Susanne Mueller Consulting, Manhattan, NY (2026)

10/14/2026

Team & Training
In Thun, Switzerland, my hometown (pronounced like cartoon) there is a place called Bunter Hund.

In New York, there is Café Joyeux.

Two cities, two countries, one idea: when you give people a real place on the team and real training to grow into it, everyone is better for it.

That is the T in STEPS: Team & Training.

Most of us say we want to lead inclusive teams. Few of us train for it. We train for budgets, for strategy, for the next promotion. But the leadership you want next needs practice today.

- Are you training for the leadership you want next?
- Are you becoming the leader you would like to have?

The best leaders I know did not wait for the title. They trained for it, one step at a time, one day at a time.

Leadership FIT is built in the daily reps.

Susanne Mueller, MA, PCC
susannemueller.biz

10/13/2026

Musing and celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month

Start

Last week I walked into Café Joyeux in New York for a coffee. I walked out with a leadership lesson.

The coffee was excellent. The service came with a real smile. And the team making it all happen is a team that many workplaces still overlook.

Here is the leadership question I keep coming back to: who is missing from the table you are building?

Every strong leadership journey begins with the S in STEPS: Start. Not with a strategy deck, but with an honest look at who we include, who we don’t, and why.

Inclusion is not a program we add on. It is where Leadership FIT begins. FIT means being ready and suited to lead the workforce we actually have, and the one that is coming.

Where and when will you start?

10/10/2026

Who Is Beside You at the Start Line

Leadership gaps close faster when we notice who is hesitating.

Wharton professor Katy Milkman and Sophia Pink suggest a small habit for colleagues and allies: when you see a qualified woman hold back from a role, gently remind her that men tend to apply anyway, and that she does not have to let a stereotype decide.

That is Support in action, the same thing that carried me through every long training block. Nobody gets to a finish line alone.

As the African proverb says,
"if you want to walk far, walk together."

The authors are cautious but hopeful that the same mechanism could work beyond women's leadership. That is why Leadership FIT is for every leader and every team that is getting ready for what is next.

Here is my question for you: what will you do that feels hard, but is possible for you?

Small leadership circles start this fall. Learn more or test your Leadership FIT.

Your safety comes first: you know your own limits, so listen to them before taking on any new physical challenge.

10/10/2026

Who Is Beside You at the Start Line

Leadership gaps close faster when we notice who is hesitating.

Wharton professor Katy Milkman and Sophia Pink suggest a small habit for colleagues and allies: when you see a qualified woman hold back from a role, gently remind her that men tend to apply anyway, and that she does not have to let a stereotype decide.

That is Support in action, the same thing that carried me through every long training block. Nobody gets to a finish line alone.

As the African proverb says,
"if you want to walk far, walk together."

The authors are cautious but hopeful that the same mechanism could work beyond women's leadership. That is why Leadership FIT is for every leader and every team that is getting ready for what is next.

Here is my question for you: what will you do that feels hard, but is possible for you?

Small leadership circles start this fall. Learn more or test your Leadership FIT.

Your safety comes first: you know your own limits, so listen to them before taking on any new physical challenge.

10/08/2026

A Spark Is Not a PlanA nudge can get you to apply. It cannot get you the job.

One honest detail from the Wharton study: most of the extra applications came on the same day women saw the message, and the effect faded quickly afterward. Motivation is a spark, and sparks need fuel.

In my STEPS leadership framework, the spark is the Start.

The rest is the work:Team & Training: surround yourself with people who support you no matter what, and do the 2% of the work nobody wants to do. If it were easy, everyone would.Evaluation: look honestly at where you stand today.Pace: plan a realistic week, project, or race. On Kilimanjaro the guides say pole, pole (slowly, slowly). Obstacles teach us something or tell us we are going too fast.Success: race day is the dessert on the menu. The real meal is the months of training before it.

Which STEPS letter is your weakest right now? Reply with FIT and I will point you to a quick way to find out.

Your safety comes first: you know your own limits, so listen to them before taking on any new physical challenge.

Susanne Mueller, MA, PCC
susannemueller.biz

10/07/2026

Not About Confidence

We keep trying to fix leaders. What if the better question is whether the leader fits what is next?

The Wharton researchers were clear that their message was not about making women more confident. It was about helping them see a harmful stereotype and choose to go against it. The researchers call the mechanism stereotype reactance.

That changes the conversation. Nothing was wrong with these women. They needed a clearer view of the pattern around them.

It reminds me of training. Nobody became a marathon runner because someone gave a pep talk. I became one by noticing what was possible, then showing up for the work. Once I allowed myself to compete, with others and mostly with myself, the workplace felt different too. A healthy, friendly competition is nothing to apologize for.

>>That is how I think about Leadership FIT.

>>FIT here means suitability and readiness for what is next, not fitness.

Where have you been told you are not supposed to compete?

Your safety comes first: you know your own limits, so listen to them before taking on any new physical challenge.

DM Susanne Mueller

10/06/2026

FIT for What's Next
Why are capable women still missing from so many leadership roles?

Women start their careers in similar numbers to men, then gradually drop off the path to leadership. Most fixes so far have focused on the women: more confidence, more ambition, harder negotiating.

A Wharton study led by PhD student Sophia Pink tried something simpler. On an executive job platform, 4,245 women saw one of two messages. The one that told them women tend to compete less than men led to over 20% more job applications on the day they saw it.

Pink's explanation: "Once you know you're not 'supposed' to do it, you want to more."

I know that feeling from the road. "You can never run a marathon." I have finished 26. "You can never complete an Ironman." I crossed that finish line in 2015.

What is something you were told you could not do, and did anyway? Share it below.

Tomorrow: why this works, and why it is not about confidence.

10/05/2026

Monday is Podcasting Day "Take it from the Ironwoman" - a finalist for Women in Cloud for "Best Podcast of the Year"

Should I Quit My Job? Charles Blechman, CPCC on Bridging Tech, Coaching, and Radical Honesty, Ep. 561

Chuck Blechman — part-time CTO, ACC coach, and proud New Yorker — who's spent his career scratching two itches at once: technology 💻 and human connection 🤝

Chuck traces his signature warmth back to his 98-year-old grandmother, Grandma Lilly, whose answering machine message simply said "I love you" 💛.

🏃‍♂️. Speaking of running — Chuck gets real about injury, rest, and rebuilding: Achilles and calf setbacks that taught him sustainability over stubbornness 🦵⏳.

📉. The episode closes on Chuck's provocative new project, a "Should I quit my job?" decision-support tool 🤔💼 — designed not to hand out a yes-or-no, but to help people uncover the deeper question underneath their restlessness. A rich mix of tech, tenderness, and truth-telling

What are you taking away from this episode?

Link to full podcast in comments

10/04/2026

Not Everyone Runs at the Same Pace

Every team has them. Some people contribute at full stride. Others contribute at 60%. And a few have gone quiet.

A manager who is paying attention sees the tendencies: fewer ideas in meetings, slower replies, the same two people always carrying the load. Before you label it a performance problem, get curious.

Presenteeism often looks like this from the outside.

Sport gives us a better model:

On Kilimanjaro, groups walk "pole pole" (slowly, slowly). Guides check in with each climber every day, so nobody struggles in silence and the whole group gains altitude.

In a relay, every runner has a clear role and a clean handoff.

In a pace group, the goal is not the fastest finisher. It is finishing together.

Your team's pace is not set by your strongest runner. It is set by how well you read the whole group.

Curious how your team is really pacing? Book a conversation: DM Susanne Mueller, MA, PCC (she/her)

Your safety comes first. You know your limits, so listen to them.

09/30/2026

Race Day Doesn't Check the Weather

Leaders are often handed a new role, a new project, or a wave of AI change before they feel fully prepared. And they show up anyway.

That is not a flaw. Sometimes it is simply the job. The real leadership question is how you show up when you are not fully trained for what's in front of you.

In endurance sport, there are mornings when the weather is wrong or the training block was not perfect. You still go to the start line, but you adjust. You set your pace, plan your fuel, and pick a realistic goal for the day.

Leaders can do the same:

Name what you don't know yet.
Set a pace you can sustain.
Ask for support before the wall, not at it.

Pushing harder is not the skill. Pacing wisely is.

What is one place where you are showing up underprepared right now?

Want a training plan for your leadership? Let's talk Susanne Mueller

Your safety comes first. You know your limits, so listen to them.

Susanne Mueller Consulting

10/14/2026

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