If you could do it all over again, what would you change?

Love of the Week

​Regular readers, you were expecting a newsletter about Ethiopian food this week, were you not? But, no! Instead, I am here to love on economics! And a particular kind of economics, too. The practical kind, the kind that kicks you squarely in the butt, in the direction of a better future.

​Which brings me exactly back to economics.

Look, the promise of Becoming You is that we, as I just mentioned, help you live your purpose. Further, we promise to do that not with woo-woo bromides and platitudinous inspo—God forbid!—but with scientifically validated, research-backed assessments and reports that reflect your values, aptitudes and…AND…the nitty-gritty reality of the economic marketplace.

For the first five years of Becoming You, we incorporated that third step into the methodology using government data about labor trends and, well, my personal brain, and in particular, my side hustle obsessing over megatrends, e.g. market upheavals on the horizon.

Go Suzy, right? Economic seer! Except NOT. At least not anymore. The world of work today has become too complex for an amateur to assess and predict, even an annoyingly diligent little amateur like myself. And frankly, the stakes have just gotten too high for me to try.

Becoming You is growing — we estimate we’re at about 500,000 users now, holy guacamole.

And so, I decided to take my own advice. I hollered, “I need help!” And then I went and got it: a chief economist for Becoming You with a specialty in the future of work. A brilliant one. A practical one. One who will tell you what jobs really make sense today—and tomorrow.

Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Sania Khan, a former senior economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a chief economist at the HR unicorn Eightfold AI, and the author of the smart and utterly readable marketplace primer, “Think Like an Economist.” She is also the mom of three little girls, including 18-month-old twins. In other words, she is superhuman.

And lucky us! Sania’s superpowers, that is, her intel on the shape and texture of the economy, will now be poured into Becoming You’s products. And, hooray, they will also be available directly in your inbox starting Monday with her free weekly newsletter, “The Offer Letter.”

I have read the first issue, and all I can say is, unless your hand is broken and you cannot type, sign up here right this minute. The cavalry has arrived, and Becoming You can keep charging ahead giving not just guidance that you can trust, but I can trust too.

I’m so thrilled I might just go celebrate with some Ethiopian food.

Hate of the Week

Except maybe to say that I hope that someday each and every one of you has a cause you love so much it hurts. That’s the only way change will ever happen.

Hmm of the Week

​A student asked me if I could do my career all over again, what would I change?

​​My answer was that I would have started Becoming You sooner. Alas, I didn’t have the courage to become an entrepreneur until I did.

But my answer is not the point here. The question is! It’s such a great one—because it sneakily reveals key data about our values, aptitudes, and interests. To wit: my answer nails my value of Radius, the desire to change the world, my aptitudes of team building and analytical thinking, and my interest in (aka obsession with) purpose.

So go ahead, give yourself a blank slate in your head. What are you drawing there? What imagined life?

Does it really have to stay that way?

I bet a brilliant, practical economist might have a view about that. And now, with The Offer Letter, you can find out.

See you there,

​​P.S. People ask me all the time how they can do this work themselves—help others figure out what they value and build a life around it.

The honest answer is that it takes training, and that’s what our coaching program is for.

On October 14, we’re hosting a live webinar for anyone who’s thought about becoming a coach using the Becoming You framework. Several of our certified coaches will talk about how they use Becoming You with their clients, and we’ll walk through what certification actually involves. If you’ve been wondering, join us.

Do You Actually Have the Talent, or Just the Interest?

Jes is 27, works in the nonprofit sector, and has a not-so-secret dream: she wants to be a writer. The problem, as she sees it, is a values conflict — she wants her work to be seen, but she doesn't want to be famous, and she wants to make money, but writing doesn't pay unless you're willing to put your whole life on display.

This week on Please Advise, I use some radical candor to go beyond values to the harder question underneath: does Jes actually have the aptitude to be a writer, or does she just love the idea of it? It's a conversation about ambition, honesty, and the difference between an interest and an aptitude.