Susan Inouye on Leadership, Sawubona, Somatic Practices, and What Millennials Are Teaching Leaders

On the podcast Resilience Unravelled, Russell speaks with Susan Inouye in Los Angeles about resilience themes in homes, products, and organisational culture, including companies that post values but don’t live them.

They discuss generational differences at work, with Susan describing shifts from command-and-control leadership toward belonging, meaning, and authenticity, and noting that millennials are now a large portion of the workforce.

Susan also shares that millennials are complaining about Gen Z, arguing it’s often about age and development, and references brain development and the influence of how generations were raised.

She emphasises that leadership change requires embodied practices, not just advice, explaining that transformation happens through the body and somatic intelligence, with HeartMath Institute research as an example.

Susan tells a client story about an event-production leader whose gift for planning became controlling behaviour; using the Sawubona (“I see you”) gift-centered approach, rituals for letting go, and trapeze lessons, the client replaced fear with freedom and became more trusting at work. Susan’s book, "Leadership’s Perfect Storm: What Millennials Are Teaching Us About Possibility, Passion, and Purpose," is aimed at leaders, includes stories and a coach’s corner with practices, is used in over 30 countries, is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and donates all proceeds to the nonprofit Youth Mentoring Connection.

She notes Sawubona Leadership originated in South Central Los Angeles through Tony LeRae’s mentoring work.

00:00 Welcome

01:05 Resilience, building standards & planned obsolescence

03:00 Corporate values vs reality: authenticity and truth-telling at work

04:47 Millennials & Gen Z reshape leadership expectations

06:28 Are generational stereotypes real? Command-and-control vs belonging

10:24 Brain science, upbringing & why each new cohort gets judged

15:40 From advice to embodiment: practices, somatics & emotional intelligence

19:17 Client story: planning as a gift—and learning to let go (trapeze breakthrough)

25:49 The book: Leadership’s Perfect Storm—who it’s for & what’s inside

27:21 Where to buy + proceeds to youth mentoring; Sawubona ‘I see you’ origins

28:34 Wrap-up

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Resources can be found online or link to our website https://resilienceunravelled.com