Dan Cathy - Suzy, welcome to the south. Grits are known as Georgia ice cream here. So I don't know if you've had a cup of sweet tea, but welcome, welcome.  Bring it south. But I'm fascinated by this book, 10, 10, 10. I'm big into  horticulture. So when I think of I think of nitrogen, potash and phosphorus when  I hear 10, 10, 10, but I know that it's got to mean a lot  

Suzy Welch - more. Yeah, it's about decision making, and you're not the first  gardener or horticulturist who's mentioned this to me. I learned a lot about that,  but it's a way to slow down and open up and make your decisions more  transparent and authentic. You think about a decision that you face when it  becomes a dilemma, it's when there's a lot of different voices in your head.  Voices in your head saying you could go this way, you could go that way. Well,  10, 10, 10 asks you to stop, look at the decision and consider each one of your  options and their consequences in 10 minutes, the immediate future, 10 months, the foreseeable future, after the dust settles, and 10 years, the future that you  want to create. Okay, it sounds easy. The minute you start doing it, you realize  how hard it is, because it doesn't work unless you bring your values into it,  because you can't make those decisions without saying, Well, wait a minute,  what do I want my life to be? What kind of person do I want? What you know,  you bring your values into making your decisions more deliberately and  systematically, and you stop making all your decisions by gut and guilt. And it  can get pretty complicated, but the upside is that your decisions, you own them.  Instead of your life sort of living you and your decisions making themselves, you  become very proactive in making your decisions and driving your life towards  that place that you want it to go. 

Dan Cathy - As we visit with thought leaders, it's an emerging thing that in our  hectic day to day, that we have this constant connectivity that we have and  accessibility that is robbing us of the reflection time that we need, that 10  minutes that you're referring to. So how do we, as leaders, how do we turn off  that accessibility to make that 10 minutes happen?  

Suzy Welch - Yeah, I mean, it's almost like we become addicted. I mean, there's actually been studies now that show that that our our technology, you know, that  sort of cost of doing this releases dopamine in our brains. And so then what  happened? You know, every time you get an email, you have a little dopamine  spurt. Okay, well, what happens is dopamine is addicting. So I don't know about  you, but I've certainly been in planes, and I've been wondering when I'm gonna  be able to look at my Blackberry again. I mean, I actually have a physical desire, right? I When you know and you feel that that's that's physically happening to  us, well, you know, we're luckily God blessed us with brains, and our brains can  override these sort of impulses. And we can take our big fat, beautiful brains and

say, I'm going to make my decisions more deliberately. I'm going to reflect on  them. I'm going to acknowledge that what I'm facing is not a mess, but a  decision. And now I'm gonna, I'm gonna make that decision with all the inputs  that need to be in the room, the people that need to be in the room, and I'm  gonna take the time to fight what the you know, technology is a beautiful and  wonderful thing, but it has its downside, and we gotta, we gotta override it.  

Dan Cathy - Suzy, last time we were together, we had a delightful conversation,  and you shared with me a little about about your faith. And we talked so much in business today about ethics, and we have to talk about that, because, tragically,  a lot of people don't have a faith perspective or recognize a spiritual dimension  

of as to how God made us. How do you think about spirituality, and even, how  do you talk about it publicly? Or do you  

Suzy Welch - I do all the time, much to the chagrin of a lot of people who I work  with. I was giving a speech in Boston recently, and I was I knew in part of my  speech I was going to quote from Luke, and beforehand, somebody pulled me  aside and said, please be respectful of fact that other people are not where you  are in your faith journey. And I said, Okay, thank you. And then went ahead and  did it anyway, because I feel like I feel called, as a Christian in business to talk  about my faith all the time, because we have to. I mean, we shouldn't be secret  about it. It's not it can only bring people closer to God to know that. Look, I don't  in the Northeast. I don't look like your typical Christian. I look like a secular  humanist. I went to Harvard. I, you know, the circles that we travel in, there's not  a lot of people like me. And so I feel even more called to say, Guess what? You  know I am. I'm a faithful Christian, and it doesn't, it's not against the way we live. I mean, I can go to all the same cocktail parties you go to and still have my faith. And one time, I was at a party, and somebody was there, this whole debate  about Christianity came up, and the assumption was that I wasn't Christian. I  was just like them. And and I said, Well, you know, actually as a Christian, I said, and this woman said, You're not Christian. And I said, I am just she said to me,  you don't look Christian.  

Dan Cathy - You're not sad  

Suzy Welch - I don't know I'm not lousy eyed enough, right? That's their  assumption, right?  

Dan Cathy - That's a sad commentary on those of us of faith, who, who should  be the most optimistic, the most positive, and do what we do with with  excellence as we think about it, yeah. Wrapping up our time together here in  light of what you just said about your Christian faith. How then do we define 

success?  

Suzy Welch - Well, you know, I always talk to people about how God is love,  and when I say God is love, God means that you feel love from God and that  you're giving love. And so for me, success is when you have found a place in  your life where you are just freely giving love to others, that you have the  

freedom to do, that you are your work is enabling you to do that, whether you're  just a team member or you're a leader, and that you are feeling God's love, that  you don't feel cut off from it, that you're not living or working or in a relationship  where you feel remote from God. So success, it's just love.  

Dan Cathy - You know, we'll never impress God with how many articles we've  written, or how many books we've written, or how many quarterly earnings  reports with positive numbers and so forth. How can we ever impress him? But  the only thing he desires is relationship to begin with. And I'm so thankful the  business that it's just challenging enough that there's still those moments that I  don't understand it. I want more insight, and it causes me to have to pray and  ask God to please help me, yes, do what I cannot do on my own. And that's  that's a sweet place. It's a place of rest, it's a place of assurance, but what we  have to be willing to be in that risk zone that requires us to get outside our safe  zone so that we can depend on him.  

Suzy Welch - That's a great, great thought. That's a great thought.  Dan Cathy - Honor to have you with us. Suzy, my pleasure. You included 



Last modified: Wednesday, September 3, 2025, 1:26 PM