NYU Professor: The Career Happiness Formula (Get A Job You Love That Actually Pays $$$)

June 24, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Career Happiness Formula: Know Yourself First, Then Find the Job

Susie Welch, a professor at NYU's Stern School of Business and author of Becoming You, has spent years teaching students how to find careers that actually fit them. Her central argument is simple but runs against how most people approach career decisions: the biggest mistake people make is looking at what jobs exist and trying to squeeze themselves into those molds. The correct order is the reverse—first understand who you are, then find the work that matches.

Values Are the Foundation—and They Come With Trade-offs

Welch's framework begins with values, which she defines as the non-negotiable priorities that shape how we want to live. She has identified 15 core values—things like affluence, work centrism, family, achievement, belonging, and scope—and argues that most people cannot accurately self-report their own values because of what she calls "the four horsemen of values destruction": the voices of society, culture, parents, and spouses telling us what we should want.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Opening & Guest Introduction** - Liz Moody introduces Susie Welch, NYU professor and author of *Becoming You*, and frames the episode around finding a career you love that pays well.
2 (01:31) **The "I Don't Dream of Labor" Sentiment** - Susie validates that not everyone needs a dream job; work centrism is a personal value, not a universal requirement.
3 (03:40) **Identifying Your Values** - Susie explains why self-identifying values is hard and offers three practical exercises to surface them.
4 (12:27) **When Values Feel Unattainable** - Susie addresses the pain of unexpressed values and how to decide whether to make peace with them or radically change your life.
5 (17:30) **The 10-10-10 Decision-Making Technique** - Susie shares her famous framework for slowing down decisions and aligning them with your values.
6 (30:30) **The Three-Sphere Model for Finding Your Purpose** - Susie explains the core framework from her NYU class: purpose lies at the intersection of values, aptitudes, and interests.
7 (37:20) **The Money vs. Meaning Trade-Off** - Susie challenges the assumption that money is the primary driver and pushes listeners to get honest about their actual financial number.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

A lot of you have been rethinking your careers lately, so I’m recirculating this popular episode. If you want a career that you love, if you want to be excited to go to work every day, if you want to be paid what you are worth, this episode is a must listen. And even if you just want a safe career that's AI-proof, we get into that too.

My guest is Suzy Welch, a mega-successful New York Times bestselling writer, entrepreneur, and professor of one of the most popular courses at NYU. She actually wrote a book that allows anybody to learn what she teaches in this course. It's called Becoming You: The Proven Method for Crafting Your Authentic Life and Career.

🎧 What you’ll learn:

• Why most people find their dream career completely backwards

• How to uncover your real values (not the ones you think you have) using three sneaky, surprisingly revealing questions

• The one number you need to know before making any career decision—and why almost no one actually calculates it

• What your personality really is

• How to future-proof your career against AI

• The exact decision-making framework you can use today

• When to stay in the "velvet coffin" job and when to bust out

• What you actually need to become an entrepreneur

• Why aligned values are the secret to lasting relationship—and how to have that conversation with your partner

• How to find out what you're truly good at

Find your enneagram with The Enneagram Institute and Upbuild. Find your aptitudes with YouScience.

For more from Suzy Welch:

• Social Media: https://lnk.to/suzywelch!LizMoody

• Podcast: https://suzywelch.com/podcast

• Book, Becoming You: https://suzywelch.com/books/becoming-you

Check out our NEW YouTube Channel with tons of YouTube exclusive Shorts, exclusive podcast content, and full video episodes: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@LizMoodyTV⁠

Ready to uplevel every part of your life? Order Liz’s book 100 Ways to Change Your Life: The Science of Leveling Up Health, Happiness, Relationships & Success now!

Connect with Liz on Instagram @lizmoody or online at www.lizmoody.com. Subscribe to the substack by visiting