Laura Gassner Otting 
How well do you trust yourself? How much do you trust your expertise? How deeply do you trust your delivery of it? Do you have the confidence to share what you know? Last night I had the privilege of addressing a room in Bratislava, Slovakia of the country’s 100 top businesspeople and philanthropists. It was … Read more
With the exception of the pandemic, I’ve consistently logged somewhere between 150,000-175,000 miles each year for the past ten years. I spoke at a US Army Base in Japan, rode a camel across the dunes of Arabian desert, and danced the night away in Cartagena. But, I also spent a cold and sleepless night on … Read more
It’s that time of year. Your social media pages are full of seemingly perfect mothers with their seemingly perfect children, all thrilled about going off to their seemingly perfect first day of school. Perhaps they are; let us celebrate them. Perhaps they aren’t; let us empathize with them. It’s a rare moment in my house … Read more
The unforgiving 90-degree sun is beating down on you and your boat mates. A scrawny kid in a “US Rowing Masters Nationals Volunteer” t-shirt is holding your racing shell in place at the starting line. You’ve been rowing only for a year, and this is your first big race. And, it’s The Big Race. You’re … Read more
The toxic personalities have got to go. I didn’t grow up cool. I was never the popular kid. I orbited around the brighter planets, and was the quintessential sidekick. I cultivated snark and sarcasm, a tough outer shell of self-protection, armor for days. Somewhere along the way, this childhood insecurity grew into adult bad habits. … Read more
About six months ago, I wandered into the world of public speaking. It wasn’t a planned career shift, but an invitation to stand on a very big stage, that launched the new adventure. Yet despite the warm invitation from a most reputable brand, never in a life so fueled by the guiding principle “fake it … Read more
It’s Graduation Season or, as I like to call it, Trite Advice Season. Beating out, by a nose, blissfully ignorant platitudes such as the ever-recycled, “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life!” we get the world’s worst advice in the history of worst advice: “Follow your passion!” “Follow your … Read more
Force: (n) strength or power exerted upon an object; physical coercion; violence; intensity Power: (n) the ability to do or act; capability of doing or accomplishing something Energy: (n) the capacity for vigorous activity; available power Leverage: (n) the mechanical advantage or power gained by using a lever, a rigid bar that pivots about one … Read more
Ten years ago, I ran my first mile. That’s right, I was rounding 40 years old, not exactly the picture of fitness, and decided it was time to get my shit together. I signed up for a boot camp that was held every morning at 6:00am on a dirty gym floor at a local Boys … Read more
Compliments…. eek… so awkward! But, wait… did you ever get a compliment that stopped you in your tracks? You! Yeah, you! You are amazing. But, not just any old kind of amazing. You are the kind of amazing that makes me want to be more amazing, too. You motivate me, and you inspire me. … Read more