The Art of Surrender: Finding strength in vulnerability — with guest Emily Teele

Collective Wisdom

Join Lucy in conversation with Emily Teele, a marketing leader who most recently worked at Nike on an expat assignment in the Netherlands. Emily’s impressive career spans senior roles at Sephora, Williams Sonoma, West Elm, and Uber. In this episode, Emily shares the profound changes she has recently faced, including the joys and challenges of motherhood and the loss of her own mother in the same year. This is a raw and honest story that reveals the incredible power of trusting your innermost voices and leaning into the communities that step up to care for you along your journey.

Together, Lucy and Emily explore the art of surrendering and recount a pivotal coaching moment shared during COVID that transformed Emily’s life and laid a powerful foundation for her journey towards newfound happiness and permission to be herself. Tune in to gain valuable insights into the power of choice and authenticity as mechanisms for navigating high-stakes career pathways amidst the beautiful chaos of life.

Jump into the conversation:

3:24 Lucy asks Emily what is important in her life now, what her current values are, and where she is pointing her compass.

3:37 Emily shares about motherhood, bringing her baby girl into the world, and losing her own mum all in the same year.

6:47 Emily talks about the art of surrendering. She shares her “bootcamp” of transformational changes over the past five years.

7:47 Lucy & Emily retell a watershed coaching moment they shared during COVID sitting on Lucy’s porch.

9:50 Emily talks about the athlete’s mindset, “What? So what? Now what?” and her admittance that she was not ok.

11:50 Lucy shares the difference between therapy and coaching.

12:03 Emily shares “life is long, and it is also short” and what that means to her.

13:25 The two discuss the power of choice—the power to choose what you can control. The power of naming it while also surrendering to what you cannot control.

17:05 Emily shares her story of having to introduce herself to her new Nike team, knowing her life was in chaos, and wanting to be authentic and real about what is really going on for her.

17:49: Emily talks about what she admires in strong leaders.

18:59 Lucy declares that Emily’s coming-out party was when she allowed herself to be her authentic self without having to be her perfect self.

26:06 Lucy talks about “trying” and what this means in relation to values.

28:58 Emily shares what happens when you leave yourself open to allowing your life to change; this is when something profound can make its way in.

31:30 Emily shares the power of finding your Board of Advisors to support you in all facets of your work and life.

Resources:

• Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn
• Check out The Murmuration Collective
• Connect with Emily on LinkedIn and on her website.
• Check out what Emily refers to as the “athletes mindset.”