, yeah yeah, it was
interesting.
Well, it was intensive, it wasthree days.
Oh, and now we go back and putit all together.
Figure out what to do with, andfor me it was like a true north.
It gave me some good directionand some affirmation, but a

(05:47):
little bit of superpower, right?
Well, that's good.
Well, I'm so glad that you camealong for the ride, and I
didn't know if you'd want to dothis when I pitched it to you,
but I'm glad that you came.

Danielle Oskam (05:59):
Thank you for having me.
I really wanted to do thisbecause I feel like the more you
know about yourself, the betterthat you are able to help
yourself and navigate throughsome maybe unsaid things or
undiscovered things.
I love that.
It's just a way for you to putwords to this information.

Judy Oskam (06:23):
It does kind of create a language around what
you value and how you spend yourtime and your money and your
life and your emotion and yourenergy.
It was so pretty extensive.
I thought it was very extensivebut it was cool.
That's great.
Well, honey, thank you, loveyou, babe, thank you, I love you
too, love you, love you.
Well, you can tell, we had agreat time together and we

(06:46):
learned a lot about each other,but mainly we learned about
ourselves, and that was thewhole point, right?
And I want to encourage youguys to keep learning and
growing and you're listening tothis podcast because you already
have a growth mindset.
I mean, that's sort of theprofile of my listeners is you
want to learn and grow, andhopefully we give you some

(07:07):
nuggets every month that helpyou do that.
But I will list some of theresources from Suzy's initiative
and I'll list the free quiz,which is the Four Horsemen quiz.
It's just really a quick, easyway to reflect on your patterns
and and your framework in life.

(07:27):
So just keep learning andgrowing, and it's not just about
your career but it's about howto design your life, a life that
feels true to you and thatyou'll be happy with, and that's
that's the goal, right?
I love it.
Well, if you've got a story toshare or know someone who does
reach out to me, judyoskam.
com.

(07:48):
And thanks for listening.