2 Key questions to unlock transformation as a leader with Gene Hammett, Founder Coach

In this episode, we explore what we truly want and how we often stand in our own way, covering the importance of clear goals, spotting self-sabotage, and building the self-awareness needed before attempting real change. We dig into our work with founder-dependent companies and the shift from founder-led to team-driven structures, sharing a personal story of rebuilding after business failure and how identifying a recurring pattern helped us change behavior and continue growing. We close with a practical challenge: write down what you want, talk it over with people you trust, and honestly reflect on where you might be holding yourself back. Episode Highlights & Time Stamps 0:07 Know What You Want 3:58 Find Your Self-Sabotage 6:27 Unlock the Hidden Pattern 🎯Key Takeaways Get clear on what you really want in your business and life, don't limit it to what feels comfortable or realistic today. You don't need the "how" yet; clarity on direction comes before strategy. Founder dependency limits growth. The goal is to move from founder-led to team-driven. Self-sabotage blocks progress often through fear, hesitation, or repeating old patterns. Past failures can shape current decisions without you realizing it. Awareness is the turning point. You can't change what you don't see. Growth requires honesty and courage to face your own patterns. Two core questions drive change: What do you really want? How are you getting in your own way? Ideal For: Founders, CEOs, executives Resources & Next Steps Ready to take your leadership energy to the next level? Explore free training and resources at training.coreelevation.com and getfounderfreedom.com to help you identify energy leaks, strengthen your leadership presence, and elevate your team's performance. 🌐 Explore More: training.coreelevation.com 🎧 Listen to the Full Episode: Growth Think Tank Podcast

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Today, I want to ask you a couple of key questions to help you really clarify where you're going and what's getting in your way. Let's dive in. When you think about what do you want? Do you look at it through the lens of what you know how to do, what is comfortable? Do you look at it through the lens of what really you want? Because I think a lot of people don't really let themselves think about what they really, really want inside their business. Maybe in their life too, but since I talk about leadership and working with growth-oriented companies. My question to you today is what do you really want? And if you can't answer that for yourself, how do you expect to create that in your world? How do you expect to execute on that? How do you expect to align your team around what you really want?

• 0:43Speaker 00

  If you are a $5 million company and you want to get to 10 million, then say so. But then, the next part of this that will really help you will be the hard part. What you want is actually the easy part. This is the dreaming part. You don't need to know how, you don't need to know have the resources for this, you don't need to be ready. You just need to know what you want. And in just a moment, I'm going to give you the other questions to unlock this. Hi, my name is Gene Hammack. I am a founder coach, CEO coach. I've been doing this for over 16 years and I work with fast-growth companies and some companies that aren't growing so fast. But they are dealing with founder dependency. And I say this with a smile because I've lived it.

• 1:23Speaker 00

  But if you feel like you're the only person in the room who is able to make the decisions and drive the projects forward, put out the fires, then you have a founder-dependent business and that business isn't that valuable. Our focus is helping you move from founder dependency to founder-led. And that is done over a three-month program. And then we help you move to a team-driven business. Now, that takes a little bit longer and I will tell you, but that's the real value of the work that we do for clients. If you're curious about that, you can unlock the details of how we do it for clients. Not to be sold, but in a book called Get Founder Freedom. And all you have to do is download that now at getfounderfreedom.com.

• 2:05Speaker 00

  It's yours for free and if you qualify, you'll be offered a chance to speak. With me to help you unlock what's really holding you back. So go to getfounderfreedom.com and download your book today. So I started this whole video with what do you want? And if you can't answer the question, what do you want in your business? You can't hope to create that. It doesn't have to be about revenue. It doesn't have to be about products. It could be about legacy. It could be about the impact you want to make on the world, that the lives you want to change. I know for me, when I first started coaching 16 years ago, I had just closed down a business because it failed horribly. If you don't know my story, I won't bore you with it today.

• 2:46Speaker 00

  But I ran a very successful business for nine plus years, almost 10, and it fell apart in one phone call. That being said, I share this with you because I had a journey of rebuilding myself. And in that journey and trying to find what I was going to do next and who I was, a lot of things came together. And one of them was, I remember my first coach, Linda. And Linda helped me see myself and grow and transform. And I want to do that for others. So that's the one reason why I am a coach today. I didn't know how I would get there. I didn't have the resources. And it was, I guess the timing was right because everything had fell apart in my life. But I was broken, so I had to rebuild myself first. And so there was a long journey for me. But I turn this question back to you.

• 3:31Speaker 00

  What do you really want? And if you're really honest with yourself, you will be able to define what you really want. You could write it down. You can use AI to help you to make it beautiful. Or you can just write it down and then talk about it with your team. Talk about it with your spouse, what you're trying to create. You don't need to know how. You don't need to have the resources and you don't need to feel ready. That's the first part of this video. Hopefully that helps you. But what I want you to really zero in on is the second part. How are you sabotaging yourself? How are you getting in your way? How are you stopping yourself? Where do you get slippery? All this being said, I know the answer to this question is hard.

• 4:13Speaker 00

  But when you're really honest with yourself, when you're really vulnerable, courageous, answering how you get yourself get in the way. Of what you want will allow you to reflect on it, allow you to grow from it, allow you to make some choices. But just not knowing, you will continue to self sabotage yourself. I'm going to share with you another story about a mentor in my life who helped me unlock something. And hopefully that will help you because it was called upon me this morning in my workout to share this story today. I knew that I needed to find a new marketing strategy in my business last year. Because what we had been doing had failed to to work over the last eighteen months or so. I didn't realize it until it's too late, but I got honest with myself and I said, okay, this has to change.

• 4:56Speaker 00

  And I remember reaching out to a mentor of mine, he's been a guest on the show, Mike Aguilera. And if you, he's a great coach and he's run some programs. And if you have, you know, a plumbing business or electrical business, he is probably the best person in the world to go to, to help you with your problem. I don't run that kind of business, but I did reach out to him and I showed up to one of his programs. And he said something that I want to share with you. That if I gave you a skill or a strategy to get what you want, and you didn't identify how you're sabotaging yourself, you would continue to sabotage yourself. Now, I didn't really understand that, so I got curious, I asked a few questions from Mike. And he goes, Gene, what's your biggest problem? And I said, it's marketing.

• 5:39Speaker 00

  And I remember sitting there having the courage to say what I knew was my biggest problem. And he goes, well, how do you sabotage yourself? I don't know. I didn't have an answer to that one. But he goes, well, have you ever put money into an agency or into a strategy or campaign, whatever it may be from a marketing standpoint, and it didn't pay off? And I remember saying, well, of course, lots of money, in fact. In fact, most of them have not paid off. And he looked at me directly and he said, there's your sabotage. There is your trauma. Now, I share this story with you because knowing what my trauma was, was such a critical element to allow me to move forward. Knowing how I self sabotaged myself, that I wasn't making the moves, I wasn't making the decisions, I wasn't executing, I wasn't investing.

• 6:24Speaker 00

  All because of that story that I was living in. Mike unlocked that for me and I thank. For that. I also share this with you that yours is probably different than mine. It may not be marketing. It's probably something else. And this is what I help my clients through, but I want to help you through the free content we create, through the podcasts and through our business. We work with companies that are founder dependent. We work with companies that want to break through that to be founder led and create team driven companies that that are more valuable, that are more fun to run and and actually have more of an impact in the world through the team and building a the business of their dreams. I love what we do and I'm not trying to sell you on what we do, but I got here

• 7:09Speaker 00

  because I was willing to work through that stuff. I was willing to continue to invest. I worked with four mentors since Mike on marketing. All of them have helped me in some way. None of them have been the home run I was hoping for, but that's okay. I'm okay with that because I am learning, I'm growing and I am determined as ever to figure out the marketing side of my business. Now you've hopefully listening to this podcast, you understand this is part of my marketing. I've not had a fear of showing up and sharing my message, looking directly in the camera and trying to help those out there. I've been doing this over and over and over. It's some of the details behind that that I have been lacking and that I was missing and that I needed to address and that I am working on right now.

• 7:53Speaker 00

  And we're showing signs of success. We've added on probably five or seven new clients in the last six months that are amazing for our brand and we're continuing to add more all because I knew what I wanted and I was willing to address my trauma or where I was self sabotaging myself. I share this story with you because I want to unlock you. Maybe all you need is the story, but maybe you need something else. Maybe you need a conversation with me. If you are, the best thing you can do is download the book, Get Founder Freedom at getfounderfreedom.com. Very simple. And if you want that call with me and you qualify, you will be offered a chance to take me up on that. So that being said, are you willing to ask yourself the question, what do you really want?

• 8:35Speaker 00

  Are you willing to ask yourself, how do you self sabotage yourself? Those two questions can unlock tremendous transformation and opportunity for growth. And if you want help in that, I'm here to help you. My name is Gene Haber. When you think of growth and you think of leadership, I think of growth thinking. As always, the courage was in.