Nicola: [00:00:00] hi, welcome to the female leaders on fire podcast. And I’m super excited today because I’ve got a good friend of mine and some of them either just being in their world for, I think, a year or so now, but someone that I just find hugely inspiring someone that is always there to. Cool to me, but also someone that I think is going to be really, really helpful today.

So I’ve got the brilliant Susie cup at some with me today. Um, we are going to be talking about intuitive leader and self-trust so just to introduce Susie before she introduced herself, but she’s an intuitive business coach and mentor for high performing heart-centered female entrepreneurs. She works with women on their energy alignment, business strategy, confidence, and mindset, and really helping them to reconnect.

With their heart and with their soul and create that financial freedom without burning out. And this really goes back to doing a corporate days, probably like a lot of us have done at some [00:01:00] point, just really losing a way a little bit and getting burned out, gets a point where really frustrated. So Susie made it her mission to help other women to grow and scale that service-based businesses that truly lights them up and has a real impact on the world.

So welcome today, Susie. I’m super excited that you’re here. We’re going to be talking about intuitive leadership and self-beliefs, I figure it’s going to be a great

Suzie: episode. I’m so excited

to be here and thank you for that introduction and yeah. I’m, you know, me, I absolutely, um, in terms of intuitive leadership and oh, just how I’ve got to where I’ve got today. I think it’s actually key, key, key, key component of anyone listening. If you are a female leader and you are feeling the need to step into that fire as Nicola calls it and the power.

Then the key to all of this is just really stepping into your intuition and really owning it and listening and getting quiet. So I’m really excited to talk about this today too. [00:02:00] I

Nicola: I’m, yeah, it’s just something that I kind of, I’ve talked to. I talked around. That little bit it’s about, so I’m really excited to have an episode focusing just on that today.

So just to start with Susie, could you just introduce yourself and just, just bring us up to date with a bit of a story on how you’ve got to be doing this amazing work that you’re doing

Suzie: now? Yeah. So I suppose like probably most of you listening. I say I fell into the corporate world. I started off on a journey, I would say probably early twenties into the, I call it a spiral, the spiral of the status, um, and going up the ladder as fast as I could.

So I. Made a decision early on. I don’t know how, but subconsciously that I would rise the ranks, which I did. And I spent pretty much my twenties and thirties doing that. And just getting as far as I could up that corporate ladder. I think probably like, [00:03:00] and car. I know we spoke about this before. I got so far up so far up that I had no idea when I look back how I got there, what I was doing up there and what the meaning of life was.

And I can, I can absolutely laugh at it now. And I laugh a lot. I laugh a lot, but looking back myself and my clients, but I have to say when I got there, it was pretty goddamn, scary. I really wasn’t listening. So I really wasn’t listening and I’m really going to cover today. What I’d love to is intuition, you know, the leadership that I experienced and kind of that side in my corporate, but also intuition with wisdom and looking back.

And if I can give any advice to anyone listening, if they’re in kind of that zone at the moment. So I really want to share some advice on this as well. If you’re feeling like you’re in that spot at the moment. So I got to the top of this. This proverbial ladder. I looked back didn’t [00:04:00] know basically how it got there.

I also looked at the woman in the mirror and I really didn’t like her. And that was a very scary thing for me because I didn’t, I honestly looked at her one day and I said, I know you, but I don’t know who you are. And the reason why this leads into intuition is I realized I was being intuitive for every single other person around me, but not myself.

Does that make sense? Yeah. So I was leading. Yeah, the teams were flourishing at award-winning teams. I, you know, to a certain point, loved love, love what I did, but then obviously at one point, clearly I disconnected completely and I realized intuitively. I was leading everyone else, which was making them powerful.

But whilst I was propping up all, you know, everyone around me, I had forgotten who I was. I wasn’t serving myself. I dropped myself care and I stopped listening to [00:05:00] my own intuition about me. Me as a human being, not about intuition of everyone else around me. And really just, if you’re listening in terms of what does intuition actually mean?

Intuition based is just an ability to understand or know something without needing to think about it. Okay. So. It’s what I used to always call. And I didn’t know, it’s my spidey sense. So, you know, when you walk into a room with somebody, you think something isn’t right or something’s off. And for years I had been using my intuition in leadership to recruit, and I had some of the best recruits out there and maybe so much wouldn’t look right on paper, why that person was chosen, but instinctively, I just knew, and I got a bit of a reputation for always recruiting the best, always finding the best.

And as I worked up the ladder. I also had a reputation for growing these amazing teams and was asked if I could bottle up whatever it was I had. And the funny thing was I couldn’t, because [00:06:00] I couldn’t rationale, I couldn’t logically explain what I was doing. And it’s funny because. Uh, after promotion, after promotion, I then went in to be head of L and D because they wanted me to create this.

They wanted me to create experience. I was creating amongst teams and again, logically and rationally, I had a process in place, but you can’t teach into it. You can’t teach people spidey senses and 6 cents. If you breathe this Nicola, because I know that you are very intuitive, this is something that is just unexplained.

It’s, it’s something that we, um, have an innate ability to tap into. Um, throughout my career, when I look back now, I realize the reason why it was so successful. Was because I was always listening to my gut. I was always aligning with my gut. I was always sensing if something didn’t feel right. And whilst on paper, a spreadsheet let’s say, might look right.

I would intuitively know that there was something [00:07:00] offered the figures. I would intuitively know there are some off with the team and it became a bit of a speciality for me. And I know this to be true with so many female leaders that they themselves can’t quite put down what it is they’re doing with their teams, but for whatever reason, you know, with no evidence to prove it, they are, you know, really managing to get.

Liar and managing to help teams high perform because they’re tapping into that. They’re tapping into that energy and that intuition. So I’m hoping this makes sense.

Nicola: Yeah, absolutely. And I think I’ve, I think for me, I didn’t, I didn’t always, I I’ve always had a strong sense of intuition, but I haven’t always listened to it.

And I know for me in corporate world, like I really wasn’t listening to it very much at all. And. Think about the person that I am, um, um, have this huge logic and curiosity for learning, but then I’m also highly emotional. So corporate world [00:08:00] was, you know, the logical is known and, you know, the reasoning part, but then the emotional, I was given feedback being over emotional or overreacting or over-exaggerating.

So it felt like actually some parts of me. Accepted in the corporate world. So it felt like the intuition part was almost like it’s, it’s my inner voice, but I can’t listen to it because actually it’s not, it’s not known or it’s not accepted or it’s not recognized. And I, I work with a lot of leaders now, a lot, I worked with a lot of women at the top and part of what we, part of what we help them identify and create and nurture is that inner voice, almost like that in a leader that inner, that inner wisdom.

And as part of that, almost they, for some of them they’ve always had this and they’ve used it for some of it. They have it, but they don’t connect with it. So we start with connecting with themselves and what do they need and when do they need it? And out of that, over time, they start to. They share more with that intuition.

They sham all that wisdom and it becomes a hunch, or I just know, or [00:09:00] let you send spidey senses, you call it. And what was really lovely particular client got promoted to the board, the exact board of her business last year, she is now built enough trust that actually her intuition is also part of what’s driving.

Her intuition is also part of why she’s so brilliant and what she stuck, what she’s done, but it’s taken almost if there’s a lot of, there was a lot of men on her board in particular. So a lot of men are used to logic and reasoning and I’d want to see the numbers and what sits behind it. But she’s almost over time built that permission to bring her intuition into conversations that are hunches.

And her just, this is what I think this is what I feel. But it’s taken time. And I think at the heart of that all starts with you. It all starts with connecting back to that. Why call your cup of tea voice? Like if Susie was sat here, we’d be now. I probably be in a way and chatting away, but if I was asked what she wants to drink, it’s just that intuitive knowing hot drink, cold drink, cup of tea.

It’s that same cup of tea boys, but then it’s on a bigger scale is what you need when you need it [00:10:00] first, but then it grows into something more grows into. What about your teams grows into what about business? What’s the, what’s our priority? What should our strategy be? And that camp, I think, because that can’t always translate into numbers and data and logic and reasoning.

Sometimes there’s a bit even miscommunicated or it’s just not accepted. It’s a new kind of building that trust and permission. I think that’s kind of like my potted history that. Much more intuitive now, much more in tune. Don’t always listen brilliantly, but definitely an improver.

Suzie: Yeah. And do you know, it’s really interesting because the, when you say like, not feeling accepted, part of that nonacceptance is masculine.

Okay. So in terms of the masculine energy that we can see them face within corporate. The masculine is very logical. It’s very methodical. It’s certain it’s evidence-based. And obviously this is the opposite. So I know even some people and I’d love to, to bust some myths today around this. Some people call it.

Woo. Yeah. She’s meaning [00:11:00] unconventional beliefs. So unquenchable he’s regarded as having little, no scientific basis. Well, in fact, obviously in terms of intuition, as we know it, we have three brains. Yeah. And I know, you know this from your neuroscience background, but we have three brains and it is the heart.

It has the mind. And it also is. And there’s an amazing book by Dr. Orloff. And I’ve done lots of research into this because my help women into, like you said, reads, it’s the, it’s their self-trust, it’s the inner knowing it’s the acknowledging the emotion and being able to respond to it like lightning speed without having to Gaslight yourself without having to question yourself daily.

And basically in her book, she talks about how the actual science behind how. Intuition operates through the entire right side of our brain. So we know this to be true. And it’s through the brain’s hippocampus that this runs through straight, directly into our guts. So it’s the neurons that are literally going from our [00:12:00] gut all the way up to our brain that are connecting us without us having to even think that are responding us and giving us signals all the time saying this is right, this feels wrong.

This is right. This feels wrong. It’s really interesting. Women, women have more connective white matter in this area than what men do in that right. Hemisphere, their brain, which is why as women, we are known to be more intuitively it is. And that’s just the fact. So these are like, this is just biology is how we’re made up.

And I think that’s really important by the way, because. And I’m not going to, you know, whenever I was shut down, whenever I went to speak or like I knew my gut that I should speak how in that meeting, I should say something. It was normally a masculine energy that dampens that voice, you know, that, that dampened that spirit in me to be able to say, listen, I don’t agree because X, Y, and Z, but because blah, blah, blah.

But why? I don’t know. I just have a feeling about X, Y. And I see this happening with so many female leaders where they’re not speaking up because [00:13:00] they do definitely feel something, but then they dump in that amazing, amazing, super power down to either dim themselves around people to make other people feel better or, or basically gaslighting themselves saying, well, I’ll just pretend that I don’t feel that or that, that thing isn’t happening because I feel like I can’t.

You know, be myself or be accepted in this environment. And I certainly, absolutely. I didn’t feel that for, for a majority, I would say, but the further I got up the ranks, the further I went in terms of director and shareholder, I absolutely felt. And I don’t want to use the word silence, but I definitely started to disconnect from my intuition.

And funny enough, when I disconnected from my intuition, it was the times where I was the most miserable. It was the times where I was the most lost. It was the times where I felt so unaligned and I couldn’t work out. At that point. I couldn’t work out with appointment. It was, and all it was, I wasn’t listening to what I knew to be [00:14:00] true.

And I was gaslighting myself so that I could stay where I was, because I was scared. So, I don’t know if any of that resonates with you, Nicola, but that’s kind of in terms of intuition and FEMA leadership, we do have a super power. We should use it more. We should trust it more and we should stop gaslighting ourselves.

Yeah,

Nicola: absolutely. Absolutely. And I do think, um, you know, when, when we talk about men and women, it’s not the way that I talk about it. It’s not about the patriarchy and all men are wrong, or it’s not what it’s about. It’s about knowing that actually biologically and from a neuroscience perspective, men and women just naturally have their own inherent traits.

That just from the way that we’re wired and the way that we put together and our evolution, there’s just different skill sets at the heart of what we, how we are and how we made up. So. Women, for example, hardwired to care more about what people other people think. So the social part of our brain is, is physically or proportionately bigger so we can get more stuck in.

He said, [00:15:00] she said, or I think they think. When we talk about, when I talk about this on the podcast is in men or women, or right. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about the fact that women have these inherent natural, incredible skills that actually can be incredibly complimentary to the men that they’re working with in their organization.

And what, when I look at the gender pay gap, decathlon stats and things, it’s like companies that have more balance, especially right at the very, very top of men and women. They tend to be more successful with tend to be more profitable, to have more employer loyalty, to have, be able to share ideas more and be more open conversations, maybe make more bold and daring decisions cause there’s that intuition and instinct piece.

But then there’s also the action and the logic and the reason. And you bring those together. And that’s where businesses and companies really fry that’s where teams just outperform other teams. That’s where leadership is really inspiring. I want to be part of this leadership rather than being told what to do.

So it’s not, [00:16:00] it’s not something that is one or the other it’s complementing men and women can both have these skills and actually something that men can develop more of that intuition, but it’s naturally more inherent within women. So yeah, absolutely. This usually resonates. I agree with you. The times I was completely miserable.

When I really struggled with anxiety and depression, I wasn’t listening to anything. I dumped down that voice so much that I, I didn’t appreciate her. I didn’t want to listen. I didn’t, you know, it was in a big corporate, well, how could I possibly. You know, time off, how could I still up? How could I, you know, sought to rename myself?

How could I do any of that? Cause actually is huge expectation that it just needs to keep going. And that’s what I ended up struggling hugely with anxiety and depression. That’s what I took mornings. I just, I just don’t want to get out of bed this morning. I’d hold my breath to see what would happen.

It’s like, well, that’s because. Suppressed my emotions and my feelings and my inner voice. And you can’t suppress selectively. So you just suppress

Suzie: everything. and he’s really interesting. I heard this [00:17:00] saying, and I don’t know way up by, so we start for me is intuition. Is your CEO intellectual COO. And I love because you see a really is the visionary piece, you know, is in an a not knowing it’s the, I’m going to make this really scary move.

I have no idea why it doesn’t make sense, but I know it to be true because I feel it, I feel it in my gut and, you know, Successful CEOs do that. They make the scary moves. They jumped before they are now. And they’re going to new paradigms, even though it’s so uncertain, even though they have no idea, you know, in terms of what that’s going to give back at some point, it’s not all the time, but those are the people that really, you know, set the world.

A lie. And for me, absolutely throughout my, whether it be free career or whether it be now in my business, I’m daily checking in with myself. I’m no longer Gaslight [00:18:00] myself. I ask her every single day, intuitively what is going on intuitively be guided intuitively. What does this feel like? You know, when I’m having team meetings, intuitively I’m checking in with them.

I’m kind of using that power. Which I had switched off and I, you know, I CA I can’t actually, I can’t put it down to a day or time, but I can actually put down to, I would say matter of months when I switched that intuition off. And when I switched it off, it was, I switched off purposely to suppress the pain of the fact that I wasn’t aligning properly to my life.

So I wasn’t aligning to my life properly. Many times, obviously the leaders, but also it’s definitely with women in business where they do corporate, they set their business up and they’re just, haven’t unpacked all that baggage. We’ve talked about this phone after they haven’t unpacked all that actual heavy baggage they think they have, and it shows up in their core business, but really, and truly what’s happened [00:19:00] is.

You can’t run a business. If you don’t have self-trust as end of story, like you CA you can run it to a certain degree, but you’ll never run it fully to the possible potential. And actually, this is where intuition and self-trust goes hand in hand because the more we talk to her, the more we listen to her, the more we’re guided by her and allow her to guide us.

And I call mine or her, you can call yours whatever you want, but, um, she. Definitely pink, pink energy. And she is sitting around my solar plexus got area and she talks to me and intuitively the more I do that, the more I have that, um, it’s almost like a highway system of trust, like brain to gut, gut to brain is so fast.

It’s like nightmare. Everything in business and you’ll find in life as well. Just everything speeds up your decision-making speeds up your ability to just trust that whatever happens next will be okay. And I think the points where I was mostly lost in my corporate career as a leader was where. I switched [00:20:00] off.

I wasn’t aligning, I didn’t want her to keep nudging me anymore. So I suppressed just six you’ve described and she became so dampened and quiet that, um, she stopped nudging me. She stopped acknowledging she stopped trying to wake me up and I fell into a trance. Is there any way I can describe it? So for me, self-trust is key with intuition because you can’t build one without the other.

Yeah. Yeah. And there’s a real integrity piece here where, you know, you have to be integral with, with who you are as a person or scented glee. And then it’s about when you feel that that movement in your gut, that intuition it’s about being congruent with your. With whatever you do. So being congruent with your actions to ensure that it is following up with the gut.

So if the gut says, do X and you are congruent with that, usually in a hundred percent alignment and things start to flow. Yeah. And it’s the only way I can really [00:21:00] describe the reason why I see so many leaders being lost and then becoming successful is they start to tap into that innate power, which is leading their teams or leading by example of actually tapping into that beautiful system of intuition that’s within us.

Nicola: Yeah, absolutely. It’s almost like meeting it. Isn’t it? It’s almost like you’ve just. She, she surfer, she’s there for a period of time and she’s there nudging you, but at some point it becomes so muted that you just don’t hear it anymore. So like I said, for me, I call it, um, we, my clients could a cup of tea voice, and it’s that tapping back in.

And it starts with the very basics of what do you need that day. So for clients that have lost that connection that are so focused on everyone else and focused on what their team need, what are the, what does the board need? What are people expecting? What my family needing from. And it’s like, well, let’s strip it back and let’s start, start the day we’ve walked.

You, what’s going on for you today? What do you [00:22:00] need today? How can you support yourself today? And just starting that conversation and just starting to curate the voice and nurture it rather than switch it off, ignore it. And then at some point it would just become switched off. I don’t know for me, I, like I said, I’m an improver less than to have.

That’s how I was like, it’s almost, I think, cause I’ve, um, my fields, they can almost nudge me back to that voice and say like, you eat, you need a hug. Do you need some food? Or do you need a nap? And it’s that always, I, you know, I know it’s not a permission piece, but it’s almost like, I think to, I speak to things.

So sometimes it’s just that being able to speak it and voice it it’s then I can put it into action and just reconnecting to her and she’s like, well, what do I need actually, today? Today’s. Quite a large days, quite a lot. So actually then today it’s okay to say, I’m just going to stop for them. I’m just going to stop and relax and take dogs to the beach and switch off a bit.

That’s okay. You don’t need to build an entire empire in one day. So yeah, I just love that. So if [00:23:00] someone, if a, if someone’s listening to this and they’ve really resonating, but they feel like they’ve become a bit disconnected from that voice. How do they start to kind of nurture a again, how do start to draw out that intuition that can really help the dust

Suzie: Celtra.

Yeah, that’s a pretty good question because a lot of people face the first things first for me, I get people to connect with the inner child. Okay. So, and there’s a really, if, if that sounds scary, please don’t be scared because there are different levels of different levels of connecting with her. And if anyone’s listening is on inner child work before brilliant.

And if you haven’t, don’t worry. So. Really, I get them to start with some mirror work. Um, and I don’t know if you’ve done liver work before Nicola, but there’s a fabulous book on it, by the way. Yeah. And it’s the reason why is if you haven’t got, I mean, listen, I’ve done years and years of self-development, um, 20 years and.

To this day, sometimes you will always [00:24:00] need help from someone to help you here, but you can do some of this stuff from books. And one of the great books is mirror work by Louise hay. And it’s, she takes you on this journey of how to face yourself in a mirror, because here’s the thing. When we are not connected with our intuition, we are not connected with ourselves in the story.

Yeah, there’s just disconnect completely. And if we are disconnected with ourselves, the disconnection isn’t from really the here now today, the disconnects happen a long time ago. Usually, you know, when we find ourselves absolutely lost, we disconnected long time ago and we need to find out where. And usually in order to really get that strength in that gut, it’s going back to that little girl.

It’s going back to who she was, who she still is within you. And it’s looking at her directly. So that’s not number one. Number one is. Doing some mirror work and looking at your inner child so that you can reconnect on a much deeper level. The other [00:25:00] thing that I always take my clients through is heart coherence work.

Now it really isn’t massively big, but it is just getting very quiet with yourself. And it’s just getting quiet with your heart in the morning. Putting. Whichever hand feels good for you over that hot place and just making yourself still, you know, for a couple of minutes, just getting still. And I know by the way, from the corporate world listens to thinking still for two minutes, how is practice?

I’m very mindful now and meditate, you know, this has taken years, this isn’t like something that happens overnight for me. So. Well, I’m going to say is be patient and it’s practices just like allowing yourself two to three minutes in the morning, put your hand over your heart and just ask yourself about what you said, neckline, but, you know, coming from that real heart space of what do you need today?

What support do you need today? And listening to the feedback [00:26:00] between your heart and your gut, because they love to work in tandem. They love to work in tandem, and I’ve got amazing saying about that, but I’m going to keep track and then I’ll come back to this beautiful quote that I’m going to let you know about, but it’s listening and that’s all it is because when you’re doing this work, when you’re just letting your heart and your gut.

Beautiful conversation. And then you start to involve the mind. What happens is you start to build really beautiful friendships and like any friendship. If you listen and you pay attention, they flourish. And when that flourishes, you start to be able to really tap in and trust. This comes onto the self-trust because your you’re listening.

And actually a lot of the times all our body wants to do is it just wants us to listen. You know, if it’s tired, it just wants you to sit down. If it’s exhausted, it just wants you to take note that maybe you should slow down a bit. So heart coherence from me is like a non-negotiable every morning, cause it’s two to three minutes and actually pays off massively.

And I sometimes also do that before I go to. [00:27:00] Depending on what kind of day I’ve had. The other thing is really just getting very quiet in nature. Yeah. Now I have a dog. So that helps now you do too. Sometimes it’s not as, quite as I’d like it with her, but anyway, that’s another story I love, love, love, love to listen to the rustling of the trees.

I love to listen to the birds. I love some getting really mindful, but actually as I’m getting mindful, I’m really starting to develop my listening skills. Okay. Those are absolutely key for being able to connect, to connect to our intuition and connect to our gut. And it feels differently for other people, but for me, I can drop down into that area.

I can drop into it and really ask it what it, what it’s looking for. And I’m not, I’ve already mentioned this, but absolutely. When you start on this journey, If you can do meditation, even if it’s for two minutes, that’s really because it’s the quiet [00:28:00] times that actually give you the most information about yourself.

And I honestly know that at certain times, I didn’t want to get quiet with myself. I did not want to get quiet with no idea what she was going to smell me. And I didn’t want to hear it because if I heard it, I might, I might not be able to unhear it. So that’s like number one. And if I heard, I might have to like leave my job, which I didn’t want to do.

I might have to go. And if my dreams, I have to set this business up. So sometimes. Um, the reason why I’m saying this is, I’m not saying it’s going to be an easy journey for you, but sometimes you just have to get quiet. Now, if you’re already doing all these things, then you are really on your way to ensuring that you’re living in aligned life.

So it’s the small things. And the other thing I would just say, really with this intuition is being kind, taking small, small actions of kindness every day towards yourself. Your intuition loves it. She loves. Because she starts to feed back even in allowed a way. And just [00:29:00] being kind to yourself daily really does massively help.

I suppose, if there were any like store nonbelievers with this, you know, there is no reason why like the U S Navy or tapping into EKU and intuition with leaders and trying to work out scientifically what the hell is going on because they know that leaders that lead with this and that really orange tune with it.

Are able to negotiate that they’re able to make quicker decisions. They’re able to save the lives quicker. You know, there really is a system that our body uses and that people don’t really still understand the house of wise, but doing just small steps like this everyday will really help you. It’s like a muscle, just build the strength of our super power.

Yeah.

Nicola: I love that. I love so much that, and I love. I love how it’s potentially perceived as quite Wuhan. It’s not logical, but actually there’s, you know, the science is there and the way that it works and how it’s actually, you know, [00:30:00] physically, there’s more presence of that within women naturally. And if you’ve adapted yourself a lot and you take it or maybe more masking tendencies, this might feel really alien to you.

You might think, well, it’s not going to work for me, but. The small steps. What have you got to lose, but also just try it on to see how it feels for you and see what see what’s there and just get curious and don’t make it a pressure right. Or wrong thing. Cause that’s not what it’s about. This is about your, you know, your innate connection to yourself.

So this is something, you know, will take time. And if you’re really out of practice, just be, start with where you are and just take those small steps. I really love all of that. Yeah, absolutely. And I think it’s good to it’s really. I encourage you when you hear about being talked in such high levels of leadership, because actually, like I said, this, that very action and goal-focused and doing kind of orientated masculine, and Jen, this is almost that that balance is needed at times with the feminine energy and that just setting, sitting with yourself and just [00:31:00] connecting to that inner voice.

And actually, like you said, the two together is where you’re, you’re incredibly powerful and that’s where you can have all the even more impact and even more influence. And it’s not something that’s taught. It’s not a, it’s not a, it’s not going to be on the leadership model, but actually it’s something that you can take small stack of every day and you can really curate it.

And it’s it’s with you. It’s within your power. Even if at the moment you’re a non-believer you can just start with those small things and be curious and be open, see, see where it leads

Suzie: to the, the, the quote that really sticks in my head. And that I absolutely love is. And I don’t know if you watched it.

It’s actually, this isn’t science isn’t anything. This is Ted lasso. I don’t have a clue if you watched it, but, um, it’s quite popular and there’s a quote basically says, listen to your gut and on your way down to your gut, check in with your heart. Well, because in between these two things, I’ll let you know.

What’s what, and it resonates so much because I, I always used to sometimes go [00:32:00] straight to my stomach, but now I don’t bypass my heart and actually between the two I haven’t gone far wrong. So yeah, it just wanted to share that because actually, if you are working in tandem with those two, you’re very powerful, being more powerful than what, you know, Yeah,

Nicola: I love that.

So just to finish off, because I think we could talk about this all day long. Just, is there a leader that you, um, has really inspired you to just do all this amazing work that you’re doing today?

Suzie: You know, it’s really interesting. Yes, there is an, I was thinking about this question and all the inspired paper world, and actually it came to my first ever, my first ever manager.

The true sense. When I was 18, I was 18 years old and her name is Jan and she was amazing and she’s not with us anymore. And she inspired me because she was very intuitive. I didn’t know that at the time I had no idea at 18 and she spoke her truth. And she was [00:33:00] amazing at leading and she walked her talk.

And it’s really funny because over the years I’ve worked with many people, many different levels and you take what you love from people. Don’t you. I took. And the majority of what I did and went on to do. And that was basically saying it, as it was checking in with the guard, it was really not allowing anyone to push you down.

If you felt like you really had something to say, She was full of light. She was full of equality and justice and was so fair. And to this day I still think of her. I still think of her. I still, she pops up in my head. My husband even talks about her. That’s how much of a role pivotal role she played in my leadership style as well.

I love

Nicola: that. Yeah. I had a similar first manager. He’s not with us anymore, even just for me, it was, she had this real expertise and knowledge, but she also had this real reading credit bit credible way of kind of pushing [00:34:00] you and knowing where you could get to, but just this incredible way of just coaching you in a way you didn’t even know you were being coaching that was really gentle, but also just meant that you wanted to knew that you could do more.

And just as meetings having the knowledge and expertise, but also having this really calm. Way of approaching it when situations potentially we’re going to get emotional a bit, a bit. And yeah, I just, it’s amazing. When you look back, you think of that, that you said you take from people, what you love. Is there a bit that’s really you’re, you’re like me, you’re a bit of a geek and a lifeline, lifelong learner.

Is there a book that you would recommend to that has really transformed your life and the way that you

Suzie: lead? It’s really interesting because. I’ve many books, Nicola really there. Isn’t just one that I go, oh my God. There’s the star of like coming out of, kind of the corporate world or white, less not coming out, waking up for me, like dare, dare to lead by Bernie [00:35:00] brown.

Yeah. Was K and definitely, um, uh, Henderson in terms of the giant meat. That’s a very old one and a good one, but more recently for me now, as I’ve obviously gone on much more expensive journey, there is an excellent book called existential kink, and it’s all about our shadow. And actually if anyone’s listening, it is really useful in terms of leadership to see.

You know, what parts of you you’re holding back right now. So intuitively or guts probably telling you to X, but you’re not. And that book is really amazing at peeling back the layers of your shadow and actually method for getting you what you actually want. You know, what do you actually want out of your career and what do you want out of your leadership?

Do you want it to look like, feel like? So I think, um, for me that has been a fabulous awakening book. And then the other one I’m going to have to mention it. Sorry. NYCLA is radical awakening by Dr. Shefali. And that actually only came out this year and it’s phenomenal. And if anyone in corporate is finding that they are, I don’t know, maybe a bit lost and wearing the [00:36:00] mask that we all wear.

That book is amazing for peeling back the layer of the mask and who you

Nicola: are and waking up. Love it love it. We’ll pop those in the show notes as well. And finding what does find your fire mean to you?

Suzie: Find a fire for me means literally stepping into the middle of your source into the middle of your power, standing in it so firmly that you are unshakeable and being able to voice whatever comes up.

That is your truth so that you can live in a much more powerful. And I love the condo fire Nicola. I love that because for me, it is about rising up. It is about speaking out. It is about, you know, not, not, you know, gas, I’ve said this so many times, but as women, we Gaslight ourselves day in, day out for what we truly want.

It’s about claiming your desires going through.

Nicola: Love it love it. Absolutely. And finally, where can people find more about what you do

Suzie: now? So [00:37:00] very simply they can go to Instagram where I am most days popping inspirational posts, and that is at Susie Cuthbertson. And you’ll also find me on my website at WW dots in puffers and

Nicola: brilliant.

And we’ll pop all those details in the show notes. But thank you for today, perhaps that you loved it and just a notch back for me. Just keep tuning into that intuition and taking those small steps. And thank you so much. Thank

Suzie: you. Thanks for having me.

Nicola: You’ll love them and we’ll see you on the next podcast step.

So by everyone I took about really resonates with you and you love what I have to say. And you have moments and flashes of inspiration from the podcast. I would invite you to get in touch, to find out how I can help you. So individually, that can be through my coaching focus program for my VIP program, depending on how you like to learn and what will suit you, or I can help you in your organization to really help the women that you work with across the organization at all different levels.

And at [00:38:00] that very senior level to really feel empowered and to know that they can reach the very, the most senior levels in that organization and to give them the. In who they are and the clarity and what they want to be able to get there. And we do that through workshops, do that through leadership programs, and we can do that.

Free consulting work. If you are looking for help with any of that, drop me an email nycla@nicholasschoolco.com. The spelling’s not the easiest. So all the details were in the show notes results I get for clients. Clients have been promoted twice in the six months we’ve worked together. They’d been invited to join the board.

They’ve gone from redundancy to being offered three dreams. They’ve gone from being pushed out of an organization to going into bigger organization and a bigger role with a bigger pay rise and just a quote from a client that I particular. I’ve gone from the pit of despair. When I started working with Nick to just being really fucking happy and she is an incredibly empowered leader.

Now, if you’re not quite ready for that, you can download my overwhelmed on fire guide the [00:39:00] details that are in the show notes, but that really helps you everyday to stay in your fire. So it helps you to clear your head, helps you to come back to what’s important to you, and it helps you to have that most impact and influence every single day.

It’s a little Quip sheet that you can just go through and tick. So go and download that. Or you can subscribe to my newsletter, which comes out every Friday, which is a Roundup of the week. Really. So what’s going on in my world. What’s a blog for that week, a quick video, that’s going to help your particular subject.

And it’s all about helping female leaders to find their fire and also stats and, and any research from the industry as well. And things that I’m reading the. Um, recommendations that we’re making. So go and subscribe to that. And finally, for the podcast, if you haven’t done so already, I would love you to go and leave us a review and subscribe so that you never miss an episode.

And you’re always going to have the win that release and doing that as well. Not only helps you, but it also means that we’re going to reach more women and we’re going to be able to start that [00:40:00] revolution to helping female leaders to keep that. Find that fire and keep it. So keep that passion, that purpose and excitement.

So if you haven’t done that already, please go and do that. Thank

Suzie: you.