Finding Purpose in Your Next Chapter

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Suzy Welch’s Guide to “Becoming You”

Suzy Welch’s life was flipped on its head after the loss of her husband, the legendary business executive Jack Welch, in 2020. It was then that she found herself at a crossroads. Despite having her own accomplished business career prior to Jack’s passing, she had not expected the deeper question that followed: Who am I now?

What began as a personal reckoning became a bestselling book, “Becoming You: The Proven Method for Crafting Your Authentic Life and Career,” and a purpose-driven course at NYU helping others do the same. Welch recently joined “Your Money Map” to share how anyone – and especially those heading into retirement – can use the “Becoming You” methodology to enter their next chapter with purpose.

DEVELOPING A ROADMAP FOR REINVENTION

Like so many others, Welch had built a career, raised a family, and, following the passing of her spouse, faced a blank page. “I was 60 years old, and I was suddenly not who I had been or who I thought I was,” she shares. “My whole life turned upside down.”

There was a silver lining, though. The timing aligned with a methodology she had quietly been working on for 15 years to help people find their purpose. She brought the idea to NYU, pitching it as a class open to people of all ages. This was four years ago, and there was no better time to put it into practice, not only for herself, but for others. “The next thing you know, the class became very popular, because people were hungry coming out of the pandemic,” Welch explains.

Initially, she expected mostly younger students to enroll. But something surprising happened. “We actually thought that that class was going to be filled with young people wondering what their purpose was,” says Welch. “Guess who it was? Filled with people who were about to go into retirement.”

Suzy Welch, Author, “Becoming You: The Proven Method for Crafting Your Authentic Life and Career“

PURPOSE: IT’S NOT JUST FOR THE YOUNG

Older students, Welch says, often arrive with the most enthusiasm – and depth. “They understand that life has conflicts and trade-offs,” she shares. “It’s a long journey to know who we are, but often people who are in my age group are more tenderly aware of who they are. Now, the work of ‘becoming you’ involves getting to know yourself a whole heck of a lot better.”

For many students, it’s about more than personal fulfillment – it’s also about a paycheck. Welch says hundreds of later-in-life students come to “Becoming You” after a job loss, in search of a new path. Some even uncover purposes they thought they’d never get to explore.

She recalls one student who had spent her career as a surgeon. After a back injury made it impossible to stand for long procedures, she came to the class looking for a new direction. “We took a good, hard look at her values and her aptitudes and what kind of jobs could match her economic needs,” shares Welch. “She’s now a college counselor for students who are looking for advice on what career they should go into. She just had so much wisdom, and she had had this value that had been completely repressed her whole life.”

THE THREE PILLARS OF PURPOSE

According to Welch, purpose lives at the intersection of three things: your values, aptitudes and interests. “Becoming You” begins with identifying each of these.
Step 1, know your values: As Welch stresses, your values aren’t the same as virtues. Values are deeply personal life choices, with experts saying there are between 15-20 life values. “For instance, one value is scope. How big a life do we want? Do we want a very stimulating, very exciting life?” explains Welch.

To help students identify their own values, Welch developed a tool called the “Values Bridge.” She says it’s her life’s work and has helped 35,000 people identify their values.
Step 2, ID your aptitudes: Your aptitudes are what you’re hardwired to do well, not just what you’ve learned over time. “We can be good at a lot of different things, but we are uniquely good at a bunch of smaller things,” explains Welch.

Welch says one of the most reliable methods for identifying your aptitudes is to ask people who are honest and know you best. “We edit ourselves. We often underestimate ourselves,” explains Welch. “The data is very clear. Do the work of asking other people.”
Step 3, reclaim your interests: Once you know what you care about and what you’re good at, it’s time to reconnect with what excites you. “It’s about letting go of thinking that there are only a couple of things you can be interested in,” says Welch.

She notes that younger students often feel pressure to make their interests financially viable, but for many older adults, that pressure may have eased, and in turn, possibilities expand. “I love stories of people who, in their third half, have just discovered it, or rediscovered what their interests and passions are, because they let themselves do it.”

Once students identify their values, aptitudes and interests, Welch’s framework narrows it down to three or four potential purposes. What happens next? Tears – but the good kind. “There’s a reason why this class has the nickname, ‘the class where everyone cries,’ because I have seen people get those results and just the ‘Eureka’ of it, the sort of validation that having seen it is very, very joyous,” says Welch.

THREE KEYS TO “BECOMING YOU”

Welch says that as people try to find their purpose later in life, there are three things to pay special attention to:

  • Know who you are before deciding where you’re going – especially after a life-changing event: “Figure out who you are when you’re standing still so that you can know which direction to run when you start moving again.”
  • Be the author, not the editor: In a world where there are so many demands from others – spouses, children, the workplace – it’s important to take the pen and be the one writing your own story. As Welch says, it’s the fastest route to joy.
  • Don’t wait for permission to start: Can’t make it to NYU? Welch’s book walks readers through the process step-by-step as they launch their new beginning.

But, a word of warning – if you’re anything like Welch, finding your true calling may mean “retirement” isn’t as relaxing as you envisioned it. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Welch jokes that her children are always asking her when she’s going to take a vacation. “I don’t want a vacation. I’m finally doing the work I wanted to do,” says Welch. “I think you can enjoy it with a kind of poignancy at our age, because you think, ‘Oh, wow, I found it. I’m there,’ It’s great.”

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