Some Me-Suite followers have asked about my inspiration for launching The Me-Suite.

I have to start with a story about my wonderful Aunt Nancy, aged 86. She is wicked bright and full of joie de vivre. She would have been a Psychologist had she grown up in a different era. She is forever interested in everything I do. At my business launch celebration, she leaned over with her hearing aides buzzing.

Aunt Nancy: “Donna, tell me, now. Why is it that your business is called Sweet Me?”

Donna: “It’s called The Me-Suite, Aunt Nancy. It’s a play on the C-Suite. The C-Suite are the most senior leaders in a company. The Chiefs. Chief Executive Officer. Chief Financial Officer, for example.”

Aunt Nancy: “I see. I don’t think I know that term.”

Donna: “The Me-Suite believes individuals should lead their own personal lives with the same mindset and disciplines that C-Suites use to lead the companies we most admire.”

Aunt Nancy: “Well, okay, then. You’re still sweet to me.” (I just love Aunt Nancy.)

I have always been career-oriented, seeking the fastest path to promotion, doing whatever it takes to grow into the next level of leadership. I became life-minded only after learning hard lessons through illnesses and deaths in my family…and from watching others get it right.

The companies we most admire are amazing

I lived on the road Monday-Thursday as a Management Consultant for 20 years. My employers and my clients were/are amazing companies doing amazing things to make the world a better place. Their C-Suites, their most senor leaders, stay true to the Core Values and use those values to steer key decisions and make tough calls. They invest in their people to give us meaningful work in supportive cultures, and they steward important causes to shape an environment we desire.

The A-ha Moment

I’d come through the door each Thursday night after planes, trains and automobiles to get back home for 3 days before it started all over again. I’d reflect on the interesting things I learned at work that week—it could be learnings around ethics, innovation, branding, financial discipline, continuous learning, conflict resolution, the power of diversity, how to give feedback.

It always struck me as odd that we get exposed to these amazing mindsets and disciplines for how to lead a company, but we don’t apply these mindsets and disciplines for how to lead our own lives. Work is an important part of our lives, but life should come first. Work is one of the decisions we make about the life we want to live. Work isn’t something to be balanced as an equal on a seesaw.

The Me-Suite is born

I believed we could be leading our own lives with more purpose, planning and power if we were learning from the C-Suites of the companies we most admire. Be the CEO of our own life. Have a CFO mindset to manage our financials. Think like a Chief Marketing Officer to define the brand we want to have in the world. Stay relevant for the the future with a Chief Learning Officer mindset. Chart your path with Chief Strategy Officer discipline. You get the idea.

I knew a Me-Suite mindset would be a source of power for the life-minded. And now here we are! Thank you for asking. Join me in The Me-Suite.