Most people spend their careers waiting for the right moment to slow down. Beth Mooney decided not to wait.
A senior marketing and eCommerce executive with 30 years of experience at some of the world’s largest industrial and automotive companies — including Danfoss, Dana, Eaton, Tenneco, and Sherwin-Williams — Beth did something most ambitious women never let themselves do. At the peak of her career, she packed up, got on a train, and spent five months traveling solo across six European countries. 8,000 miles. 40 cities. And a perspective on the world that most people spend their whole careers chasing.
She sat down with us on Hello Moxie and what she shared stopped us in our tracks.
The Sabbatical Nobody Told You Was an Option
When most people hear the word sabbatical, they picture a risky, career-derailing decision reserved for people who have already made it. Beth sees it differently.
She spent a year between corporate assignments intentionally. She used her business skills — spreadsheets, project management, strategic planning — to build the trip from a clean sheet of paper. She researched expat podcasts to understand the cultural nuances of living in different countries for extended periods. She mapped her route, managed her budget, navigated visa applications, and planned her logistics with the same rigor she brought to her professional work.
And she did not leave her career behind. She deepened it. She visited colleagues at industrial manufacturing companies across Europe, attended a major trade show in Munich, and built relationships in ways that back-to-back video calls never could have allowed. She sat with people for entire Sundays, met their families, shared meals, and learned what actually motivated them.
For small and mid-sized companies considering entering the US market, Beth also brings a uniquely practical lens. She has seen firsthand how an eCommerce presence can serve as a powerful way to pilot and test a new market — building a rich data set about customer behavior and demand before committing to a full-scale physical presence.
Why Your Network Is Your Greatest Asset in Uncertain Times
We are living through a period of real uncertainty. Layoffs are close. Dinner party conversations are heavy. The fear is palpable.
Beth has lived through uncertain times before. As a Gen Xer who came of age during the economic and political turbulence of the late 1970s through the 1990s, she has a longer view on the cycles of change that can feel so overwhelming in the moment.
Her perspective? The problems trending in your feed today have been building for decades. History moves slowly. Social media just makes it feel like the world is ending by Thursday.
“Don’t sacrifice your relationships and connections amongst your friends, family, and colleagues for the short-term triggers that are fed through social media,” she told us. “Bring your self-awareness before you post.”
The women who move through hard seasons are the ones who invested in relationships before they needed them. Beth spent 30 years building a global network — and when uncertainty hit, that network became her greatest resource. Not just professionally, but personally.
The Question That Will Change How You Show Up Every Day
After three decades of leading global teams through complex digital transformations, Beth’s most powerful piece of advice is surprisingly simple.
Every morning before your day starts, ask yourself one question: am I approachable today?
Not what is on your calendar. Not what fires you need to put out. Just that. Am I going to bring a collaborative mindset to the problems in front of me? Am I going to be a contributor of strengths today?
It sounds almost too simple. But Beth has watched this single habit shape entire team cultures. The hardest problems in business — the stuck situations, the system limitations, the process bottlenecks — rarely get solved by one person pushing through alone. They get solved by a group of people who show up curious, bring their half-formed ideas to the table, and build on each other until something clicks.
“Don’t try to own something that’s terribly difficult all by yourself,” Beth says. “Bring others in.”
Don’t Give Your Power Away
Perhaps the most important thing Beth said in our entire conversation was this: we have more power than we think we do.
The sabbatical did not happen because the timing was perfect or because everything fell into place on its own. It happened because Beth set a goal, took her power back, and built toward it with intention. She removed the noise that was pulling her away from her own priorities and directed her energy toward something that was entirely hers.
“The minute you set a goal and say this is what I want to create for my life, you’re taking your power back,” she told us.
That is not a small thing. For ambitious women carrying the weight of demanding careers, uncertain markets, and the constant noise of a world that wants their attention, choosing to focus on what is actually yours to build is a radical act.
Set the goal. Build the tools. Call on your people. And don’t give your power away.
Ready to Hear the Full Conversation?
🎧 Listen to our full episode with Beth Mooney on Hello Moxie: https://youtu.be/lfXu0Ly1By4?si=0Lq5FD0KzgIxHBIM
