From Confusion to Confidence: Career Advice from Lauren Most

In this episode of career coaching secrets our guest is Lauren Most, a career and leadership expert who shares practical insights on professional growth, career clarity, and navigating meaningful career transitions. Lauren dives into her journey, lessons learned from coaching professionals, and actionable advice for anyone looking to level up their career with confidence and purpose.

You can find her on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurendgoldstein/
https://www.mirrormirrorpower.com/mindmirror

Transcript

Lauren Most 0:00

Um, so awareness is really the first the first step to getting a better understanding of what's going on. Scientifically, and I geek out on brain science, so apologies, right? We only have access to five percent, like five percent of our thoughts are conscious, 95% are unconscious. And so, step one.

Davis Nguyen 0:24

Welcome to career coaching secrets, the podcast where we talk with successful career coaches on how they built their success and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is Davis Wynne, and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 years, $100,000 months, and even $100,000 weeks. Before Purple Circle, I've grown several seven and eight figure career coaching businesses myself and have been a consultant at two career coaching businesses that are doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or building your practice for the first time, go discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Pedro Stein 0:56

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Pedro and today's guest is Lauren Most, an executive advisor who works with senior leaders operating under sustained pressure and complexity. With more than 15 years in high-stakes corporate environments, including serving as a chief people officer and Fortune 10 executive, she understands firsthand the weight of constant decision making and accountability at the top. Her work focuses on recalibrating internal capacity so performance can hold without overextension. Using a proprietary operating methodology grounded in systems thinking and behavioral science, she helps leaders make clearer decisions, execute with steadiness, and sustain performance as demands continue to compound. Welcome to the show, Lauren.

Lauren Most 1:55

Thank you, Pedro. I think you've said it all.

Pedro Stein 1:59

Okay, that's a wrap. Let's stop the podcast right now. Okay, I'm just kidding. Lauren, great to have you, you know, and I like to go back to the origin story, you know, rewind a bit. So every coach has that moment where they look at their life and say, Yeah, I guess this is what I'm doing now, right? So when was that for you?

Lauren Most 2:21

Oh man, how much time do you have? This could be a whole episode. In fact, it will be a book one day. So you can read about it. But okay, you know, I would say most of my career, I tied my sense of worth to my achievements. Um, and I can say that in hindsight now. I didn't realize it at the time. So I held these senior leadership roles, you just list listed them off. Um, I don't need to go through them and realized I could carry a lot. I was capable of it, and I did. And then I really assumed that was just the trade-off, the, you know, the cost of operating at those high levels. So over time, I was noticing within myself a pattern that became difficult to ignore. Um, from the outside, everything looked great. Anyone on paper would be like, she has it all, she's successful. But inside, I was increasingly anxious, I wasn't sleeping well, and I was constantly working or thinking about work in order to stay ahead. So naturally, I did what any high achiever does. I tried all the standard solutions, right? I went to therapy, I took vacation, took a day off, I tried meditating, journaling, like you name it, I tried it. Um, I even tried taking a step back in my career, like a quote unquote smaller role. Um, and I realized nothing was shifting. And so the real turning point, I guess, to directly answer your question came not from a work perspective, but actually at the end of 2023, when my marriage engagement or former marriage engagement ended. And not just because that was a painful moment, but every strategy I'd ever relied on, right? Just work harder, just keep going, that stopped working. That wasn't available to me in the pain that I was in in that moment. And so, as someone who's very curious and always looks for patterns and everything, I really needed to understand how I got there. Like, how could I, somebody who makes good decisions, somebody who's, you know, become a chief people officer by like 31, how did I get to this point where I didn't like the way my life looked? A broken engagement, a job I didn't love that I wasn't passionate about. And I had checked all the boxes, done everything I was supposed to do, and really was sitting there feeling like, why is nothing going my way? And that was when I realized maybe the answer is not external, maybe it's internal. And that really led me down, you know, a rabbit hole, I'll call it, of examining my internal systems, understanding what, how did I get here? And in that I found, oh, there's all these underlying beliefs that are actually driving my behavior and how we operate. And it was then that I realized I was solving for the wrong problem. I thought I was solving a well-being problem, but really what I had was an alignment, like a structural the way my life was designed. I was operating, not in a way that was sustainable for me. So as I built my life more intentionally, going from default patterns that I didn't know existed, right? That conditioning, I realized this is what I am here on this earth to be doing. And so that's what I do now is helping other leaders to examine their own internal patterns, their, I call it internal operating systems, so that their success doesn't just look good, it can feel good too.

Pedro Stein 5:58

The internal operating systems. I like that. I'm gonna steal that. Okay, okay.

Lauren Most 6:04

Feel free.

Pedro Stein 6:04

And I yeah, and I like the way that you you framed it. Like, why is nothing going my way, right? It's uh I believe that is so powerful. And sometimes we got into a hamster wheel and we're not like questioning ourselves, we're just pushing, right? But I want to understand from you, Lauren. You know, uh, when did it shift from I'm helping people to, you know, I'm building a real business around this?

Lauren Most 6:33

Yeah, it shifted. It was end of 2024 into 2025. And it was really right. I started rebuilding in my personal life, coming out of that broken engagement. And then I started using all the tools that I was using on myself in my personal life in my work life. So I started having more awareness and noticing, why am I not feeling fulfilled at work? Like all these external strategies I tried, what's not happening here? And so the real turning point for me was having gone through a number of uh work transitions, including going back to a bigger company where I thought there'd be more structure, stability, and realizing that wasn't, I wasn't finding that work fulfilling either. And so I really went back to my why. And I had to go back to my why. Why and I started my career in corporate finance. Um, and I intentionally moved from corporate finance to HR. So I went back to like, why did I make that move? I made that move because I didn't see my life as being rolling up numbers and telling the story around numbers. I saw my life as being how do I help unlock the power of people? And that is what you do when the people function. So I moved over to HR and because I was so passionate about that work. But the as I grew very quickly in my career, the more senior I became, the more disconnected I was from the work that brought me there to begin with. So as I started really digging in and unfolding, going back to my why, anchoring to like what is so important to me, I realized the work I was doing in the senior levels, while it was intellectually stimulating, it wasn't personally fulfilling for me. And that's when I went all in and said, I am going to follow my why. And this is my passion, and I have to follow it.

Pedro Stein 8:38

I love the irony, right? You're chief people's officer and you're like trying to make everyone happy, right? And you're like asking yourself at the same time, what about me? Right. So I love that, you know, because at the same time, uh, that's a process that you've been you had to go through to understand your own alignment. And it's like skin in the game. I really like that. Um, Lauren, and after you got rolling, right? Who are the people that kept showing up? You know, the ones you realized, okay, this is my tribe.

Lauren Most 9:15

Yeah. So it kept being women who were navigating significant transitions. And, you know, I would say like transformations really from an identity perspective. And I know that's a very like coaching buzzword, but it was really people who were navigating these big life transitions where they were needing to shed old parts of themselves in order to enter a new chapter or a new season. So it was, you know, I was working with a dean from a university who at 80 plus years old didn't know she was allowed to make decisions for herself. So she was having a difficult time retiring and figuring out her retirement because she didn't know that she was allowed to do things for herself. And then I worked with a, you know, fractional COO who she wanted to please everybody. And she was afraid to have conversations at work because how could she keep everybody happy, but also say what she knew she was there and use her judgment that she was there to say. So it was these women who were outgrowing their old way of being as they were transforming and transitioning into their next level self and helping them de-pattern some of their old conditioning so that they could be successful, however, they define that in their next chapter.

Pedro Stein 10:45

Yeah, I I get it. It's like corporate in a way is great because you learn and you you you know, you've been you you go through so many processes that make you a better, I would say not a person, but a professional, right? Because you understand the systems and all of that. But in a way, it's suppress your own true self because you're trying to adapt to an environment. And it it sounds like those two women there were trying to adapt, right? They're trying to be a people pleaser, they're not even like the dean you mentioned, she was not even aware she was able to think about on herself, you know. It it's just it's mind blowing, but at the same time, it's exactly what we're talking about the hamster wheel, right? It was just pushing, so yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Lauren Most 11:27

Okay, it is, and I think sorry, go ahead.

Pedro Stein 11:30

Go ahead.

Lauren Most 11:30

No, go ahead, no, go ahead. No, I right I A, I think everybody that's just like part of human nature. How do you deal with right belonging? Um, how do you deal with belonging and acclimating, which you have to do in an organization, right? There's no doubt. But also then how do you be true to yourself? And it was actually during this time I coined, and this sounds dramatic, but I actually started calling it an authenticity crisis because truly a lot of people don't even know what their feelings are. They're suppressing them. And so that doesn't mean we blow up our lives, but the more awareness that we can have about, oh, what is actually driving our behavior, then we're no longer operating in a reactive state. We're able to take proactive choices that make sense for us. And the choices may be the same, but it's the intention. Where's it coming from? Are you feeling like you're a victim to your circumstances, or do you feel like you're in control and you have agency? And that differentiation and distinction changes everything.

Pedro Stein 12:33

I like that. Okay. I mean, that's the coaching side, right? Now, Les talked about the part that nobody escapes marketing. So, how do people usually find you, Lauren?

Lauren Most 12:45

Oh, such an interesting question. So, if I'm being totally candid, right, I think I'm still working through that. What I'm finding is really referral networks in communities is really my super spot. I'm still looking and still identifying what are those right communities, who are those connectors really for networking. But really, my superpower is being able to hold the depths for someone when they're in this moment of transition or looking to be able to drive this type of transformation. And people are not just out there even Googling this. So for me, it's really making myself visible in the right channels, being in front of people who could need my services, who do need this type of support. So that if and when they're ready and it speaks to them, they're able to find me.

Pedro Stein 13:40

Okay. All right. So let's talk about business for a second. Like people find you, right? Through community or even a referral. Okay. They resonate with your work and eventually they want to know what working with you actually looks like.

unknown 13:54

Yeah.

Pedro Stein 13:54

Lauren, everyone builds their coaching business a bit differently. So when someone actually becomes a client, what does that experience look like right now?

Lauren Most 14:04

Yeah. So when someone becomes a client, it A, it's highly individualized, depending on what the person's goals are. But I have a number of, you know, methodologies, frameworks. It all starts though with awareness. Um, so my, you know, I would say signature process, if you will, that I take somebody through once they do become a client, once they are on this journey, is called a line. And the first step of a line, it's an acronym, is awareness. Everything starts with awareness because if you're back to, you know, what I called the authenticity crisis, not that people are trying to go around being inauthentic, but most people have no idea. They don't know a lot of their feelings. They're suppressed, they're hidden, especially in these high pressure systems. Um, so awareness is really the first, the first step to getting a better understanding of what's going on. Scientifically, and I geek out on brain science, so apologies, right? We only have access to 5%, right? 5% of our thoughts are conscious, 95% are unconscious. And so step one is really slowing down, taking that pause so we can gather data. Like I literally call it coming to the lab, gathering data, because you can't do anything without having raw data to start from. And what I like to say to business leaders, we would never run a business without looking at our PL, right? Like we've got to know where revenue's coming from. We need to know our operating costs, like we need to look at things. And so awareness, I relate to like doing a PL review. Let's actually understand what's going on. Let's see what's going on. And then from there, we build the right steps, the right action plan.

Pedro Stein 15:57

I mean, that makes sense. And your your work seems pretty hands-on, right? We're talking about a customized experience, basically. On top of it, we're talking about networking, we're talking about a community that you're you're building so for your own business, right? So, how do you think about capacity? So don't stretch yourself too thin.

Lauren Most 16:18

It's a great question, and honestly, it's a space I'm still experimenting in. I try and build systems to keep things really simple for myself. I stopped pushing and start really paying attention to my own internal signals. For example, there was a moment I did what all the marketing gurus out there said. Oh, build a like low trust building offer, blah, blah, blah. I did it, I sold it, I marketed it, I got 10 people to it. And then I checked in with myself at the end of it, and it didn't feel good. I hated doing it. And so I realized that's not a fit. That's not in alignment. But I had to go deep there too, right? I had to understand why it wasn't it a fit? Is it just I'm trying something new that doesn't feel good? Or is this just not how I'm meant to do business? And I realized it was the latter. And so I shifted my approach. So it's really been this trial and error being very in tune and attentive to myself and role modeling, honestly, what I teach and work with, not teach but coach my clients on, and doing that on myself first. Because if I'm not in alignment, how am I supposed to help anybody else be in alignment?

Pedro Stein 17:25

Right, right, right. Makes sense. Okay. You know, one thing every coach wrestles with at some point is pricing. And I'm not talking about hard numbers here, okay? And how to package their work, you know, because it's a self-worth path sometimes. You're like, and especially in service-based industries, you're like, should I am I charging enough? Am I charging too much? You know, because it's based on your time. You don't have that sometimes that overhead, you know, overhead spreadsheet you can just rely on and like an industry-based. So I would like to know how do you think about it today? And were there any lessons along the way that shaped how you landed there?

Lauren Most 18:04

There were. So, first, what I should say is it's definitely been an evolution and a journey, as all things have been. And I would say one of the biggest lessons stepping away from pricing that I've had is recognizing how much when I don't have knowledge or wisdom or my own opinion, because I don't have enough information, be that market data, whatever it is, I tend to over-index to the first thing I'm told. So the first time I heard anything on pricing strategy, I thought, like, okay, yes, I have to follow that. That makes sense. And then as I got more information on pricing strategy, you know, I started following what the next person said makes sense. And really, what I've had to do is take a step back and stop listening to all the noise, take all the inputs that I've gathered now that I feel resourced enough to actually understand the complexity of the landscape. I've done benchmarking, et cetera. And the one thing I will truly say that's helped me, I think it was a mindset shift I made early on, but was understanding that somebody's paying you for the transformation that you provide, not for an hour by hour time. And so that's really helped me in landing, okay, how do I price myself? And back to your question in terms of capacity and the depth and um customization of my work, right? I work on a retainer model. I don't work on an hourly model. And I'm coaching executives and C-suite leaders, and I'm helping them stay steady and grounded and deliver great judgment, which is what they're being paid a lot of money to do. So the transformation I'm providing is an enabling service, very white glove, very hands on, very deep. And I can't take a ton of clients, right? If when we go back to capacity. And so that's All kind of informed the pieces how I think about my pricing model is I just think about what's my business model. It's all got to come together and make sense.

Pedro Stein 20:09

Okay, got it. Yeah, the noise you mentioned, it's sometimes it's ridiculous, right? You're scrolling on social media and the post is AI is gonna take over. The next post is AI is dead. You know, it's the type of stuff you keep asking yourself, okay, where am I? You know, so I I completely get it. Uh, you know, the noise part, especially because you're we're all sometimes in trial and error, you know, and sometimes we need to just pick the right person to listen to it. That's easier said than done, to be candid. So, I mean, that's a solid look at how you approach price instructor, uh, especially how upfront you are about, you know, and transparent you are about your own journey. Now, I'm curious about where you're taking all this, you know, looking ahead, where do you see the business going? Are you thinking about scaling, hiring, or is there a next step you're excited about?

Lauren Most 21:04

Oh, wow. I literally in my body can feel this like combination of energy and groundingness because I have huge dreams. And this is obviously my ambition and my you know C-suite brain coming in, my business strategy brain. Like I have huge ambitions for the impact I want to make in the world. Like, I literally envision there being skills that I am helping get taught alongside math and science in elementary schools. I know that's like a big, big scale dream, but I truly do believe that there's skills that we're lacking, especially as we accelerate in the digital age, that we need to be teaching proactively in schools, not dealing with sorry to go dark here, but like all the mental health impacts of war and shootings and like all of that. I think so much of it could be prevented if we were more proactive in this space. But anyway, sorry to take us down there. That's my like long-term vision is to really help bring awareness of these efforts. Um, shorter term, really, my focus is on the depth, building the depth, proving it out, helping see the impact, and even collecting data around the impact that one liter at a time being impacted in this way. What is the impact on the organization? Right. I've done math modeling, I've done financial modeling, but we're talking at the belief level. Most of these solutions, um, most of the solutions out there, period, are at the symptom level. And so I have a core belief that we are misdiagnosing, misunderstanding um what's actually happening. You have over 50% of executives reporting burnout, but nobody's saying like why. And then systemically, how do we look at this? So I have big ambitions to help solve that challenge.

Pedro Stein 23:01

Okay. And of course, where whenever we're aiming toward the next chapter, there's always something we're refining in the present. So, what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your own business?

Lauren Most 23:13

Yeah, I would say it's really honestly my messaging. There's a lot of layers to it in terms of some of the depth of the work, the internal operating systems, bringing this very strategic systemic lens in thinking about human behavior. And so, really, the intersection of how I bring that message out in the most meaningful way, and then get it in front of the people who need to hear it that I can best help.

Pedro Stein 23:42

Okay. Yeah, it's like enabling your voice to be heard, right? By the right person, by the right ICP. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. So you can impact, not just impact, but impact the right people, right? So and they can listen. Okay. Correct. You know, I I kind of want to switch gears for a second and do something a bit more fun. No, no, this is not fun. This is this has been pretty fun. It's just a bit different. If you're down for it, I got a quick game for you.

Lauren Most 24:10

Love a game.

Pedro Stein 24:11

Okay.

Lauren Most 24:12

Is this a game that I get to win or not win, or just like for fun game?

Pedro Stein 24:16

Uh, it's a fun game, but you you can win, I guess. You can have a four, no worries.

Lauren Most 24:23

I love a game, I can win.

Pedro Stein 24:25

Okay, okay, I like that. Um, okay, we'll look at this uh through the lens of business investments. Okay, things like coaching, training, marketing, team, masterminds, you name it. It's simple. I'll give you four prompts and you tell me the first thing that comes to mind. If there's a story behind it, even better. Okay, it's more like a reflection. I don't think it's like a win or lose game. It's more like a game to uncover something and you're, you know, like a something. Oh, I I didn't think that way. Something like that. Okay. Sure. Okay, so what's the first business investment you remember making?

Lauren Most 25:03

The first business investment, I guess, was my coaching certification.

Pedro Stein 25:08

Okay.

Lauren Most 25:08

Like putting stake in the ground, I'm getting certified as a coach.

Pedro Stein 25:13

That's a big leak, right? It's like owning the process. It's like, okay, I'm doing this now, right?

Lauren Most 25:20

It is, and I do have a story behind that actually.

Pedro Stein 25:23

Well, go for it.

Lauren Most 25:25

I would say coaching was something I probably had in the back of my head. Definitely that like maybe it was something I would do one day in retirement. And probably the last five years, I've even like toyed around with, oh, like, how could I get a certification? And all the noise in corporate was, oh, you have to get a company to pay for it. Like, why would you pay for that by yourself? Get a company to pay for it. So I truly believed I thought I had to have a company pay for it. And so not only for me when I made that investment, was it a vote for myself, an investment in myself, an investment in my future, an investment in what I feel I'm meant to do in the world, it was also deconditioning and ignoring all the noise that I had always heard get a company to pay for it.

Pedro Stein 26:21

Funny you mentioned, you know, I I think that's that that's interesting. It's like you need someone to enable you to do your own path. That if you if you look at different lens, that's kind of an absurd take. But when we're so, you know, deep into corporate world, or sometimes we're deep into noise, like you mentioned, that makes sense. But yeah, I get it. Okay, second one. What's the most recent one you made? Business investment.

Lauren Most 26:51

The most recent business investment I made, I guess technically, like renewal of my domain. Not sexy.

Pedro Stein 27:01

Well, uh, business is not always sexy, right? We have to do the ins and outs, and it makes perfect sense. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. And a domain, it's just part of it. Okay. Third one, what is the best financial business investment you have made and why?

Lauren Most 27:21

Ooh, I think I do think it was probably coach training because without that, there's nothing. Like I needed the skill set in order to do it. But if I moved to something different, I went to an in-person event in New York City last year. It was in October. It was called Women Starting Movements. And I was in a room for three days with powerhouse women, ranging from people who were starting their businesses to women who had eight-figure uh businesses and like successful businesses. And being in that room, the power of the collective, the knowledge sharing, the depth of experience, the ambition, the caring nature, and just the really the elevation that that room gave me from being there leaps and bounds in terms of what that investment meant to me.

Pedro Stein 28:24

Okay. That's powerful. Last but not least, what's one investment you wish you could get your money back on?

Lauren Most 28:34

I know this may sound like I'm dodging a question, but I truly believe that everything we experience is something we learn from. So sure, there are experiences that didn't go as expected. And that's okay because it needed to happen for the journey to continue to unfold. There was a lesson that I needed to learn from that or friction in a situation. And I truly believe that was meant to be part of my journey. So I would say none.

Pedro Stein 29:07

Okay, awesome. And looking at those, and how is the part that you you might consider winning or losing? Okay. How has your approach to investing in the business changed over the years? I mean, if it has.

Lauren Most 29:22

Well, over the years, um, maybe more data than I have at the moment, but I guess if I even go from the lens of I can invest, um, versus, oh, I need somebody else to cover this. I think I've definitely shifted to being very much in the mode of like, I am a CEO, I have agency, my actions, my investments, my decisions are going to determine the future. Um, so that's definitely been a mindset shift, especially as I shared with you, going from, oh, I need to wait for somebody in corporate to sponsor my training, to I will decide the direction that my life goes on and I will put money in front of where I'm looking to drive it.

Pedro Stein 30:08

Well, sounds like you won, right? You you you came out better. I mean, not exactly this game, but the reflection about the way you invest and how that path went, you know. So yeah, I love that. And Lauren, if someone listening wants to connect with you or follow your work, where can people find you and connect with you?

Lauren Most 30:29

Yeah, so best place to connect is definitely LinkedIn. Um, and will there be show notes that I can give you a couple links?

Pedro Stein 30:39

Yeah, we're gonna add all the links, no worries.

Lauren Most 30:42

Okay, yeah. So so LinkedIn is the best place to connect. And I also have this really cool experience I created, which I call the mind mirror. It is a free reflective tool for anybody who would like to kind of see some of their subconscious patterns. As I talked about awareness being that that top most important thing, I've actually created a tool that helps people see some of their own patterns. So that would be a great place. And I can definitely get the link over so anyone who's interested can check it out.

Pedro Stein 31:15

Okay. You know, there were a few things you shared today that really stuck with me. I would say that quote you made about is nothing going my way, you know, that reflection, that self-reflection made such an impact in your journey, right? And the fact that you were uh chief people officer taking care of everyone's happiness, but not yours, maybe, you know. So that also brings something that really stays with me, you know, and how corporate can suppress your own true self, you know, that sense of belonging that sometimes we try to adapt and try to be part of something, and we forget about our true selves. So I think that really stayed with me, and also on top of it, you know, start with awareness, just like you said it, you know. Uh, you you don't know, we don't know what we don't know, so we need to first understand, see where we're at, and then we can do something about it. So I would agree with that 100% on the awareness part. And you're you're being so upfront the entire episode about your own limitations, right? I really like that because it shows vulnerability, and I think coaching that is one of the key aspects to it. It's like, let's take the barriers, the blocks out of the way, and just start change ourselves, you know. I I really like that, and on top of it, just to wrap that this up, it's uh how you want to impact schools, right? Because at the end of the day, Lauren, you're a coach, and coach that what they do is they're they looking at the root cause, right? So if you're looking at a root cause on that perspective, you wanna you don't want to treat symptoms like when you're an adult, you're it's sometimes it's just symptoms, and you're trying to to to fix that from the get-go. And I really like that. So, Lauren, I appreciate what you do. I appreciate you being here and being sharing so openly today. It was great having you on.

Lauren Most 33:15

Thank you, Pedro. Great having great being here. Thank you for so eloquently wrapping that and just really appreciate the opportunity to share.

Davis Nguyen 33:23

That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can subscribe to YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This conversation was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. To learn more about Purple Circle, our community, and how we can help you grow your business, visit joinpurplecircle.com.