Laura Gassner Otting 
I wrote a self-help book. About a month after my book, Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life came out — debuting at #2 on the Washington Post Bestseller list right behind Michelle Obama’s Becoming — I had a crushing realization: I wrote a self-help book. I thought … Read more
In 2013, I read Lean In. I wanted to love it. I knew I was supposed to love it. But I didn’t. My issue with Lean In wasn’t the enormous amounts of privilege that Sheryl Sandberg used to achieve success. Hell, I did the same thing, albeit with a few less zeroes on my paycheck. … Read more
Employee engagement feels elusive… but all you need is to have the right conversations to find out what really drives your team. I speak for a living. And the biggest question I get when corporations want to bring me in to speak to their audiences is this: “When you get on stage and tell all … Read more
Hustle porn tells us that “Entrepreneurship isn’t for the weak!” And, it’s true: it’s not. But it’s also not for the strong either. Being single-focused, blindered, unwavering won’t get you far. Or, at least it won’t keep you there when it does. As a serial entrepreneur and life-long mentor and coach to entrepreneurs, I’ve seen … Read more
“You are strong, for a girl.” “You did well in that class, for someone not so good at math.” “You look nice in that dress, definitely better than what you wore last time.” Ah, there’s nothing like a well-meaning compliment that runs face first into an insult. I like to give the benefit of the … Read more
The Mondayest of all Mondays is the Monday after vacation. I woke up this morning to that very Monday. I’ve just gotten back from a lovely vacation, refreshed and rested, and then Monday just came and smacked me in the face. Except I love Mondays. Really, I do. I used to hate them, going through … Read more
I love to fly. Like, I really, really love it. Now, if you’re reading this and you have a serious fear of flying, I’m not going to waste your time with tips and tricks, diminish the exquisite immediacy your phobia, or try to negotiate with you about why you are more (so, so much more) … Read more
If you aren’t the hero of your story, it’s just not the right story. I’ve always believed this. So many of us are busy trying to shoehorn ourselves into someone else’s idea of what we should be, who we should be, how we should be. But if you aren’t the hero of your story, it’s … Read more
Fun fact: I’m actually a unicorn. Look, you can see it here, revealed in my shadow. What makes me a unicorn? I give a shit. And, I don’t just give a shit. I give a metric fuck ton of shit. I’m a metric fuck ton shit giver unicorn. I’ve always been an all-in kind of … Read more
Last week I was told that I’m not good enough. Twice. One of those people looked me in the eye and told me that she knew I had work to do, saw my future, believed in me, and sat with me to help me map out how to get there. The other did not. She made it … Read more