In the Standard Model electroweak symmetry is broken by the Higgs field, which gives masses to the W and Z gauge bosons. I discuss why the self-energy corrections to the mass of the Higgs motivate the existence of new physics at the energies that will be probed by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which turns on later this year. I discuss some possibilities for the form that this new physics can take, with a focus on supersymmetry and on little Higgs theories.