July 14, 2026

What Lights You Up

Show Notes
Transcript

Join me with Mary Olson-Menzel a renowned expert in career and workplace success. Her life’s work includes helping leaders at all levels channel what “what lights them up”. We’ll be discussing how you can create a fulfilling and successful next big step in your life and career. Should be a fun and enlightening discussion.

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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

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solely those of the host and their guests and not

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those of W4CY Radio, its employees or affiliates. We make

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directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W4CY Radio.

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Good morning, everybody. Good afternoon. Good evening. Thank you so

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much for joining the show. It's so much fun to

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interview all these wonderful, outstanding people and learn from their

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experiences and their reflections and their transitions and how you

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move through life to all your next phases. And today,

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I'm thrilled to have Mary Olson-Hill. Menzel with me. Mary

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and I met, we're part of the same group. You'll

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probably hear this a lot, the Marshall Goldsmith group. And

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we met recently in Washington, D.C. And we know each other,

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of course, but we just had such a great conversation.

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And I loved Mary's insight. And I thought she would

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be wonderful on this show. And Mary really is an

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expert in career and workplace success. Over 30 years, actually.

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And she's just been an anchor of programs. And her

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life's work includes helping leaders at all levels and channels

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light them up. What a great expression. She's a best-selling author.

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She speaks all over the world. She does workshops all

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over the world. And she's winging off on vacation this

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time over to Spain, which is good for you. So

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what lights you up? illustrates your past and takes the

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next big step in your career. I love that. And Mary,

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what got you to that title? What lights you up?

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I loved it.

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Oh my gosh, Linda. I'm so happy to be here,

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first of all. So thank you. The two things worth sharing. One,

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I was born on Christmas Eve, which is kind of,

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you know, the season of lights. So my origins come

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from light. And then my parents, when I was little,

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I had such a natural exuberance that they used to

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call me Mary Sunshine. And so when I thought back

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to who the most successful leaders that I've ever seen

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or coached or worked with were, they were the ones

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who had that inner light, the ones who walked into

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a room and you just knew that they were there.

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It was almost like they sparked joy the moment they

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walked into the room. So it all revolved around light

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and Wow.

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And you were born on Christmas Eve. What state or

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country were you born in?

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I was born in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States

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of America.

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Yay. Wow. That's great. And then through your journey in life,

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what put you into the idea, which you are exuberant,

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by the way, what put you into the idea of

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you know, making this into a career path for you.

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How did you transition from where you were into the

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early roles that you played? Yes.

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Oh gosh. You know, I am the queen of pivots

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for sure. Oh, I love that.

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Queen of pivots.

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A very circuitous career path. I started my career as

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a television reporter. So this is really fun for me

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because I love talking to audiences and But from there,

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I realized that I needed to teach aerobics, work at

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the clinic counter at a mall and report the news

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and quickly realized that I could make more money elsewhere.

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So I ended up going to interview for a job

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with a recruiting firm and they saw something in me

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and said, would you like a job here? I basically

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kind of fell into recruiting, taking my interviewing skills From

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reporting the news and my natural curiosity about what makes

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people tick and helping them find jobs. And from there,

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went into the tech world and then into corporate America

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and built an internal recruitment center of excellence for a

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Chicago-based media company. And then started really, really getting excited

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about coaching and really, really excited about elevating people to

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be the best they can be.

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Well, that's a heck of a question, Mary. That's really interesting.

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So how did you actually make that transition from an

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emotional and physical perspective?

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Which one, Linda?

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That's true. You have been through numerous, numerous careers, but

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what's been the kind of internal spark that helped you

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transition to those various different places? Yes.

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Well, first, I love that you use the word spark, right?

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Because that spark is real. And when you are in

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a job that you don't love, that spark doesn't always,

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it's not always there. And so what I realized, I

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was young and naive, and I knew I just needed

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to make more money. So that was actually the first

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transition was really about, okay, how do I pay the

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bills and keep the lights on in my house?

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Money is a big motivator. Yeah.

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Yeah. Especially when you're young and you need to make

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it to pay the bills.

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Right.

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But then, you know, from there, I realized how much

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I loved recruiting and how much I helped loved helping

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people and helping people find jobs and helping people find

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jobs that they loved and then seeing them thrive in

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those jobs. And then, you know, as a, I always

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like to call it a business anthropologist, but you know,

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when I, You're studying people and you're looking at what

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motivates them, what inspires them. And that's what drew me

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to coaching. Because I really saw the difference of people

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who were motivated and inspired by the work that they do.

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So how did you run into Marshall? Because I'm assuming

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he was your nexus into coaching.

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He wasn't, believe it or not.

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Oh, interesting.

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No, I had a really amazing mentor at Tribune Company

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who saw something in me and started coaching. helping me

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get trained in coaching. And then from what I did

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at Tribune Company and in this corporate environment, I was

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so happy there, loving my life, loving my job. But

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for family reasons, we had to move from Chicago to

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New York. And so I worked for a couple of

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different firms, coaching, recruiting, doing business development, and realized that

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I needed to do it on my own because I really,

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really cared so deeply about the people And because of

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my coaching training and background, I started a firm that

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was recruiting and coaching. And so what we would do

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at MVP was we would place an executive, but we

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would coach them and help them onboard for success through

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their first three, six, nine months of the job. And

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then that coaching just started catapulting. And then you fast

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forward to 2020, when everybody needed to know how to

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lead through crisis, lead through a remote workforce and all

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of those things, that's when our coaching business even took

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off more. And that is when I met a guy

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by the name of Mark Golston, who asked me to

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partner with him on a couple coaching projects. And once

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he had experienced our work together, he said, you need

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to meet Marshall. You need to meet Marshall. And so

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that's how it all unfolded. Yeah.

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Wow. That's very interesting. You know, it's also interesting that

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you say that because I was doing coaching from a

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corporate perspective. And one of the things that I learned

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is you had to put 30, 60, 90 days of

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coaching in with the new executive. Because if they didn't

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get it, they were coming into a culture that would

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eat them alive, even though the culture wanted to change.

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And they would flame out after 18 months. And the

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ones that had the coaching... and continued to be reflective

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about their life and what they were doing and how

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they were, were the ones that ended up being expensive, excellent.

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And you know, it costs companies a lot of money

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to recruit executives.

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It sure does.

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If they don't make it, oh well, it's more than

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oh well.

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Yeah. Yeah. And then it's triple the cost. It's triple

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the cost. You've got to replace them. Yeah. It's really

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costly and it costs you morale.

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Totally.

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Executives come and go and they see people flaming out

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and that's not good for morale. So it's got a really,

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a big 360 degree view of effects that happens in

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a corporation when an executive fails.

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Impacting the whole thing. So what did you learn about

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yourself through this transition? These transitions.

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Yes, these transitions. You know, every transition was based on

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either being open to an opportunity, Linda, or realizing that

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my light was starting to dim and knowing that I

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needed to make a change. And so it's what I

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realize and what I tell people all the time is

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you have to pay attention. Are you getting those Sunday

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scaries where you don't want to go into the office

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on Monday? That's something that you want to pay attention to.

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to and start to really say what is it that's

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making me feel that way and what do i need

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to do.

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About it yeah yeah that's that is very true i

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do think i mean my premise sort of in starting

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this i got inspired when i was did you go

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to london no but i want to go this year

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are you gonna go.

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I don't know.

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I haven't signed up for it yet. Maybe. I think

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I'm thinking about it. Let's put it that way. But,

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you know, I started to get to that point where

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I just wasn't inspired anymore. And it's been a long

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time in my life since that really happened. And, you know,

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I knew I had to make a major shift, a

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la the radio show and the TV show. So it's

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been a really great learning experience because I'm meeting people

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that I know, but I'm finding out about them at

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a much deeper level. deeper level.

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And you're letting other people get to know them, which

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is so magical, Linda. Thank you.

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Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's just so great.

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So what, what, what do you see next for yourself, Mary? Oh, okay.

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So book number one has been out in the world

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for a year and a half, and I'm in talks

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with the publisher on a new proposal for book number two.

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Great.

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One of the things that really lights me up is

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speaking and inspiring people to give them more hope and

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direction in their leadership and in their careers. So, you know,

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what lights you up that's sitting behind me.

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Over there.

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Is, you know, I think the stepping off point for

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maybe a what lights you up for leaders, we're kind

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of keeping it under wraps right now, but it'll have

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a very big and deep leadership bent about illuminating potential

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in others yeah so that's one of the things and

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then um gosh well i mean you you did announce

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that i am going to europe today so that's really

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on my radar right now.

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Well i'm jealous because i want to go back to

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portugal and spain there's such beautiful places but i I

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was going to ask you, what advice do you have

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for people? Or how do people, when they get in

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a rut, because there's a lot of people in their 50s,

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you know, have had good careers. They're making decent money.

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They're scared to step out of where they are because

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they're afraid that the next thing won't be good or

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they'll flame out. How do people get out of a rut?

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Because it's usually psychological. And how do they get that?

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courage to really take that next step?

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I think part of it is putting together a plan, right? Well,

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number one, recognizing it, right? And if you're ignoring it,

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you're not going to get out of that rut, right?

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You want to recognize those feelings, those feelings of unease

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or that your light's dimming just a little bit and

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then saying to yourself, okay, well, this is happening and

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I can either figure out how to grow and build

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on where I am. And maybe that will be great.

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Or I can create a plan to what's next. And

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so that I say, I really want people to pay

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attention to the moments in their day when they're in

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the flow. My mom and my brother are artists. My

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mom was an artist. My brother is a brilliant artist.

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And he loses track of time when he is painting.

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And you can tell because it's almost like he's channeling

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something even greater than him during the process. So what

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are those moments when you're in the flow? Linda, I'm

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guessing you're in the flow when you're interviewing people for

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your show. Starting to jot those down, write those down,

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and then pay attention to the patterns. That's, you know,

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the second step really is where am I when I'm

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at my best and what am I doing?

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Yeah. And have you found, Mary, I mean, I found...

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that sometimes there are people that just bring you down.

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And what do you do about that? I mean, you

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can be surrounded sometimes by people that just bring you

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down and they're not in the flow. And how do

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you deal with that? How do you keep your light excited? Yeah.

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When you're surrounded by yours.

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Oh, gosh.

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I mean, It's interesting because I think part of it,

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once again, starts on the work you do inside, right?

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And we all have difficult clients. We all have co-workers

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that might frustrate us at times. If it's a real

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energy thing that they're draining your energy, that's one thing.

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But if it's something that you can work through with

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open and honest conversations, that's another thing, right? But my

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recommendation is to make sure that you're taking care of

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yourself first, because when you are grounded in your own

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truth and in your own power, it's easier to shut

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out the noise of those negative EORs.

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Yeah. It's hard to do those sometimes, you know, you

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get into patterns and, you know, like Marshall always said,

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you know, what got you there won't get you, what

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got you there won't get you here or whatever that

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thing is. Right, exactly. And the advice is simple, but

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as one begins to realize those simple advices really require

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you to dig deep into your own emotion and your

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own psyche and face into things that you may not

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want to face in. And I think if you can't

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do that, you can't move on to the next for yourself.

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I agree. I think it takes, and you know, in

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our coaching program, the one that I wrote the book,

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What Lights You Up about, it's a 10-step pivot program.

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The first step is going very, very deep with executives.

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Where are you today? What's working for you? What's not?

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And take, you know, really taking an honest look of

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your present moment.

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Mm-hmm.

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But a lot of people, like you said, are afraid

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to do that. It's scary to look in the mirror

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every once in a while.

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It is.

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We get older. Right.

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Especially as we get older, it's not looking good.

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Exactly. But I think self-reflection is a lost art and

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we're all trying to bring it back as coaches, right?

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I think this is the good fight that we're all

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kind of marching towards is making sure that people don't

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forget to have that self-reflection so that they know where

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their starting point is. And I would also say, we

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talked a little bit, Linda, about self-care. So if you

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think about my self-care routine, we've talked about the fact

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that I still have a 16-year-old at home. And once

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he goes out the door, I know I'm going to

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have either a speaking event or a workshop or back-to-back Zooms.

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And I make sure that I meditate. And then I

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work out that I'm grounding my body, mind, and spirit.

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I love where I go out on a stage or

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before I get on a zoom or radio or TV show.

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Yeah.

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Yeah. I want to bring the best of myself to

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you and to everybody else.

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Yeah. That's really important. That, that self-reflection, that internal reflection. And,

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and I don't, I don't think people do enough of

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enough of it. And I don't think they know how

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to do it. I don't, I mean, given all the

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education I've had and all of the things that I've

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worked with executives as you, you would think that I

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would do that more, but I don't.

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Well, because we move in a really fast paced world, Linda.

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And if we don't get really intentional about it, we're

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just going to keep going with our to do list.

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And I think one of the things that's so powerful

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for me and I think, you know, powerful for many

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of our colleagues in the 100 coaches and in the

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world is is starting that day with gratitude. I have

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two women that I text every morning about the things

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that I'm grateful for that day.

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Oh, I love that. Yes.

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And so we're kind of accountability partners to tell each

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other what we're grateful for and celebrate each other as well.

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But once you start looking at the world through eyes

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of gratitude, it starts to subtly shift and you find

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more things to be grateful for, like a a good

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cup of coffee or, you know, a conversation with a friend. Right.

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Right. Well, maybe I should have Chester Elton on. He's

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the expert on gratitude, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

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Look at, I have a little, I have this little

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stone that Chester gave me.

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Oh, yeah. Very cute. I have one of his stuffed

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carrots that he gave me. Remember those stuffed carrots that

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you used to throw around? So, so if you were

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going to say, one thing or a couple of things

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to people. I mean, I love this gratitude call. It's easy,

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but it takes five minutes.

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Yeah. I mean, you couldn't say like, sorry, I didn't

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mean to cut you off.

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No, no, go ahead.

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You know, like keep it simple, right? Good cup of

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coffee conversation with a friend. It doesn't have to be

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big when you're starting. Oh, it's not raining today. I'm

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really grateful for that here in New York, you know? Yeah.

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Right.

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Well, I'm just the opposite.

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It was raining last night down here, and we're in

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the throes of a horrible drought, and I'm grateful. It's raining.

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I'm really grateful for the rain.

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So if you were going to say, Mary, I'm thinking

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about your top 10 tickets for success, and I was

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looking at that, and a couple of the, they're all great,

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00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:51.200
so if anybody hasn't gotten Mary's book, get it, it's

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a fabulous book, but practice empathy and authenticity. I think

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that's hard for people. How do you practice empathy and authenticity?

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Well, yes, it is hard, right? And although there are

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those of us that are natural empaths and I feel

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the energy the moment I walk into a room and I'm.

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Like, that's why you connect. We connected. Yeah.

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This is the way I'm like, wait, sometimes I don't

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know if I want to necessarily feel all that energy. Right.

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Right.

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But, you know, empathy really meaning that you can put

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yourself in somebody else's shoes. Right. And say, how would

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I be reacting if I walked a mile in their shoes,

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so to speak. So really being able to have some

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emotional intelligence around other awareness, not just self-awareness, right? We

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talked about that, you know, grounding ourselves and self-care reflection,

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that's self-awareness, but having that other awareness really can help

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you create empathy. And then authenticity is something that I think,

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you know, our young generation of kids are so much

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better at it in certain ways because they walk into

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a situation.

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Yes.

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They're worried about their, you know, posts on social media

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and things like that, but they're pretty true to who

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they are. And so I think that one of the

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things that we grew up with in corporate America was,

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you know, we had to put on the blue suit

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and the white pearls and, you know, we had to

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show up a certain way, right?

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I deliberately didn't wear my white pearls today.

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Exactly.

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Right.

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And I love pearls. I mean, I wore them for

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millions of years in corporate America and I still wear them,

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but you know, having to conform was, it then became

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a little bit scary to be so authentic.

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Right.

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And I think what we really need to realize is

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that If we're not authentic, we are doing a disservice

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to not only ourselves, but to the company and to

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those around us. Because we're not bringing our natural gifts

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and our own talents to the forefront.

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Right. Well, if you're not authentic, you know, you're kind

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of play acting. Yeah. You're play acting in a role

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that you think you need to play in order to

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be successful. Yes.

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