Confidence Over Chaos: A New Way to Navigate Career Crossroads
In Conversation with Master Certified Coach Susan DiClemente
In a virtual conversation, Michelle Tempesta of decisionMe sits down with Susan DiClemente, Master Certified Coach, to explore how people navigate big career decisions—and how AI-assisted tools can make that process smarter, clearer, and less emotionally overwhelming.
Whether you’re leading a team, eyeing a promotion, or questioning whether you’re on the right path, Susan offers seasoned insights into the decision-making process and how AI is changing the game.
“Mental clutter is exhausting. It keeps you stuck.”
Susan works with scientists, researchers, and rising leaders who are deeply analytical—and often overwhelmed by choices.
“My clients are analytical because they are scientists… that is a strength and it is also a derailer because they get caught up in the thinking, thinking, thinking.”
When it’s time to act, she says, many people fear how others will react to their choices:
“They still have this fear… around how they’re going to be portrayed by whoever the audience is.”
And even when someone knows the decision is right, the doubt lingers:
“There is that element of fear even though they may be confident that they made the right decision. There’s always that inkling of ‘what if,’ right? Because we’re human.”
“I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, this will eliminate the manual process.’”
For years, Susan has used weighted pros and cons lists in her coaching—especially for complex, multi-path decisions. But she’s candid about the friction:
“It is incredibly cumbersome because it is so manual… if you change one item or one value on the list, everything else gets rearranged.”
When she saw decisionMe‘s raDAR™ in action, she immediately understood its value:
“Wow, this really can be a game-changer for people making very significant decisions and some not-so-significant decisions, if you need a little help.”
“DecisionMe’s application … will erase the fear, clear the clutter, and drive the user to take an action.”
“What the automated AI brings to the table is a level of confidence for the decision-maker because it really does remove the emotion… a lot of the emotion is based in fear.”
“Action is the only thing that moves us forward.”
Watch the video and read the full transcript below:
Transcript
Michelle Tempesta:
Hi, it’s Michelle Tempesta from decisionMe. I’m here with Susan DiClemente, Master Certified Coach. She’s helped countless women in science build and refine their leadership and communication skills.
Susan, can I ask you a few questions about decision-making today?
Susan DiClemente:
Sure.
Michelle Tempesta:
Awesome. Tell me about how your clients normally navigate decisions, and when they are ready to communicate that decision to their team—what’s that one emotion they’re feeling?
Susan DiClemente:
Navigating decisions is definitely something I do with my clients. The decisions range widely—from contemplating leaving a company after 10+ years due to a misalignment with personal values, to strategizing about how to gain visibility for a promotion.
Many of my clients are scientists, so they’re very analytical. That’s a strength—but it can also be a derailer. They often get stuck in “thinking, thinking, thinking” about all their options. When they do come to a decision—whether it’s leaving a company, staying and tackling a new project, or leading a team—then comes the challenge of communicating that decision effectively.
We work on that communication: identifying the audience, crafting the message, and helping them feel confident and comfortable delivering the news. Still, even with a strong decision, fear often remains—fear about how they’ll be perceived by their audience, whether it’s a team or an individual.
Michelle Tempesta:
You just brought me back to a few points in my life when I was on the cusp of announcing a decision but didn’t have the confidence. When we first got on a Zoom call a few months ago, I described decisionMe to you and Amy. You looked so engaged—tell me, what were you thinking?
Susan DiClemente:
In my coaching, I use a lot of tools for decision-making. My favorite is a weighted pros and cons list. Most people do a straight or ranked list, but that doesn’t always reflect the true value of each factor. A weighted list lets you assign value, which provides more accuracy without forcing everything into a strict order.
I had a client who was evaluating five different options. The weighted list brought clarity—but it was so manual and cumbersome. If one item’s value changed, it threw everything off. When I learned about the decisionMe application, I thought, “Oh my goodness! This could eliminate the manual process—and the emotional noise that comes with it.”
It helps you check: “Did I include all the pros? Did I value things accurately?” It reduces second-guessing, which is huge for humans because, well, we’re emotional beings.
Michelle Tempesta:
I love that. I was talking to a woman just a couple of days ago—she was trying to decide whether to stay in Framingham or move to Waltham. Her mental pros and cons list included things like balcony size. I thought, “Shouldn’t commute distance be weighted more heavily?”
Mental lists don’t let us assign those weights. Spreadsheets can be clunky, hard to change on the fly. DecisionMe solves that.
Susan DiClemente:
Exactly. It eliminates the fear, clears the clutter, and helps users take action. Action is the only thing that moves us forward.
Michelle Tempesta:
Awesome. Let’s end it there. Susan, thank you so much for your time today. We’re looking forward to seeing you on June 20th at the Career and Leadership Conference in Worcester. I can’t wait to hear your presentation and see people enjoying the decisionMe app at the conference.
Susan DiClemente:
Great—so excited. Take care. Thank you so much. Bye!
Join both Michelle and Susan at the upcoming 2nd Annual Career & Leadership Conference (CLC) for Purpose-Driven Young Professionals —an IN-PERSON jam-packed life-changing event empowering young people ages 18-29 to grow as leaders and take their careers to the next level. Friday, June 20, 2025, 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM ET in Worcester, MA.
Learn more and register here: https://clc.visionsinternships.co/
DecisionMe’s upcoming AI-powered decision-making app raDAR™ is launching soon!
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