From the Publisher: “As leaders, we sometimes feel stagnant. We stall out.
So we search for something new to inspire, to ignite, to lead us to more excitement and that feeling that we’re doing our soul’s work.
You might feel that way right now.
If you’ve read all the books, done the courses, worked with all the gurus, and you’re still feeling the ‘that’s not quite it’ feeling in your gut, then you’re in the right place.
You may be a bit burned out by all the info and input, longing for a fresh way to see things. You Are Something New: Life Lessons to Radically Change How You Think About Business will help you find a new perspective, just by looking within.
Business has a lot more to do with being human than anything, and our stories, even everyday life events, can help us showcase our humanity, creating a stronger connection with our audience.
Get inspired by your own experiences. Plumb the depths of your personal stories. Look at your world a little differently with You Are Something New.”
More info About the Author: “Meg Seitz is the founder and CEO of toth shop, a communications agency that focuses on a human, holistic approach to branding, marketing, and communications. Since 2014, the toth shop team has helped companies, c-suite leaders, and emerging brands articulate their expertise, talent, and value to the world by identifying storytelling gold nuggets that resonate with humans, as well as helping create compelling content and brand-building assets.
Over the last several years, Meg Seitz has taken in life lessons crossing the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge in Northern Ireland, exploring the crystal caverns of Bermuda, seeing Vienna from the top of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and in places ranging from Jackson Hole to Sedona and Kennebunkport to Las Vegas.
Meg Seitz holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Kenyon College and an MBA from Wake Forest University School of Business. She is a proud Double Drucker, meaning she placed twice in the top 10 (once in third place) for the international writing competition, the Peter Drucker Challenge. She is also proud to have been present in the audience to hear David Foster Wallace’s ‘This is Water’ commencement address live.
A one-time Pittsburgher, she lives in Charlotte, NC, with her fluffy corgi, Winnie, who recently passed therapy dog certification.”
Author Site
You share a lot of stories in You Are Something New from various points in your personal life and career. Can we truly be inspired by anything we experience?
You absolutely can be inspired by anything you experience—it’s really a question of whether you see it or not. A lot of times, people think that inspiration only comes in these big, grand aha! moments—big trips around the world, graduations, momentous celebrations. And that’s true—there’s a lot of inspiration in those experiences. But what I find is that I’m changing every day by the small, micro-moments of inspiration. Inspiration, daily, should feel more like finding a fortune cookie message than a 100-days-around-the-world vacation. It’s also more realistic. People wait for inspiration—and it’s actually right in front of you. The question is, are you paying attention to catch those moments of inspiration?
I love how this book features bite-size nuggets of wisdom. Was that intentional?
I use the word “snackable” or “digestible” when I talk to clients about content and storytelling. The world has conditioned us for long-form writing which absolutely has a really good space in our world, but in my own experience, I found myself craving short-form writing—pieces I could read at a traffic light (safely), or a book I could consume from start to finish on an airplane. It’s funny because, when we work with our communications agency clients, the biggest note we hear from clients is, “I don’t want any fluff.” I think our world is over the fluff—we just want writing that gets to the point, quickly, and moves on.
Do you often reflect on your life experiences in the same way that you do in chapters of your book?
I’m so much in a mode of self-reflection that it’s sometimes hard to turn it off. I have musings across years of notebooks, I have notes in my phone, I have insights tagged in books I’ve read. As a lifelong learner, I’m constantly seeking new information, new insight, new wisdom—I’m always wanting more, so much so, that I feel like a modern Seeker of Truth.
You lived and worked in Pittsburgh. Tell us how this shaped your professional life.
Pittsburgh shaped so much of my life – even before I knew it. My great-grandparents came to Pittsburgh from Eastern Europe in the early 20th century, so my family has been in Pittsburgh since then. I grew up all over the country, but we always came home to Pittsburgh to see my grandparents, so Pittsburgh people, culture, food, attitude was always a constant in my life. My family moved to Pittsburgh right as I was going into 9th grade, so I knew Pittsburgh – personally as a teenager and young adult. There’s a no-nonsense edge that’s a part of me and that’s all Pittsburgh; there’s also a deep respect for family, tradition, and where I came from that’s all Pittsburgh; there’s an appreciation for hard working, resilient people that’s a part of me that’s all Pittsburgh.
You have something very unique from Mr. Rogers – a true Pittsburgh icon. Without giving too much away, tell us about how this experience changed you.
Many of us can say that we were influenced by Fred Rogers’ wisdom when we were children; I was fortunate to learn from his work as a young adult, which is why I hope everyone appreciates the timelessness of his message. If you think you’re too old for Mr. Rogers, you’re wrong.
What inspired you to write this book?
I needed a nudge to write this book. One of my assistants, Deanne, was editing my blog, and she said to me on a video call, “I think these would make a great book.” I’d thought about writing a book my entire life, and I just hadn’t moved on it. Deanne planted a seed that I kept rolling around between my fingers. It then occurred to me that I was turning 40 this year, and I wanted to mark a new decade with a new, bold move. After writing online or for clients for almost 20 years, it was time to carve out my own corner. This has been the boldest, scariest move I’ve made in my career—and I wasn’t really ready for it until now.
Who will You Are Something New help?
I think You Are Something New has the potential to help—or plant seeds—for anyone who feels stuck; who can’t seem to see all the good inspiration around them. Maybe they’re burned out from work, maybe they’re stuck in a stale relationship (personally or professionally), or maybe they just “can’t see it right now.” I’ve been there. Like so many people during the pandemic, my brain just felt so foggy. I struggled to think and write—I struggled to find the inspiration, the good stuff, the insight that would move me forward. It’s hard work to retrain your mind and soul to seek, so you have to be willing and eager to start to retrain your brain to think like this—and then, take moments of inspiration across other areas of your life—it’s like inspiration cross-pollination, so to speak. I think this will also help someone see the potential for more humanity in their work. A lot of these lessons came from outside work, from beyond my professional life—and they changed how I showed up to work.
What do you hope the reader will get from this book?
My wish is that someone is able to see that you’re someone new all the time. You’ll change before 12-noon today. It’s a daily thing—not a seasonal or yearly thing. My question for you is this: are you the last to know it? Meaning, do you know how much you change, and are you interested in seeing those moments, and reflecting on the lessons in your life and moving forward with them, personally and professionally?
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