Say It Skillfully® OUR VOICES – Wendy Suzuki, the Gift in Anxiety
October 19, 2021
Hosted by Molly Tschang
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Guest Information
Episode Description
Say It Skillfully® is a show that helps you to benefit from Molly Tschang’s expert guidance on the best possible ways to speak your mind at work in a positive and productive manner. Episode 102 is the 17th monthly feature of “Our Voices,” intended to accelerate social change that levels the playing field—helping everyone live to their full potential. World-renowned neuroscientist, Dr. Wendy Suzuki, joins Molly and shares the ups and downs of her journey and how she got UNconventional—off the rails—to find and follow her truth north! Growing up in California, Wendy reflects on her upbringing and what it was like for her parents, who spent time in a World War II Japanese internment camp. Education was revered, sense of community strong through the Buddhist church, piano taught her about the arts, and baseball, basketball, tennis had her active. She shares the serendipity on Day 1 of UC Berkeley—wow’ed by Professor Marion Diamond in “The Brain and Its Potential” seminar on how brains could change and get better... Wendy knew she was to be a neuroscientist. Now an award-winning professor of Neural Science and Psychology at New York University, she is frank about the tenure track and the costs; periods of being friendless, 25 pounds overweight, stressed out with insomnia. She admits to being an “anxiety hider” and describes her struggles with overcoming shyness and fear of being wrong. Her come-to-Jesus moment was in Peru river rafting, realizing, “I’m in my 30s and the weakest person on the trip.” Over 18 months, she got fit and got unconventional—doing the unthinkable for tenured faculty and switched her research focus to the transformative impact of movement on the brain, noting that doing so regularly stimulates new brain cells to increase memory. Wendy also provides a mini-talk on why anxiety is good! And she shares her favorite pandemic discovery—housework is aerobic—and how she created social connection while isolated. Don’t miss this empowering conversation, plus highlights of Wendy’s work—using exercise to make positive changes in our brains. With more than 31 million views on Facebook, her TED talk, The Brain-Changing Benefits of Exercise, was the 2nd most viewed in 2018! And learn from her about the oft misunderstood emotion, anxiety. You can harness the power of anxiety into unexpected gifts! Leading by example, Wendy inspires all to know no boundaries and to commit to taking action so that all can be safe, seen and heard, and our true and best selves. Molly’s thought for the week: Be the change you want to see in the world. LEARN MORE and be happier and healthier through Dr. Suzuki’s books, Good Anxiety and Healthy Brain, Happy Life! https://www.goodanxiety.com #sayitskillfully resources: * If you see a colleague headed toward burnout, here’s how you can tactfully help: https://bit.ly/3hMpzke * All my videos by category here: https://sayitskillfully.com
Say It Skillfully®
Tuesday at 8 AM Pacific Time/11 AM Eastern Time on VoiceAmerica Business Channel
Molly Tschang's Say It Skillfully® is a show that helps you benefit from Molly's guidance on the best possible ways to speak your mind at work in a positive and productive manner. She helps everyone from CEOs to interns to recognize that we are all both part of the problem as well as the solution, and that the path to solving any problem is to say what needs to be said.
Molly is a rare breed: tough enough to advise CEOs and company boards, but empathetic enough to understand the human costs of not allowing talent to shine. She has helped dozens of management teams navigate the human after-effects of mergers and acquisitions, and her show brings her expert guidance to a wider audience.
Say It Skillfully® every Tuesday at 8 AM Pacific Time/11 AM Eastern Time on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel.
Molly Tschang
Molly Tschang helps her clients' organizations gain the skills to Win As One, which most other companies never even try to do. She starts at the top, guiding management to commit to each other’s success and lead as one cohesive unit.
Molly is Founder and CEO of Abella Consulting, a New York-based leadership development and business advisory consultancy that helps senior leaders cultivate the collaborative capacity to elevate individual, team and organizational performance resulting in accelerated sustained, profitable growth. She created and hosts the “Say It Skillfully®” video series on LinkedIn, making it easier for all members of an organization to say what needs to be said in a constructive and productive manner.
Prior to launching Abella, Molly held executive leadership positions at Cisco Systems and U.S. Filter, where she led the integration of over 80 acquisitions. She holds a BS in chemical engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from UCLA. In 2017, Molly was selected from among 12,000 applicants to be a protégé of Marshall Goldsmith through his 100 Coaches initiative. In her downtime, she enjoys tennis, yoga and cooking with family and friends.
