Suneet Bhatt spent 12 years in private equity and venture-backed businesses. Big companies first — Prudential, Dun & Bradstreet — then an MBA at Duke, then private equity. Every job started the same way: energizing, new, exciting. And every job ended the same way: something felt off, and he'd go looking for the next one.

It took his wife to name the pattern. After his last business exit, she looked at him and said the happiness at work was getting shorter and shorter, the exits were getting more and more acrimonious, and he needed to stop and actually figure out what mattered to him. Suneet is direct about it: he doesn't think he would have gotten there on his own.

On Episode 241 of Fine is a 4-Letter Word, Suneet talks with Lori Saitz about what came after that conversation — the shift into executive coaching, the Rutgers class he now teaches (called Finding Your Purpose, though purpose doesn't come up until week 15), and the framework laid out in his upcoming book, Making Sense of Purpose. He breaks down why purpose has to start with reflection instead of prediction, why building your identity around a single lens like joy sets you up to fail, and the specific 18-minute exercise — happy, proud, not yet satisfied — that he uses with everyone from his own kids to global sales teams to counter the brain's built-in negativity bias.

He also shares research on self-forgiveness that changes how you should think about your own mistakes, and why getting stuck is not one problem but several different ones that all require different responses.

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Timestamps:

• [00:00] The premise: you have to make sense of yourself before you can make sense of your purpose
• [01:33] Values from an immigrant household: be helpful, above everything else
• [02:04] A house that was a turnstile — weddings, cultural events, and no expectation of anything back
• [03:02] His father's Friday ritual: thanking his boss for the week, every single week
• [04:00] The full house, the couch, and learning to sleep anywhere
• [04:40] Introvert or extrovert? Reframing the question around where you get your energy
• [06:16] The abandoned Peace Corps dream and the immigrant-parent reality check
• [07:14] The corporate route: Fortune 500, an MBA at Duke, then 12 years in private equity
• [08:08] The pattern: every job starts new and exciting, every job goes stale faster than the last
• [08:30] Why he never noticed he was the common denominator
• [08:58] His wife's intervention after the last exit — the conversation that changed everything
• [10:00] Stepping back: executive coaching, and doing the internal work intentionally for the first time
• [10:47] The premise that became his coaching practice, his Rutgers class, and his book
• [12:03] Why 'finding your purpose' feels like waiting for an Amazon package
• [12:46] Reflection, not prediction — and the three-thing definition of purpose that shows up everywhere
• [13:43] Personal, forward-looking, bigger than you: the three common threads across every definition of purpose
• [14:12] The Rutgers bait-and-switch: purpose doesn't come up until class 15
• [16:07] Why you should never build your purpose on a single point of failure like joy
• [18:16] Happy, proud, not yet satisfied: the 18-minute exercise, explained start to finish
• [22:06] Negativity bias: why we respond 2 to 5 times stronger to negative stimuli
• [23:48] Plateaus, not stuck: reframing what it means to feel stuck
• [25:09] Self-forgiveness research: the procrastination study and what it proves
• [26:42] Community, religion, self-forgiveness — the three things that make humans resilient
• [28:52] The Rutgers class, code journaling, and why he caps it at 20 to 25 students
• [32:03] Two energy songs: one for the gym, one for a good morning
• [33:17] Where to find Suneet: Making Sense of Purpose, LinkedIn, and Instagram

Connect with Suneet Bhatt:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suneetbhatt/

His Store: https://makingsenseofpurpose.com/pre-order/

About the Show:

Fine Is a 4-Letter Word is the show for leaders who are tired of pretending everything is okay. Host Lori Saitz brings on guests who get honest about what it really takes to lead with empathy, vulnerability, gratitude, and courage.

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