Happy New Year! As we step into a new year of goal setting and intention, this episode challenges you to think beyond the revenue targets and marketing plans. What if the reason you keep living the same year over and over again has nothing to do with your strategy and everything to do with who you are as a leader?

In this episode, I share why this year feels different for me and why expansion requires just as much internal evolution as transformation. Through client stories and my own experience, we explore the difference between "doing" goals and "being" goals and why your business will only grow as much as you do.

Episode Summary:

Most of us set goals around what we're going to do. Revenue targets and product launches and marketing campaigns. But we forget to set goals around who we need to become. Our businesses are a reflection of who we are, which means if we're not changing inside, the external changes we're chasing will never stick. This episode examines how unexamined beliefs and patterns show up in our leadership, from the controlling CEO editing code at 3am to the founder who keeps cycling through hires because she won't look at the parts of her business that cause discomfort. We explore what real self-awareness looks like beyond personality tests and why your business doesn't create new problems as it grows but amplifies the ones you already have.

Doing Goals vs. Being Goals:

The Human Mess of Leadership:

Two Ways This Shows Up:

Self-Awareness:

Growth Amplifies Problems:

[00:00] Happy New Year and holiday reflections from Colombia [02:00] Why this year feels like expansion rather than transformation [03:30] The client whose journals stayed the same for eight years [05:00] Why we keep living the same year over and over [06:30] The difference between doing goals and being goals [08:00] Why none of us signed up to become better leaders [09:30] Facing our humanity when we start leading companies [11:00] Leaders who become controlling and don't trust their teams [13:00] The client editing code at 3am [14:30] Leaders who surrender power and over-delegate [16:00] The client who kept cycling through operations hires [18:00] My criticism of how business schools teach leadership [20:00] Why self-awareness is more than personality tests [22:00] Questions to ask yourself about your patterns [24:00] Why you might not have your dream team yet [26:00] Research on why women are quitting businesses at higher rates [28:00] How growth amplifies your existing problems [30:00] My own pattern of defaulting to working harder [32:00] Setting being goals for the new year

"If we're not changing inside, there is no way that the things we're doing and creating are going to change. Our businesses are a reflection of who we are."

"None of us sign up to build a business because we want to be better leaders. We sign up because we have an idea, a purpose, a desire to create something."

"Hiring someone to solve the problem that you haven't looked at within yourself is not going to work."

"As you grow your business, it doesn't create new problems. It amplifies the problems you already have, including your internal ones."

"When you stop doing things because you're scared, your fear becomes stronger. When you do the things you want to do even when you're scared, your courage gets stronger."

Connect with Carolina:

Subscribe & Review:

If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps other entrepreneurs discover the show and allows us to keep creating this free content.