You're working hard. You're skilled. You're committed. So why do the same frustrations keep showing up — in your team, in your organization, and if you're honest, in yourself?

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Ryan Gottfredson — Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author, professor of leadership at Cal State Fullerton, and global authority on vertical development — to explore the question that changes everything: it's not what leaders need to do, it's who leaders need to be.

We dig into:

• The difference between your Doing Side (talent, knowledge, skills) and your Being Side (mindsets, emotional regulation, internal operating system) — and why most leaders miss their "being" side
• The three vertical development levels — Mind 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 — and why 64% of adults never move beyond the first
• What Fifth Gear leadership looks like (urgency, control, high RPMs) and why pushing harder only leads to more burnout
• How shifting into Sixth Gear allows you to move faster with less strain — and what it actually takes to get there
• Three levels of Being Side development work: surface, deeper, and deepest — and practical starting points for each
• Why our fears and unconscious programming, not our lack of skill, are what's really holding us back

Resources Mentioned:

1. Ryan Gottfredson's website & free assessments (Personal Mindset Assessment + Vertical Development Assessment)
2. Becoming Better: The Groundbreaking Science of Personal Transformation by Dr. Ryan Gottfredson
3. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
4. The Five Minute Journal by Intelligent Change
5. You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
6. Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella

Visit ClaireLaughlin.com and connect with me @Claire Laughlin Consulting on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening!

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