Four Questions To Turn Your Firing Into the Best Day of Your Life

Picture this. I am on the treadmill. This is my sacred time. I mean, it's the one time in my life where no one can talk to me, no one can get near me. I get on that treadmill, I'm going to run three miles and I will die before someone gets me off that treadmill. And I am running. I'm halfway through it, and my phone starts ringing. Okay. And I ignore it because, mm, treadmill. And I'm running, and the phone keeps on ringing. On the third or fourth time, the phone is ringing, like, okay, well, I think somebody might have died, because usually they just leave a message. And finally, because the phone was ringing again and again, I stopped the damn treadmill. And I was not amused. And I got off. I went across the room, I got the phone, I said, hello. And on the other end, my best friend was sobbing. I've mentioned her before. This is my best friend, Sue. She's been on this show. Susie and I were together to celebrate the new Year. She was sobbing. I knew what had happened. I mean, she finally choked the words out. I've been fired. I feel like such a fraud. She was stunned, kicked in the stomach. And I felt a little bit shocked, but actually kind of like, yep, thought this was gonna happen. I talked to her about the fact it was going to happen. She'd been in a big, big job, and she was not bringing in the big, big money. And I saw it coming, and I warned her, but shock, there is nothing that prepares you. And I stopped and I said to her something, I will stand by for the rest of my life. And you know what? She would probably also. She didn't in the moment. I said to her, this is the best day of your life. Hello there. This is becoming you. Suzy Welch here. And this is the podcast where each week we help you answer the question, what should I do with my life? Life. That little tiny question, inconsequential in every way, what should I do with my life? And you know that question, that question, what should I do with my life? It stares at us all the time. It stares at people who are very successful. It stares at people who are struggling. But you know when it really stares at us? When it's looking at it with both eyes and gigantic flashing lights, it is when we have been fired. So this podcast is about the two sides of being fired. The fact that it can take away your confidence and your verve, but it can also teach you bravery and focus. It can do all sorts of things. Maybe you know that. But really, where I want to go with this podcast. And what I promise you're going to have by the end is four questions you have to ask yourself if you've been fired. And you know what? I think you should ask these questions of yourself even if you're not fired. I think they're just really, really good questions about whether or not you're in the right kind of work and what you should do with your life in general. But these questions are for you specifically. Specifically if you've just been fired or you think you're about to be fired, or if you love somebody who is in that position. Okay, these are the four questions to refocus you, because that's what we do here on becoming you. And so, without further ado, let's get started. Well, there was this one time where my son Marcus drove me crazy, like, to my wits. And for the record, I love my children and they're all spectacular, but I'm a normal mother. And they, on a daily basis, make me want to lose my mind. And Marcus was making me lose my mind because I was talking to him about the recently released jobs numbers, and I assumed he understood and knew about the government jobs numbers because A, they were a gigantic news story and B, he's a business owner and he should know about these things, at least in my humble opinion. Then again, I'm a business professor, but I think that if you're a business owner, you should know about the government jobs numbers. Now, he owns a wonderful little store in Brooklyn, and I've told you before, if you live in Brooklyn and you're looking for very well priced, adorably twee home goods, you should go shop there. It's called slope home. Okay, that was they should pay me for how much I promote their store. In any case, he was making the case. Look, we just have a twee little home goods store. We don't need to know the job number. And I said, you got to know about the economy, sweetheart. I'm not sure I use the word sweetheart. Anyway, I know he gets all of his news from Reddit, which is not one of the many social media platforms that I'm addicted to, although I. I think I will be shortly. And so I had him download onto my phone Reddit so we could go at the news and information about the jobs number. So he downloaded it on my phone and I showed him what everybody was saying about the job numbers and what did I come upon but a lot of R slash threads about work and careers that I should have been paying attention to long ago. Man, did I go down a rabbit hole for the next few hours with people venting and talking all about what it felt like to get fired.

I lost my job a few months ago. I've been applying, but there are days where I just feel almost paralyzed with fear. Seeing so many people lose their jobs, seeing so many jobs get killed off by AI. I got laid off. I think I'm feeling too much. It was a great job. I'm feeling so depressed, almost catatonic. I think it's the fact that I was so happy and pleased with myself while I had that job. More confident than I'd ever been because I never imagined myself having a six figure salary. And now I feel like it's proof that I never deserved it in the first place.

Man, that last line, it stayed with me. I feel like it's proof that I never deserved it in the first place. I want to cry. It's like a movie in one line. And this person had all of those feelings. And that is the thing about getting fired. All, all of the feelings, they can take you to places you can't even imagine. There is nothing in the work world at least like the existential despair you feel the day you know you're gonna get fired or you've just been fired. I've had it. There's a sickness in your gut. You feel shame, you feel embarrassment. But a lot of the times, even when you're wanting to get fired. Cause sometimes you're kind of secretly wishing for it. But not always and not often you feel screwed. Okay. Or you feel hurt and you feel every kind of emotion. It is sickening. When I got fired and I remember it was like kind of a mixture of being nauseous and crying and you don't want it. And it is a moment where everything that we've believed about ourself has often been kicked out from underneath us. Hey. The day after I got fired, I'll never forget this. And it was in 2001, okay. And I was fired from the Harvard Business Review. It was a story at the time. It involved me meeting my husband. It would never happen today. Let me just leave it at that. It would never happen. Happened today. But it happened then. But it happened in this way. That is crazy. There was a long wind up to it. There was a lot of discussion. Was I going to get fired? Wasn't I going to get fired? I thought maybe I'd survive. They were trying to find a way for me to survive. But then it. People on my team lost confidence in me or so they said, and I was brought into a room with my Uber boss, my boss's boss's boss, okay? And I thought, oh my God, it is it happening? They're going to do it. And she said, we're going to let you go. And I remember, like, it felt like a missile dropped from my heart to my stomach. It was like this feeling like, oh, no, it did happen. This shouldn't be happening. Okay? That was the first emotion. And then she said this thing I shall never get over. She said to me, you'll never work again. That's what she said to me. You'll never work again. And here's the craziest thing about it. I believed her. In the moment, I believed her. I had actually not done anything that bad, by the way. Okay, again, I don't wanna re litigate this. If you have nothing to do, go to Google. The person who fired me, ultimately the chairman of the board, later, years later, told me it was the stupidest mistake we ever made. So let that record stand. But regardless, I was fired. And she told me I'd never work again. And I believed her. And I remember actually that evening, I was sobbing hysterically. Cause the story was in the newspaper, it was all over the place. Thank God there was no Twitter in those days. But it was on the tv. I watched my own firing reported on tv and I was sobbing to Jack, saying, penny told me I'd never work again. And you know what he did? Very sympathetic, loving person. He burst into laughter. He said, that's such bullshit, Susie. Of course she'll work again. But I believed it. That's where they had put me emotionally. And I think that that actually happens to. I'm not the only person who's felt that way. And he said to me, you're going to be working before you know it. And I said, no, no, no, you don't understand how bad this is. He rolled his eyes at me. In the moment I thought, that's not very kind. And I cried harder. The next day I stayed home from work and my kids came home from school at 3 o' clock and I answered the door for them. And Eve looked up at me and she said, what are you doing here? And I will tell you that I had the exact same question. What was I doing there? I had not ever been home at 3 o' clock in the afternoon to greet my kids. Missed a lot because of that. But the day you get fired, you forget or you just don't even have any idea what to do with yourself because your Rhyme, your reason, your organizing principle, it's all gone. And you have a gigantic looming question in your soul, which is, what is next? And you know what's even harder than that? This question. What should be next? It was about a week later that the editor of oh, the Oprah Magazine called and asked me to come work there. But that week was hell. And when they called, I actually there was a piece of me that thought, do you have the right number? That's where getting fired can kill you. And I want to say, when I look back at it, there was a little piece of me that was relieved because the wind up to it took so long. And I also thought, oh, now I can be free to spend time with Jack and the kids. But it was mainly fear, despair, and self loathing. Okay, so I know it all gets mixed up and I'm. You know what I want to tell you. Here's the craziest thing. Not crazy. I'm glad it happened to me. I'm glad because it gave me such a heart of empathy for people who go through getting fired. It taught me that the day you fire somebody is the worst day of that person's life. And it's not the worst day for you because your problem's going away, but for the person you're letting go, it is often the worst day of their life. And it gave me a heart for that. And I'm grateful. I'm grateful it happened to me. And you know what else it's important to note? It's important to note that on Reddit, there were also people who felt happiness and relief when they were fine.

I got laid off on Monday. I didn't really care for the job, but was just pushing through so my resume didn't look spotty. The day itself felt so surreal and I was in shock. But today I'm honestly happy. This is the first time I've not been employed since I was 16 and I turned 40 in a few weeks. It's such a great feeling to be free from a toxic job. I stuck mine out longer than I should have. I've even had a therapist say that I showed mild signs of PTSD caused by my work environment. When I finally got the we're going to let you go call, it was bliss. I'm sure my boss could hear the happiness in my voice.

It can be a good day for some people. I'm going to say that's the minority. Actually. I would say there's a generational component to this because there was a time in my class at the NYU Stern School of Business, where I'm very proud to be a professor of management and run the center for Purpose and Flourishing there. I actually have students who actually see losing your job, getting fired, or being laid off as a necessary part of the career journey. That's new actually, to the recent generations. And they actually have a. I was talking to my students about getting fired, how this is part of life at work, and it happens. And somebody raised their hand and she used this word. She said, I think I would just use some fun employment. And I. I stopped her. I said, excuse me, what did you just say? She said, you know, I'll have some fun employment. Literally. My students will verify that I screamed when I heard the word fun employment. I said, whoa, whoa. They all laughed because they knew that I was acting like an oldster. And I said, I don't know what you're talking about. She said, you know the funny you have between your bouts of unemployment and employment. And you can have fun. You can go to Europe. You can read a book. You can try to write a book. I actually said to the class, when I was coming along in life, when you were unemployed, you were just looking for a new job and you didn't think there was anything fun about it. So look, I know that there are people who are saying, what is she getting so uptight about in this podcast? About how hard it is to be fired. I'm not dreading it. It's going to be a necessary reset. And you know what I say to you? Congratulations. Power to you. You must have a lot of self confidence. I salute you. I salute you. And here's the truth. The truth is you can actually be both these things that I've just talked about at the same time in the same human personhood. Okay? You can feel despair, confusion, existential ennui. You can feel all these feelings all stirred up in you, and you can feel happy and relieved. Okay? You can feel them all in the course of one hour after you've been fired. Therefore, I want to start getting right into the questions you need to ask yourself in this situation. These are the questions that get you from the confused place to the clarity place. We're going to get to those questions, but first, a little break. All right, we're back. Okay, let's get to the questions. I keep promising them, and I'm good for it, so let's do it. Here's the first question, and it's not divorced from what we've just been talking about. The first question is, how am I actually feeling. Actually. Okay. So I've talked in this podcast about how we feel a lot of different emotions when we've been fired. We feel like a fraud, like my friend said. We feel shame, we feel grief, we feel embarrassment. That's huge. How am I going to tell people? Why did it happen to me? Okay. But sometimes we feel relief. Sometimes we feel. Feel giddiness. Sometimes we feel happy. And it is unbelievably important for you to pick apart all those emotions, identify them. I would even say write them down. Okay. Make a list of all the emotions they're feeling. It is important because, you know, a lot of people are going to try to put emotions into your mouth and your head. There are people going to say, you should be feeling mad that you got laid off when you did X, Y, and Z. When you would work through your maternity leave. You should be feeling anger. A lot of people are going to come at you with their feelings about how you should be feeling, and they're bringing to it the experiences they had with being fired, and they're going to put those on you. Everybody wants to tell you how you should be feeling, but I am telling you that you have to access and unpack how you're actually feeling. It's important for the work that follows. How much guilt are you feeling? How much shame are you feeling? How much secret joy are you feeling? How much relief are you feeling? How much expectation? How much hope? How much fear? Unpack it. Understand the composition of how you're actually feeling. Because what you need to understand is how motivated you are to change your life. Okay, so if you're feeling only grief, let's just take an example. If all you're truly feeling in this inventory of your emotions, if all you're truly feeling is sadness, it may be, my dear friend, it may be that you were in your area of transcendence, that you were actually working your purpose. And your next step is to try to replicate it, to go find the job that lets you feel those things again. Which means you've got to write down what you loved about that job so that when you're looking for another job, you're nailing what values that company had, what aptitudes they really needed you to display, and what was interesting about the work to you. Okay, you're gonna be doing an autopsy on your firing. And so your emotions are incredibly important to access. If you're feeling relief and joy. Ah, interesting. What was it about the job you didn't like? What were the values that were being displayed that what values were you being forced to adopt? What aptitudes didn't you have? What was uninteresting to you about the work that you were so happy and relieved because you don't want the next job to have those same things? This is the first step in the very necessary post firing autopsy that you are the doctor in charge of. Okay? And the way you get there, the first step is to say, how am I actually feeling? Not how people are telling me I should feel. By the way, with that first question, if you haven't been fired, I would actually like you to take that question and imagine that you've been fired and try to access what emotions you have, okay? And just say, would I feel happy? Would I feel relieved? Would I feel sad? What would I feel? And do the same process, just FYI. Okay. All right, let's move on to the second question. I asked this question of my students in becoming you. If you were to take becoming you at NYU Stern School of Business and you were in my class, you would be asked this question. Here it is. What is your secret job crush? And why is it a crush? And why is it secret? Okay. You should just do that even if you haven't been fired. Ask yourself this question. What is your secret job crush? If you could have any job, when you're just in the shower or you're on the treadmill and you're imagining your secret job crush, what you could do, if you could do anything, what would it be? And why is it a crush? What makes you want that job? And even as important, really, was it a secret? I have heard every possible answer to this question. I often hear this of my MBA students. I wanted to be a actress in tv, okay? And I say why? And then they'll describe all the things they love about that life. You get to have a very dramatic life. You get to read great literature, blah, blah, blah. All these things about wanting to live in la. And then why is it a secret? I couldn't admit to my parents, who were both in business, that I wanted to go to Hollywood and be an actress. Holy cannoli. Think about the data in just that answer. Okay? First, all the values and lifestyle issues that go with being an actress. All the parts of you that are unleashed, okay? And then why is it a secret? Because you couldn't tell your parents. Oh, really? You're living their life for them. Okay? I had a student one time say, my secret job crush is to be President of the United States of America. This person was a software engineer. I Said, okay, let's unpack it. I'm gonna unpack it right now for you. What is it about that? And he said, you know, when I'm laying awake in. At night in bed, I'm thinking about policy. I mean, I think I'm a policy wonk. I read policy, white papers. I follow. And he, like, listed, like, all these policy wonks in Washington. He was obsessed with how our government works and ways you could make it better again, by the way, software engineer. Okay. And I said, why is it secret? And he said, well, it's very uncool to, like, really love America and believe in America. And I'm just. I just don't want to be uncool and say I believe in the democratic system, because I would be kind of a pariah among my friends here in New York. And I was like, oh, my God, everything about this is wrong. Because you could go on and you could live a life to match expectations and to match expediency, because it's very hard to be the President of the United States, by the way. That's a very hard thing to get to be. And you're living right in that velvet coffin, which I've talked about so many times, which is a life where you're comfortable and, you know, the coffin is very cushy. Slowly but surely, the lid closes on you. And you've not lived the life you wanted to live because you have not admitted to yourself your secret job crush. And then the two parts it of, why is it a crush? What makes you want to do it? What about the work? What about the identity stuff? What about it turns your crank? And then to admit to yourself why it's a secret? Whose life are you living? Who would tell you not to do it? Go there. And you know what? Once again, just like the first question, even if you haven't been fired, go ahead and ask yourself this question. My students haven't been fired. They're sitting in a classroom, and I say to them, everybody has to do it. By the way, write it down. Do it right now. Admit it to the person you're sitting next to. If you're listening to this podcast, Driving in a car, what is your secret job crush? And why is it secret? I'm going to tell you mine. Are you ready for it? I always wanted to be a doctor. Isn't that wackadoodle? I love the emergency room. I remember one time a doctor said to me after I had my cataract surgery, I said to him, I can see perfectly now. You've changed my life. And he said, that's why I do it. And I thought, oh, that would be a big rush. That would feel very good to me. I also just think being a doctor is just a noble profession. Okay, look, I want you to know, by the way, I love my job very much, and I wouldn't give it up to be a doctor right now. But if I had a secret job crush to admit to, it would be a doctor and maybe an emergency room doctor. Why is it secret? Because if I admitted it out loud, people who really know me would say things like, you faint at the sight of blood and needles, make you run from the room screaming. And so, Susie, you could never do that. And it's true. I have a little problem with needles and blood. And actually, hospitals freak me out. And everybody who knows me would say, keep that one a secret. You should go through this process, okay? And you know what you may find out when you say, what is my secret job crush? That your secret job crush is exactly what you're doing because you can't come up with anything else. And that is a great sign. Hug and kiss yourself, Say, I'm living my purpose. I feel fantastic if you can't come up with anything else, okay? And by the way, if your secret drive crush is being a rock star, I've heard it a million times, and you have a bad voice, then just. Also, just please continue to sing in the shower where it belongs. Here's the third question. Everyone hates it, but they hate it for a reason. Because it's important and it yields very important information. It's like root canal. And here's the question. Painful question. Hard and painful as all good things are hard and painful. That great quote from Dostoevsky from Notes from the Underground, which is, suffering is the origin of consciousness. I read that when I was 14 years old. I stared it on the page. I have lived by it in that to learn hard things about ourselves, sometimes we have to suffer a little bit. And this question is firmly in that tradition. And if you were forced, at pain of death, to come up with an answer, what would you say to the question, what did I do to get myself fired? What role did I play? I'm sorry. You may feel that your firing was unbelievably unjust. You may feel that you got screwed. You may think, well, it was just layoffs. Everyone got fired. But I am asking you with this question to force yourself to say, if I had to put it on me and I had to own it, I had to own it because Susie's saying I had to own it. And I'm gonna be drawn and quartered if I don't own it. What did I do? Why was it me? Because even in layoffs, not everybody gets fired, okay? Some people stay. And you know just as well as I do, and I have been in the room where it happened, where there's gonna be 20% layoffs, and you are literally sitting there picking who stays and who goes. That's the truth about even layoffs. They say it's your whole department. Isn't it funny? Three people didn't get laid off, okay? So I want you, and I need you to think about why you got fired. What you cannot say in this answer is I was screwed or my boss hated me. Unless you have the second part of it, which is my boss hated me because, come on, what's the truth? I missed too many deadlines. I was too ornery or cantankerous in meetings. I was talking to a friend the other day and his son just found out that he's probably going to be fired. And I said, what's your son's role in it? And he went crazy on me. He's like, he's been fantastic. He's contributed so much. He's done this, he's done that. He's a long litany of all the things his son did, right? And I said, what would your son's boss say about him? And there was this long pause and he said, he does have kind of an edgy way of dealing with people and he always speaks his mind. And I said, so he's been an asshole, right? And he said, probably some people have thought of him that way. Look, I need you to do that. I need you to pretend that you're on the boss's side and you were in the room when you got fired. And if you have to come up with a reason, what was your role in it? And you know, we have to do that. This is really about values and aptitudes. Because something probably about your values as they were expressed and your aptitudes as they were displayed was not a fit for the job. So let's just take a value like work centrism, okay? You're at a company that really has a high value on work centrism. People work 70 hours a week. Everyone loves it. They go in on Saturdays, emails are out at 5 in the morning. People are corresponding on email or a text at 11 o' clock at night. And you don't have that value, okay? You have low Work centrism, your life's organizing principles not work or say there's. Your company has a high value of achievement. Many companies do. Success matters. Whether you win the client, it really matters. They're not laid back. Other companies are different than that. And achievement is not a high value for you. That's a mismatch. Sometimes urgency is part of achievement. That a company has a lot of urgency. My company has a lot of urgency. And in people who are low urgency, it doesn't really work out because there's a mismatch on values, okay? Some companies have very low values of belonging. That's a sense of connectivity. Company softball teams, how many times people eat together. And some companies are kind of low on that. If there are a bunch of people who are individual contributors, there's not a lot of connectivity or familiarity among people. And say you're a really high connection person and you're always kind of try to push that envelope. That's a mismatch, okay? And you got to put your finger on it now. A lot of times it's a mismatch with aptitudes. And the company really needs people who are very good at certain ways of thinking, problem solving that their future focus that they're brainstormers. And you are not aligned on those different aptitudes. And you have got to understand where the mismatch was. Your role in getting canned, frankly, what did you do wrong? I know some of you are thinking it wasn't me, but I'm telling you that forcing yourself to answer this question helps you get your next job. Because you can say, all right, this was a very high urgency, low belonging company. Let's just talk in on values. And I happen to be a very kind of medium urgency, high belonging person. And you know what? When I look for my next role, that's what I'm going for. And let's say it's aptitudes, okay? Aptitudes. They just needed somebody who was just so much better at SEO and SEM. And I just really, what I bring to the table is relationships. And they were not a big relationships company. I had skills in the wrong area, aptitudes in the wrong area. I'm really a present focuser. I think about problems right now as they unfold in front of me. That's very good in some companies. But the company is all about big, hairy, audacious goals. It's a future focusing company. Mismatch. Go find a company that matches your aptitudes next time. You can't figure that out though, until you figure out what it was about you that got you fired. All right, here's the fourth question. I wish that when I was talking to you about this fourth question, I was standing in front of my favorite painting at the Met, which is a few blocks from my house. And it's an incredible painting. Actually, it's not a masterpiece, but it's still at the Met. And it's a picture of Joan of Arc as a young teenage girl. And it's a moment where the angel comes and says to her, hey, you're done being a country girl. Just like taking care of the goats, Joan, and you're gonna go save France. And you see her kind of standing there stunned with her arm out, reaching out to the future. She's not particularly happy, but she's not sad either. Later, Joan of Arc was to have a sword that said on it, I am not afraid. I was born to do this. And the fourth question is, what was I born to do? Why do we not ever stare directly into that question? It's scary. That's why. And because you know what? Angels don't usually come down from heaven and tell us what we were born to do. Like, Joan got kind of lucky, until she wasn't lucky at all, by the way, at the end. But we are born to do something. And that's what becoming you is actually about. That thing that we were born to do. It lies at the intersection of your authentic values, your unique aptitudes. Those. Those are cognitive and emotional proclivities of your personality, plus the way your brain's wired and your interests, the interests that are economically viable to you. What calls you emotionally and intellectually, but also pay you what you need to be paid according to your values. That's not easy stuff. If it was easy, I wouldn't be teaching becoming you. I would just say, here, quickly, go do that. You can't do that. That's a lot of work. But that's what this podcast is about. So keep coming back, if you would. But what were you born to do? I don't want you immediately starting to fix up your resume and trying to go do the same thing again or fit yourself into what's out there. I want you to do that work first. You've got to get existential before you get tactical. And that's what these four questions are about. They're about walking you through the process of figuring out what you're supposed to be doing. This is your chance. When you've been fired, you're forced to start again. You're forced to reinvent, you're forced to pivot. Why not pivot to where you're supposed to go? You can do that now. Look, you're going to be tempted just to take the first job. You know, you're going to be really tempted. There's rent to be paid, there's whatever. And you're just feeling very at odds. You're feeling very kind of lost sometimes. And you're going to be tempted to go take that job. And you say, I'll go find my purpose later. And if you have financial pressures, I understand that. I'm not telling you to ignore them. But do that purpose work at the same time. Don't keep postponing it. Do not keep postponing it. Don't start running until you know where you're running. Because if you don't know where you're going, any old road will do, right? That's the old saying. It's so true. The trick is to figure out what you were born to do and then do more of it. And luckily we got this methodology. My methodology is not the only one to figure out your purpose. There's other ones out there, go find them. If you don't dig mine, that's cool. I don't care. As long as you have a methodology. There's ways to learn all of this information, synthesize it and come up with your purpose and then start the journey. There will not be a direct line. It never is. But it is a journey that is worth taking, even with its detours and its valleys. There's a hill at the end and it feels really, really great to climb it. I can't wait for you to get there. I am cheering you on. I gotta tell you the end of the story that I started with about my friend who was sobbing and saying I got fired. And I said to her, this is the best day of your life. Guess what? It was the best day of her life. In fact, I sweetly can tell you the story that she came and she actually spoke to the class that I teach on Firing. And she sat up in front of my class and she said, when Susie told me it was the best day of my life, I remember thinking, now she's really lost it. I hated her in that moment. She hated me saying that to her. She admitted it to the class and she said it was so true. And then actually the end of the story, she got her act together and she and her husband got on a ferry and came over to Nantucket, where Jack and I were at the time. And Jack just did this autopsy on it. We knew why she was fired. We went through the sort of four questions in a different form because I didn't have those four questions then. And she said, I really want to start my own company. That was her secret crush. And when we found out why it was a secret crush, the answer was, she was just scared. It was fear of failure. Now she couldn't get any lower. And we just had this incredible plan. The four of us sat there around the kitchen table, drawing things out about what her company would be. And I will tell you, all these years later, she built that exact company brick by brick. And I was there last year when she won Philadelphia Woman of the Year for building that company. She's gone on to massive success, more success than she ever had at that job where she was fired. Everybody's story of firing should go the way her story went, because she went as low as you could go. She felt terrible shame. She felt the whole city was watching her. She was prominent person. And then she rebuilt. She rebuilt so hard into this vision she had of the life that she was meant to lead. And I can tell you right now, watching her from afar, she was meant to be the leader she was. She was meant to be the business owner she was that she has become. And it was the best day of her life. And it can be yours, too. But not without the hard work of laying the groundwork of understanding who you are standing still so that when you start running again, you know which way to go. You know, I don't do this podcast by myself, alone in a closet with a microphone. Right? I don't do anything alone, but I do not do this podcast alone. Becoming youg is produced by Jesse Baker and Eric Newsome of Magnificent Noise. Our production staff includes Muskaan Nagpal and Kristen Muller, with help from the Becoming Universe members, Eliza Zinn, Hallie Reiner, Maddie Paul, and Tanya Joji. I could not do it without these people. I couldn't do life without these people. Trust me. I'm your host, Susie Welch, and this is becoming you.