Slow Down To Speed Up

Troy Sultan is the CEO of Guide and he's been leading startups for a decade. This far into the journey, he finds he's been losing motivation and he came for a session to figure out why.  Is it a temporary blip or is there something deeper going on?

Confronting this question is no easy feat - no founder wants to admit that they feel disconnected from their company. But as the saying goes, the only way out is through. Together, we explore what happens how we can embrace doubt and uncertainty to our benefit.

Watch this session on YouTube
 
Find Troy on Linkedin 
Troy's company Guide

Enjoyed this episode? Ready to take your leadership and personal growth to the next level? Please visit my website to learn more about coaching with me.

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In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I speak with Laura Shook Guzman, a seasoned therapist and leadership coach, to explore prevalent mental health issues among entrepreneurs. This episode delves into the pressures founders face, discussing the balance between business demands and personal well-being, and highlighting strategies for managing mental health effectively.

Key Points
- The Most Common Mental Health Challenges Among Founders
- The Importance of Self-Care
- Nature vs. Nurture in Entrepreneurship
- Managing Impressions and Internal Pressures
- Adaptive vs. Maladaptive Coping Strategies
- The Role of Early Family Dynamics

You can watch the episode on YouTube here

Where to find Laura:

• Website
• Instagram
• Linkedin

Resources Mentioned:

• Tools for Founders Project
• Pilea

Enjoyed this episode? Ready to take your leadership and personal growth to the next level? Please visit my website to learn more about coaching with me.

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Part of a founder’s job is to recruit the right people to your team. But how do you handle a situation where someone seems great on paper, but triggers a gut feeling that something is off? How do you stay authentic in a way that fosters trust with others?  And what does a past experience of betrayal have to do with all this? These are the questions that Lauren Tracy brings to our coaching session. Together, we explore how her self-doubt is impacting her current venture and her ability to trust potential teammates. And we discover how success doesn't have to come at the expense of authenticity but in fact, relies on it.

Watch this session on YouTube

Enjoyed this episode? Ready to take your leadership and personal growth to the next level? Please visit my website to learn more about coaching with me.

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Part of a founder's job is to care more about the business than anybody else. That alone can bring a lot of intensity to work. But when you're an ex-banker to boot, things can get into overdrive. How do you make sure you don't burn out your employees that way, especially if they're not used to the pace? How do you trust your team to regulate their own work while maintaining a rapid pace? And how can a leader harness the power of "why" to resolve all this?

These are the questions we get into in this coaching session with Olga Chin, founder and CEO of Interprice Technologies. Enjoy!

Watch this entire session on YouTube. 

Enjoyed this episode? Ready to take your leadership and personal growth to the next level? Please visit my website to learn more about coaching with me.

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Scott Britton founded and sold his company to Salesforce in 2022. Nowadays he spends much of his time exploring the nature of human consciousness through writing and podcasting. And while he'd like to make a living from this some day, he's not sure that he can.

Our session goes straight to the tension that many people face: whether one can support themselves through their passion. The tension brings up all sorts of questions of confidence, authentic desire, and self-trust in uncertainty. We touch all this in a space that feels more like a meditation than a conventional coaching conversation. Enjoy! 

You can watch the full video on YouTube.

Find Scott on:

• Substack 
• YouTube
• X/Twitter
• Linkedin 

Enjoyed this episode? Ready to take your leadership and personal growth to the next level? Please visit my website to learn more about coaching with me.

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Ever found yourself glued to your phone, oblivious to a loved one's story about their day? Or felt guilty for focusing on work when you just want to enjoy time with family? Eric Bahn, co-founder of Hustle Fund, joined me to explore the struggle many of us face: turning off our work brains and being fully present with loved ones. 

We explore questions like...

• What prevents us from putting work aside?
• What does it mean to be a good parent?
• How do we escape unsatisfying feedback loops?

Watch the session on YouTube

Find Eric on X/Twitter and Linkedin.

Enjoyed this episode? Ready to take your leadership and personal growth to the next level? Please visit my website to learn more about coaching with me.

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Founders that embark on a fundraise are often met with a mix of electrifying hope and gnawing doubts. In my coaching session with Nestor Solari, CEO of Sigo Seguros, we tap into that dichotomy, revealing the raw emotional journey founders undergo while chasing startup funding.

When you're in full on pitch mode, skepticism and pushback can throw you off your game. The negative emotions and stories that turn up are to be expected, but how we relate to them is what makes all the difference in our performance.

Watch the full episode on YouTube.

We cover... 

• What happens when an investor pushes back
• How we typically respond internally
• How our reaction can backfire
• How to escape the trap of emotional defensiveness

Timestamps
00:50 Nestor's Intro
03:30 Losing Energy in An Investor Pitch
06:30 Negative Spiraling During The Fundraising Process
13:33 Navigating Adversarial Dynamics in Fundraising
20:04 Confronting Insecurities 
31:52 Building Presence and Welcoming Emotions
44:00 Key Lessons

Enjoyed this episode? Ready to take your leadership and personal growth to the next level? Please visit my website to learn more about coaching with me.

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Are you grappling with how to drive your team forward without coming off as a jerk? How do you balance accountability with empathy? In this coaching session, I go deep with Erik Dunteman, CEO and co-founder of Banana, as we tackle these burning questions. The journey into leadership isn’t just about strategies; it’s an invitation to confront our fears, embrace vulnerability, and overcome the inner barriers that hold us back.

Erik opens up about his struggle to shift from doing to leading, his fear of negative perception, and the quest for authentic leadership. Our conversation arrives at an unexpected breakthrough for Erik that allows him to show up in a more authentic and empowered way to his team.

Watch the entire video on YouTube.

Enjoyed this episode? Ready to take your leadership and personal growth to the next level? Please visit my website to learn more about coaching with me.

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In this episode, Brian coaches Jordan Taylor, CEO of Medley, as she navigates a pervasive leadership challenge: how to effectively manage her time amidst an endless sea of urgent tasks. The heart of this session lies in Jordan's moment of self-discovery, where she confronts the inner narratives that influence her leadership, offering a moment of clarity that could resonate with your own leadership journey.

If you're a leader who finds yourself juggling between immediate needs and strategic goals, this episode is a must listen. You'll learn valuable strategies for shaping your internal dialogue, an essential move for effective leadership and personal transformation.

Timestamps
04:19 Linking Organizational Change to Personal Change
11:54 Frustration With Recurring Challenges
17:06 Role of the Critical Inner Voice
22:35 Positive Intent of the Inner Critic
23:15 How Self-Perception Impacts Motivation
37:00 Shifting Perspective on Productivity and Value

Watch the whole session on YouTube.

Enjoyed this episode? Ready to take your leadership and personal growth to the next level? Please visit my website to learn more about coaching with me.

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In this episode of Slow Down, to Speed Up, we explore the journey of Andy Mauro, a serial entrepreneur who sold his last company in 2021 and is now embarking on a new venture with Storycraft. Andy's challenge is to balance a grand vision with effective risk management. We get a unique glimpse into Andy's internal fears and how they potentially act as a bottleneck in building the audience and impact he envisions for his company. Deeper into the session, we uncover the importance of authenticity in leadership and the power of turning personal expression into a collaborative conversation. As Andy confronts his fears of not being 'enough' or his interests being too 'niche,' he realizes the significance of inviting others into his vision, transforming leadership from a quest for approval into an opportunity for collective creativity.

Watch this episode on YouTube 

Enjoyed this episode? Ready to take your leadership and personal growth to the next level? Please visit my website to learn more about coaching with me.

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• Email Brian at [email protected]
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