In this episode, Laura sits down with Suezette Yasmin Robotham, bestselling author, global talent and culture executive, executive coach, and keynote speaker, to explore one of the most important and often unasked questions in leadership: who are you when the titles fade away?
Drawing from her book Beyond Titles: Fearlessly Leading as Your Authentic Self, Suezette brings two decades of experience shaping leadership at some of the world’s most recognized organizations, including Google, Meta, Gartner, and Salesforce, to a conversation that is equal parts practical and deeply personal.
Together, Laura and Suezette unpack what it really means to lead from the inside out. They explore how values serve as an anchor in seasons of transition, uncertainty, and burnout, and what it looks like when a leader is quietly out of alignment with what matters most to them. Suezette also introduces a powerful reframe around skills-based identity, challenging leaders to stop defining themselves by the roles they’ve held and start recognizing the transferable strengths they carry into every room.
The conversation takes a turn into heart work, addressing the internal fears that keep people tethered to titles long after those titles have stopped serving them. And in one of the episode’s most powerful moments, Laura and Suezette speak directly to the reality that over 600,000 Black women have been laid off in recent months. With honesty and grace, Suezette holds space for two women who may be listening at the same time: the one who is grieving, and the one who is quietly relieved.
This episode is for every leader who has ever wondered whether they are enough without the credential, the corner office, or the LinkedIn headline to back them up. The answer, Suezette makes clear, has always lived inside you.
Aligned with Season 8’s theme Leaning Into Joy, this episode is an invitation to release performative leadership and step into something more grounded, more courageous, and more authentically yours.
About Suezette
Suezette Yasmin Robotham is a best-selling author, global talent and culture executive, executive coach, and keynote speaker with two decades of experience shaping leadership in an AI-accelerated world. She has led talent and leadership strategy at Google, Meta, Gartner, and Salesforce, and advises global organizations on building cultures rooted in clarity, accountability, and trust.
A TEDx speaker and featured voice in the award-winning SeeHer Multiplicity docuseries, Suezette is known for helping leaders move beyond performative leadership and lead with discernment, courage, and alignment. Known for her warmth, wit, and unflinching honesty, she is the mentor we all wish we had in the room.
Connect with Suezette
Website: http://www.suezette.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suezette/
Instagram: @suezette
TikTok: @suezetteyasminrobotham
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Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights – https://marshallknights.com/
Graphics: Dara Adams
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