Two decades in executive search +
a decade of global data
For twenty years, Laura's job was to read talent and ambition for a living. When she sold her executive search firm, she set out to understand what she'd been seeing — and turned it into research. Nearly 10,000 people across 113 countries, a grounded-theory study of intuition, and the four C's of consonance now sit beneath four bodies of work. Start wherever your question lives.
Doing Your Best Work
Work That Matters
Why success doesn't bring happiness — and how consonance (Calling, Connection, Contribution, Control) predicts who thrives. The individual's guide to writing your own definition of success.
Explore the research →The research behind Wonderhell
The Weight of Ambition
The emotional cost of success — impostor syndrome, self-doubt, and burnout — and why the hardest part of getting what you want is discovering you want more.
Explore the research →The research behind Greatness
Spotting Potential in Others
How leaders recognize the potential others miss — the grounded theory of intuition in hiring, and the nine traits that predict who can grow.
Explore the research →Belonging & Retention
Why Your Best People Leave
Your best people don't leave for money — they leave because they don't feel seen. The data on consonance, belonging, and what actually makes them stay.
Explore the research →~10,000
survey responses across 113 countries
100+
in-depth executive interviews
3M+
of views on her TEDx talk
20 yrs
leading executive search
As seen in
About
Meet Laura Gassner Otting
Laura Gassner Otting is a Wall Street Journal and Washington Post bestselling author, researcher, and keynote speaker who helps individuals, leaders, and organizations become limitless. A former White House appointee who helped build AmeriCorps, she spent two decades leading executive searches before turning to the research behind engagement, ambition, and potential.
Her TEDx talk has been viewed millions of times, and her work has been featured by Good Morning America, the TODAY show, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and more.
Meet Laura Contact