Creative on Purpose Live - Susanne Mueller

And it looks like we are indeed live. Welcome to Creative on Purpose Live! These conversations are about flying higher and the difference only you can make. I'm your host, Scott Perry, author of Onward! and a Compass helping advancing difference-makers live their legacy at Akimbo Workshops and at Creative on Purpose. You can visit creativeonpurpose.com to learn more. This season, we're drawing insight and inspiration from guests successfully Embracing Uncertainty, Navigating Adversity, and Making Things Better Doing Work That Matters. Let's meet today's guest, Suzanne Mueller. Welcome to the broadcast. Please tell our viewers who you are, what you're up to these days, and where can they go to connect to learn more about you and the difference you make?

Sure. Well, welcome everybody. My name is Suzanne Mueller. I'm originally from Switzerland. I live in the New York area and I'm very excited to be here. I just published my latest book, Lipstick Leadership: Empowering and Inspiring Women Who Dare to Lead. We all need to uplift each other, and now is the time to put the lipstick on to show that what you have— and you, Scott Perry, you always say it very nicely— whatever you only have. So we need to unleash that potential of others, and I'm here to open up the doors for others. Very excited to be here.

It's a pleasure to have you. And just so that you all can find Suzanne and her book, there she is, SuzanneMueller.biz. And so Suzanne, I'm just curious a little bit about your origin story. You said that you were born in Switzerland. You live in New York now. How did, how did you come to the United States and how did you come to do the work that you're doing and making the difference that you're making?

Yeah. So I was actually working for the airline. I, as a child, I was like always curious about foreign cultures and reading a lot. And when I had the opportunity to work on Fifth Avenue for Swiss Airlines, I felt like this is when the world was opening up for me. I was then also working at the United Nations and actually catching up on diversity, like meeting a lot of people from different cultures, different, I don't know, different areas of life. I was just like in my element. And then fast forward, I fulfilled my dream of going back to school. I was working full-time and going back to school. So a lot of, how can I say, determination, never giving up. And I also started running in New York City. I basically gave up my passion for skiing I started running. So you cannot really ski in New York City. So I started running, but that has been very helpful in actually being more self-confident, be maybe competitive, learn from New York. And in New York, we know it's very competitive. I learned the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I probably took the best out of it. So then I went to school. I was working in human resources. And I found my passion in coaching. I was also a running coach for the New York Road Runners. So I met a lot of interesting people. And when you are a runner like you, Scott Perry, you meet people from all different walks of life and you put the running shoes on, you're the same, right? When you are in a business, you have these hierarchies, but in the running, it's just like, somebody's a little faster than you are. Somebody's you know, at your level. But then actually 10 years ago, now 11 years ago, my position at Nestlé was eliminated. And then I started my own company. So welcome to the real world, being an entrepreneur, being a solo entrepreneur. And I actually started to travel also and donating my time. So I was in India, I was Indonesia, and I was providing leadership trainings for young female students. And concurrently with that, I started to write a blog. I think in 2010, '11 was the time when everybody had a blog. I used it as my travel blog, and then it morphed more into leadership and now women leadership. And that's how I started to write. So I have more than 500 blogs, and I put them in that book. As we learned in the old MBA, we don't want to have sunk costs, so something that we don't use. And I felt last year around that time, now is the time to pick the best blogs that I had that I think were the best and put it in a book so others can read, reread it, and be inspired and also make the change that they only can make.

Really, really fantastic. What a fascinating story. I did not know about half of that. And I think it's also worth mentioning, um, you, you mentioned your, your running experience. You, um, I imagine that you must also compete in some Ironwoman competitions because I have appeared on your broadcast, which is called Take It from the Ironwoman. Um, and I love the reference to leadership, and specifically you're seeking to empower women and stepping into their power and maintaining their agency over their journey as leaders. And so I'm just curious, what— how do you define leadership? And is there a difference in the way that women approach leadership as opposed to people that look like me?

Very good question. Well, leadership, I think, for me at least, is like stepping up, being a little different than others, and Sometimes we know it's not always so easy being different. So I learned from one of the best CMOs, Olivier from the Hublot Swiss watch. He says you need to be first, different, unique, and phenomenal. And if you always think about that, you're first. And as a woman, most of the time we are first. I'm the firstborn. I was the first to go to the US. I was alone there. But I make it happen. And we have the saying, if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. So I thank you for that song to give me this inspiration. But I think leadership is, it's just stepping up and stepping up in the unknown, taking a risk. And sometimes people say, oh, you're lucky. You have a global job. You can be anywhere in the world. Well, I hate to say, but it's a lot of work. It's not always so glamorous when you have to get up at 4:30 in the morning or you work till 10 o'clock at night. This is what people don't see, right? They see the Instagram post or Facebook when you're in Paris or in London, but when the luggage does not arrive on a Sunday, when you have a presentation on Monday, these are not very glamorous times. So you have to I always say you need to be comfortable being a little uncomfortable. And with my example of not having a suitcase, I actually went to buy a new outfit and I was like, I don't really care. I can also present in my flip-flops. And then the suitcase arrived. So I think you just have to make the best out of the situation. You need to be creative and resourceful. Maybe also focus sometimes on the best-case scenario and the worst-case scenario. And then don't take yourself so serious if not everything is happening according to your plan. That's what I learned in running, right? So in the running, sometimes it rains, it might not be so cool, but when you have a race, I've done 26 marathon races, you just show up. You have done the training. You want to see and know how well you trained and to give the best that you can.

Yeah, I love that. Well, you touched on a lot of things that I think are really worth highlighting around leadership. I think very, very frequently we conflate and confuse leadership with authority. Like, I have, I have a title, I have the power, I can, I, I, I am respected because of whatever position I hold. And that's actually not really the most desirable form of leadership because it's leadership by coercion and sometimes manipulation. Whereas what I heard you say is that it's a willingness to go first and to say, I'm heading over there. Do you want to come with me? Embracing uncertainty, navigating adversity with a sense of gratitude and generosity and creativity, and also a little playfulness and sense of humor. I love all of, all of those, all of those things. And I mean, really, if more of us— I think one of the things that I have been noticing more and more is, you know, Seth Godin, in his book Lynchpin, basically essentially shares the idea that everybody can be a leader. It doesn't matter where you are at an organization, doesn't matter where you are in the hierarchy of successful bloggers or coaches or what have you. You have the ability to pick yourself and to be the agent of your own destiny and employ your authority. And I think personal authority is about— the root word is author. You, you get to decide what's going to go in your story and what you're going to leave out of your story. Um, but the generosity piece to me is the piece that's really interesting. And also what you were saying around vulnerability. Because oftentimes, we don't see that as a desirable or necessary leadership trait. And I think what I'm guessing is that you feel differently. I'd love to have you unpack that a little bit.

Yeah, I mean, again, a lot of people think what you and I do is very glamorous. But it's also, I think we prepare a lot. We provide a lot of knowledge. We share a lot. We share a lot of our stuff for free. That's the generosity piece. And it's not that we're offering, we're offering to receive something. I feel like it's, to me, it's more inspiring. And for example, I'm a mentor with the EdSnap Foundation and they focus on STEM education for young female students in the US. And now because of the pandemic, They extended their program not only in Bronx in New York, but also in Africa. And I think they're working with another program in South America, but thanks to Zoom, we were able to have students from Colorado, from other states in the US so we can all work together. And actually I got an award of the women, women of support. Uh, so I was really excited to get that and Why did I get it? I made a presentation for them. We had a lot of fun. So I showed my vulnerability probably. And my, I don't know, it's authentic. You have to be honest, authentic. And a lot of people think like, yeah, I can do whatever you do. Okay. Try it. Right. It's a lot of work and a lot of self-reflection. But what I learned is that running has given me the discipline and the discipline to show up even if I don't want to. And certainly the Ironman, when I'm on the bike for many hours alone, you have a lot of time to think. And people on the sidelines said to me, you have to dig deeper. I'm like, I cannot dig deeper anymore. It's very hard. But I feel like if I have a goal, then I know I can And when I don't have a goal, I always say I'm the laziest person. I find all the excuses. Ah, today it's raining. Today it's cold. No, leadership is when you show up all the time and you create the followership and you create the spark in other people's eyes. And when you see that people give you a thumbs up, you're like, ah, that's really cool. So that's my reward. And I think that's how I like to reflect and invite others to be part of my journey where I give and I love to give so I can see others being uplifted. I know Seth Godin says we need to uplift others who would not have the chance. So I like to uplift. I would have loved to have a mentor when I was young. I didn't have it. So now I'm happy to give back and lift up others. And help each other out. I think that's, that's the way to go, especially in the pandemic. We saw how difficult it is for everybody. And I do a Facebook Live every Wednesday and I'm like, look, you might think she's just blubbering a little bit, but I think that's enough. One person, you make a huge change in their lives.

Yeah, well, that— I love that sentiment for sure. Leadership is, is not measured by how many people you're leading. It's measured by the difference that you're making. And making a difference with 2 or 3 of the right people can be far more profound and impactful than making an insignificant difference with 300 people. And one of the things about that vulnerability piece for me is As leaders, we are trying to develop the potential of others while developing— and doing that while we're developing our own potential. And that means that we're all in this journey of seeking the edges of our understanding and ability and going to those edges and pushing even through them, because that's where we're going to, to learn and develop ourselves and, and earn the, the skill that leads to confidence, that leads to greater skill. And sets in— you used the word inspiring at one point earlier on, and I think leadership at its best inspires others to, to lead themselves. And so oftentimes, it's leading from the inside out. First, I have to take the step so that I can, in doing that, inspire and invite others to take the step with me. You also mentioned discipline, which I think is so important. Uh, my 3 words for this year are focus, boldness, and discipline, because I think if I could put those 3 things into everything I do— and you mentioned having a goal, an end in mind, a name, or an aspiration. Um, if I can set my intention and then pursue it with focus, boldness, and discipline, I have a very good chance of influencing the result that I want to make. And even if I don't get the exact thing I want, I'll probably end up somewhere really good. And one of the things that I've been thinking about deeply is the routines and relationships that are necessary to help me remain focused, bold, and disciplined in pursuit of worthwhile goals. I'm wondering if you have any thoughts around, or any examples of the routines and relationships that you leverage to help keep you on track and moving into stepping into the possibility that you imagined for yourself and others?

Yeah, I mean, like you said the word, it's discipline, right? And a lot of people think like, ah, this doesn't work for me. But if you look at the top players, Roger Federer among one, Naomi Osaka, I give her a lot of credit for what she has done in the French Open, stepping up, saying no. You look at those people and it's their job. They get up early in the morning, they train, they train, they train. And I have the luxury of saying, you know, I'm not a professional sports person, but if I have, let's say, the marathon training ahead of me, I follow a training schedule. I try to go as close as possible when I train for the Ironman. I put everything into my phone and I knew today is like an hour and a half swim followed by an hour running. And in the evening I would go biking. I would not deviate. And also it's about sacrifices. And I know a lot of people don't like to hear that, but when I was trying for— when I was training for the Ironman, I did not socialize anymore. I was in bed by 10 o'clock. I got up at 5:30. I was very disciplined, and with that discipline, you can get to your goal. It might sound a little boring, but if you look at Roger Federer's schedule, I think he has a boring life in a way. When we see him drinking coffee or whatever his commercials are, it sounds glamorous, but at the end of the day, it's about the discipline. And for me, the discipline is getting up at the same time, Having a good breakfast, a healthy breakfast, and then start the day and start the day with positive thinking and getting through the day. And don't complain so much because if we complain a lot, we get better at complaining. And we all know when we are running, not every day is so easy and, you know, aches and pains can happen. But when I come back from running, I forget about everything that is hurting. I'm like, I feel just, I can conquer the world. And nobody can take that away from me. I think that's also one element of the discipline. Like, I am proud of what I have accomplished. And one more thing is I'm also proud of the work that I can do. When I see sometimes people— I had a handyman in the apartment and I was like, aren't you proud of the work you can do? He did like lousy jobs and everything would break again. I felt like I am— I want to be proud of what I'm doing and provide super service to my clients, be present, and do the best that I can every day.

Yeah, well, one of the things that I'm hearing in those reflections is how important it is to trust the process. So you have a routine because you, you want to complete a competition or complete a race or what have you. You have to develop a strategy or a routine, and you have to trust you put your trust in that process, um, that it will help you propel you through the race. And I've been thinking very deeply about this because it is a favorite thing to say, uh, amongst the people that follow Seth Godin's work— trust the process, trust the process. I think the, the other piece of that is that we also need to trust ourselves, and that's part of leadership too, is trusting yourself enough to enlist and ask for the trust of others. And it's impossible to fully trust a process unless you trust yourself. And it's impossible to fully trust yourself until you first started to trust a process. Like, part of the trust— initiating trust and cultivating trust— is the leap of faith that this is going to work, that this is worth doing. And the other thing that I'm hearing in what you're saying is that the real joy and the reward comes from all that preparation, comes through the effort and just the daily discipline of doing the work. It's not whether or not you win the race, because that can largely be beyond your control. There may be somebody bigger, stronger, faster, uh, there may be complications, there may be a mis-turn. I mean, you don't know all the things that— I mean, there are so many things that are outside of your control, all you can really do, and your examples point to this, is do the best that you can do and do it with intention and integrity. You know, and that I, I do not recall the, the woman in the news, um, around leaving the French Open, but that's, you know, what a bold move based on integrity and not, and, and the, the, the courage to do not what's popular or expected, but to do what is right. And do what is right in alignment with value, you know, internal values and, you know, the pursuit of worthwhile virtues, the fairness and equity and all those other things. So I just, I really appreciate all those reflections. As we're, Um, coming towards the end of our time together, one of the things that I would love if you would be willing to share is you are out there, um, taking a lot of risks, making a big difference, doing a lot of things that might not work. And thankfully many of them do work, but people like us who do things like this, we make mistakes and we fail. Uh, and you know, how we respond in those moments can usually make a really big difference in, you know, our future achievement. So I'm just wondering if there is a moment where you experienced failure, or, you know, what appeared to be a mistake at the time, that you were able to leverage into an opportunity that actually helped you grow, develop, or flip the obstacle into an opportunity that propelled you forward?

Yeah, I mean, losing a job is never easy, right? And I empathize with a lot of people who have lost the jobs or for loan or whatever you have, and the pandemic certainly has not helped. I felt like when I lost my job, I said, this is the American dream. So I came to this country with a dream. I got my green card. And then all of a sudden I had no job anymore. I was alone in New York City and I'm like, I needed to pay my rent. And I was like, what do I do now? What I've learned is you just have to be open to possibilities and open to all the opportunities. And I have to say, actually losing my job was probably the best thing that was happening to me, even though it was hard. Financially, but I met so many great people and I did a lot of cool work, right? I organized a 1-week leadership seminar in New York. I started to teach, I started to write, and then the podcast came. And after a while, and I went to an outplacement company and they say, no, you should look for a job and don't start your own. And I was like, I would like to try to start my own company. And They totally discouraged me. And I was like, I'll show them. I'll show them. And 10 years later, I'm still here with all the ups and downs. And I'm happy to share all my stories, the good, the bad, and the ugly of being an entrepreneur. It's hard work, but it's worth it. And it was totally worth it for me. So I think I leveraged that dark moment in a way to get to a positive moment. And, but It's really hard work. That's the only thing I can say, but it's worth it. It's hard work. Do it if you want to do it. Reach out to me. I'm happy to have another coffee with the lipstick on with you, but it's hard work. Yeah.

Well, and I think anything worthwhile does— comes inevitably with challenges. Worthwhile work is always fraught because there's so much uncertainty and nothing is guaranteed. Um, and you know, when, when you place your faith in the process and, um, take your joy from putting forth worthwhile effort, you can, you can navigate the, the hard parts with a little bit more sense of thriving, uh, and, and a little bit less stress. So we have covered a lot and you have shared a lot of gems already, but I always— my, the last question is, is always If there was a, um, a tip or a piece of advice that you could share and leave listeners with, listeners who like you want to fly higher in an endeavor that makes a difference, what would be your parting, uh, word of advice or parting tip for people that like you would like to fly higher in an endeavor that matters?

I think I listened to the Martha Beck discussion you had, and she says, like, change one— what is it called?

One degree.

One degree. Yeah, thank you. Change one degree. And I think we can also say change one thing. Take that airplane, fly higher. And if you have a good idea that you think it's worthwhile doing, go for it and do it. And I also think, like, when I listen to this, like, flying higher is like, I want to be in that elegant plane and flying higher, do the best that I can. But again, it's hard work. But when you're in that plane and you fly higher above the sky and it's sunshine, you can be very proud of it. So everybody should take that next step and take the airplane and happy to meet you there.

Yeah, I love that. Small steps into possibility every day. Well, thanks everyone for tuning in. Suzanne and I really appreciate you lending us some of your valuable time and attention. And we hope that today's broadcast motivates you to lean into an endeavor that matters with a little more curiosity and courage. You can learn more about Suzanne Mueller at SuzanneMuller.biz. And of course, it is always great to see you at CreativeOnPurpose.com. Now, take the insight and inspiration from this conversation and fly a little bit higher in the difference only you can make. Suzanne Mueller, thank you so much for your time and for all the wisdom that you shared with us today.

Thank you.