Growth Warrior: Aligning Personal Values with Professional Success with Lenore Kantor

Transformational coach Lenore Kantor takes us on a journey beyond the hamster wheel of achievement in this thought-provoking conversation about aligning our authentic selves with our professional pursuits.

Drawing from her twenty-year corporate career and subsequent evolution into the founder of Growth Warrior, Lenore shares powerful insights about the trap many high achievers fall into: chasing external validation while disconnecting from their core values. "One way people can get out of alignment is they're trying to accomplish something outside of them, to make their parents happy, to compete with their friends," she explains. This pursuit often leaves successful professionals feeling empty despite checking all the conventional success boxes.

What makes this conversation particularly valuable is Lenore's practical approach to creating meaningful change. She walks us through her process of helping clients recognize when they've outgrown certain beliefs, visualize new possibilities, and most importantly, create space for transformation. Her framework balances quantitative metrics with qualitative values—acknowledging that while numbers matter, relationships, connection, and alignment create true fulfillment.

The discussion takes a fascinating turn when exploring how we become trapped by our own rules and assumptions. "They're covered by rules that we put in place at some point to help us stay safe," notes host Nicole, to which Lenore adds that many clients struggle to see beyond these self-imposed limitations. Through client stories and personal experiences, Lenore demonstrates how visualization exercises and gratitude practices can help break through these barriers.

Ready to move beyond endless achievement without fulfillment? This episode provides both the inspiration and practical tools to align your professional path with your authentic self. Listen now to discover why creating space—physically, emotionally, and mentally—might be the first crucial step toward the meaningful success you're truly seeking.

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Lenore Cantor, Growth Warrior
• 6:05 Corporate Exit to Transformational Coaching
• 11:01 Balancing Metrics with Meaning
• 15:28 Breaking Free from Achievement Hamster Wheel
• 18:10 Visualizing New Possibilities Despite Fears
• 21:32 Celebrating Milestones Through Gratitude
• 24:35 Creating Space for Change

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hello there and welcome back to the next episode of Overcome Yourself, the podcast. As you know, my name is Nicole and I'm very excited to be here today with Lenore. Now, lenore, please go ahead and introduce yourself. I want you to tell us a little bit about who you are and who you help.

Speaker 2: 0:18

Sure, I'm Lenore Cantor. I'm a transformational coach and founder of Growth Warrior, and I support high achievers to create more alignment in their personal and professional life. I don't believe we need to be divided and we can create more authenticity and alignment around our values in our work. I'm also an author, an author like you, and yeah, and I mentor a lot of founders and solopreneurs as well.

Speaker 1: 0:53

That's lovely, thank you. Now tell us a little bit about your journey. How did you become this growth warrior Like? How did that come about? That sounds amazing.

Speaker 2: 1:06

Sure, you know, I worked for 20 years in the corporate world as initially a product launch expert and then I transitioned into marketing and communication. So my expertise was really on go-to-market strategies and I had helped take a company public. Six months later they were acquired by a very large corporate entity. So I went from, you know, 150 people to 300 to 50,000. And a few months into that transaction I realized I couldn't do it anymore and that I really needed to have a little more freedom and independence. So that was about 12 years ago and I've had my own coaching and consulting business for that period of time.

Speaker 2: 1:52

I spent the first 10 years mostly acting as an outsourced chief marketing officer, so I would do fractional interim marketing strategy for high growth businesses and I was also doing, you know, executive leadership coaching. And about two years ago I got additional training in addition to the different coaching that I had done previously. I learned about energy medicine and shamanic healing, and so I really started integrating that into my work. And now I work primarily with leaders, conscious leaders who are looking to create change in their life.

Speaker 1: 2:32

That's amazing. That's a beautiful transition. I love how you were able to to kind of pivot within what you are already doing and because you're working kind of, I imagine, with the same people, but just in a new capacity right.

Speaker 2: 2:47

Yeah, I would say. You know, what I have noticed is I came out of the financial technology space, so a lot of the folks that I worked with in the financial world were very much in their head and the work I do now. I want to help people connect more with their heart, so, as long as they have an openness and a willingness to really look at their whole body, I do a lot of work with the chakras and so if somebody is only all about the numbers, I feel that they're not getting the full picture because while the quantitative metrics are important, they certainly overlook the qualitative values. They're not completely performing, you know they're. They're more focused on performance and output as opposed to relationships, values, connection, which you know. So I want people to have that interest in the whole picture.

Speaker 1: 3:46

I love that. I think that's so important, and can you, as someone that comes from the world of launches, it sounds like right, because you're releasing products, you're doing marketing. Can you talk to us a little bit about how we can keep a balance on both of those things, as we are launching new products, creating new things, as you know, small entrepreneurs we want to have that IPO one day, right?

Speaker 1: 4:11

Yeah, yeah yeah, of course, but at the same time create that balance. So can you give us a few tips on how we can do that?

Speaker 2: 4:21

Yeah, you know, I think one of the most important things that I know it's easy to lose sight of is what is it that's most important to you? And I think sometimes we think it's the money, it's the visibility, the fame, whatever the followers. And while those things may be useful guidelines, when we focus only on those, without really connecting with our true values, which might be quite different, like deep connection, meaning, you know, growth, whatever that is we can lose sight of what's most important. So I think one of the things I try to help people connect with is to come up with what is the filter they're going to use for assessing success in their life? And is success that you reach a certain dollar amount, even if that comes at the expense of burning yourself out or, you know, compromising what you believe in? Or is it about you're doing something meaningful and fulfilling for you? You're using your creativity, you know so.

Speaker 2: 5:32

I think once people realize that sometimes what they think they want is not actually what they most care about, that they're looking outside of themselves instead of within themselves, that's when they can get out of balance. So it's really about coming back to yourself and knowing within yourself what feels right in terms of the timing of the launch, the size, the strategy, right Like. There isn't, from my perspective, one size fits all right. You've got to find what works for you, and I think that is the biggest challenge I know I struggled with and many new entrepreneurs do is they're looking for the playbook for someone else and they spend a lot of money like tell me what to do. And then someone tells them what they would do, but it doesn't always align with what you know is their working style, their preferences and things like that. So I believe in really learning to listen to yourself and know what's true for you.

Speaker 1: 6:50

That's a big deal. In my book I talk about defining what success means to you, and it's a common theme among very successful entrepreneurs who come to this podcast and they tell me I had the, I had the money, I had literally my dream house, I designed it, I had all the things, but I wasn't fulfilled. And so I think it's so important how you, how you broke it down and really made it very scientific about quantifying versus qualifying right. And so there's this is it quality or is it quantity? And and something that I've come across in my research.

Speaker 1: 7:35

I know people say money can't buy happiness, but research does show us that after a certain point of income, your happiness is no longer affected by money. So, once your bills are paid like you, you know no debt. Your bills are paid like you are able to take care of yourself, you're able to do certain things. After that, the level of money doesn't matter. And so people are like I'm going to make a million dollars. Well, what if after 100,000, your happiness is not affected by that money anymore? Are you still going to aspire to that? So can you talk to me a little bit about that?

Speaker 2: 8:11

Yeah, I mean I I guess what I have seen with high achievers, which is the people I'm usually working with right, they're always chasing the next thing, right. And so I try and help people recognize when they're on the hamster wheel and it's not serving them, because they're making themselves crazy, right, and people do it in different ways. So one way and I saw you talked about this a lot is lack of boundaries. You talked about this a lot is lack of boundaries. They're working all the time. They don't know how to say no, right. So that that's one way people can get out of alignment.

Speaker 2: 8:53

Another is they're trying to accomplish something that is outside of them, to make their parents happy, to compete with their friends to, you know, win recognition or whatever. So they're looking for something to validate them outside of themselves. So it's really about helping people reconnect within, around you know, recognizing when things are feeling helpful and when things are making them unhelpful, you know. And so coming back to that center to recognize that they have more control than they realize over certain things. But they need that awareness of when they're the ones that are making it difficult for themselves and how their behaviors, their beliefs, their actions are making them unhappy and that they can change it.

Speaker 1: 10:03

And that's a common theme in my world is having hard talks with yourself, and sometimes you just have to sit yourself down and really have a hard talk, and that happened to me and I detail it in my book probably my next book. I'll talk about it more because you know I'm starting to open up more about the deeper layers, right. Deeper layers, right, but I talked about this in a five minute open mic. That I did. I used to have panic attacks every day. Now that came from a vitamin deficiency, and so I did have to go to my doctor to be able to deal with that.

Speaker 1: 10:39

But one of the ways that I was able to finally take that step was in the middle of a panic attack. I crying, I'm wailing, I'm just full-on, disney princess, you know, on the bed, just just you know, like at the worst right. And one day I was like do you like this? Do you like doing this every single fucking day? Yeah, because why does it keep happening? And so it took me a little while, right, but I had to work through that and be like well, if you don't want this, then what do you want? What does happiness look like? What does joy what? What kind of life do you actually want? Because until you don't know that, how are you going to get there? Going to get there? Yeah, and so that's where my journey to gratitude started, and I had to be grateful for where I am right now, but also grateful that I'm able to work towards that thing that I'm going for, right, so yeah. So, just what does that? What does that bring up for you?

Speaker 2: 11:40

Well, I think that's so beautiful and I think it's so powerful when people can have that awareness of oh I'm really not happy, what can I change that? And they recognize they can change it. Because I do find some people feel trapped and they can't see a way out. They and it's basically a cage of their own making. You know, I I've had this conversation with a friend and she just can't see it. But she needs to earn a certain amount of money to live her lifestyle. And I suggested well, why don't you cut back on your expenses? You know your child is going to college now. Maybe you don't need such a big house. No, why don't you cut back on your expenses? You know your child is going to college now. Maybe you don't need such a big house. No, I can't. I have to do this, this. I say okay, is that working for you? And it isn't. But but she can't see beyond it.

Speaker 2: 12:41

I had one client in particular who was very wedded to a particular role. She had gotten a certification. So she felt I'm certified, I've got to be in that position in the corporate world to have credibility. Meanwhile she had her own successful consulting business but she decided I need the corporate job. She got the job. She was miserable.

Speaker 2: 13:05

I said I said so, how's? I said I said so, how's it? You know how's it go. You know I really don't like it. So we helped her find another place within the company. She couldn't find that. We helped her go back to her consulting and then we looked at what she was doing. She actually didn't like the work she was doing, that she had the certification in. And so I said what, what do you want to do? You know, and she knew well, I don't want to do project management, I really want to do research, and you know, and writing. And so we totally pivoted her business law and but it takes a while for people to, like you say, peel back the layers to recognize what's their truth, because it's covered over by masks, defenses, denial. You know, old assumptions. So you kind of need to clear that stuff out to understand what's really going on to understand what's really going on.

Speaker 1: 14:10

What that made me think of is they're covered by rules that we put in place at some point to help us stay safe.

Speaker 1: 14:14

Yeah, and we have to acknowledge that that is not necessary anymore. You know, like, if you, if you move to, you, know a house that already has a big fence, you don't need to bring your little white picket fence and put it outside or inside that fence, like you've already got, you're good now. Right, and so it's really. Yeah, it's recognizing the rules that we've put in place. Right, that's the subconscious, those stories that we run under, and then we don't have to be aggressive about it. But we can just be like, hey, what are you doing here? Why are you here? Do I need you anymore? Right, like, give this stuff to the thrift store, you know, put it all in a bag and let's, let's get rid of the stuff we don't need anymore.

Speaker 2: 15:03

I love that we don't need anymore. I love that. I do think it is a process because people have a lot of fear that keeps them stuck. And I had this with another client who wanted to make a change. But they felt a sense of loyalty to where they were working, but they knew they weren't happy and they could be doing something else. But it was scary to take that leap, to leave where they were to go and what if they made a mistake, and but so we explored like, okay, let's step into this new possibility and see how it feels.

Speaker 2: 15:40

And it was really uncomfortable for her initially, like, oh, I don't, I don't like it. We said, okay, go back to where you were, feel that. And she's like, oh, I really I don't like what I'm doing right now. I said, okay, go to the new possibility. And it felt more comfortable and I was like, all right, well, which do you want? I want to stay in the new possibility. But but it took, it took a transition for her to see that that could in fact be okay. It was almost like she needed to adjust her nervous system to be able to tolerate the discomfort of the change, adjustment and she could look at the other option. She could then see oh, I don't want this, I can choose this new thing and I can get through the uncertainty and whatever I imagined might happen like that was not true, I can do this, and that that's kind of the work. It's like to hold people's hand as they go through that transition yes, of course it's scary.

Speaker 1: 16:52

You've had a routine for god knows how many years. You, you know, you have a way to work. You get home at a certain time, like you know what you get to do when you get to your office. And now you don't know. And so you, you know, it makes sense that your brain is like, ah, unknown, it's like I'm just, you're just throwing me in the ocean with some sharks. And then I love how you use visualization to step into that. I know that that helped me a lot too and be like well, what if?

Speaker 1: 17:18

And we use what ifs for good instead of using them for for bad right, for bad right, because anxiety uses what ifs to be like well, what if there's sharks, or what if you get burned, or what if you know whatever? But what if we use what if? So, what if it works? What if you like this better? What if you make more money? What if you have less stress? Um, and just giving ourselves permission to be like well, what if something good happens? Oh, that's, that's really good. This is a great conversation. Um, I touched gratitude, but can you talk to me about what role gratitude plays in your work with your clients in this journey?

Speaker 2: 18:10

what is going well versus what is not, and I do think that is unfortunately a common practice that many of us have, who are used to always chasing the gold ring. You know it's always moving, it's always the next and then you reach it in the next, so you never really have a chance to celebrate what you have achieved. So for me, it's very important to recognize the milestones and to acknowledge and celebrate with the clients where they're at and all the things that they're doing well, and I do think people need that because they often don't give it to themselves.

Speaker 1: 18:46

Big deal. One of my stories that I caught in my head was you don't get anything done. You haven't gotten anything done. So I'd be writing my book and I'd get up, you know, I'd be at the computer for six hours that day and be like, look at you, you're still in your PJs, you haven't even done anything today. And I had to be like no brain, we just got done writing this right. Or like, when my book came out, we were just talking about my book before. Um, before we started recording, you finish writing it.

Speaker 1: 19:18

And then your brain is like, well, you haven't sold any. Well, that wasn't the goal, brain, we haven't sold any because I just finished writing it. We have to go edit it. Like there's a whole bunch of stuff and so, um, yeah, moving that goal post such a big problem. Um, yeah, and, like you said, gratitude helps us reframe that and just change our perspective a little bit and just be able to say good job, nicole, you did it. You're. One of your life goals was to write a book and you freaking did it. Next step is marketing and then we'll you know we'll come up with all that stuff, but for right now, you'll be proud of yourself because you wrote a book. Tell us about your book. Speaking of which, because I'm proud of you for writing your book too. Yes, thank you.

Speaker 2: 19:59

So it's called. So what Do you Do? The Authentic Alchemy Path to Find who you Are, and I share an eight-step framework to guide people to more of that personal and professional alignment. What I think makes this different from traditional career guidebooks is that it's really more of a life and user manual. So I've got a lot of very practical strategies about how you can create change, but I've woven in multiple healing modalities clearing I work with energy all the chakras. There's a hero or heroine's journey that helps people put their experiences in context so that they can know they haven't made any mistakes. They can really transform everything they've done into creating meaning, going forward. And yeah, writing the book was such an experience and promoting it and it's been a journey, but it was really a wonderful exercise and it is nice to sort of have it finished Right and celebrate.

Speaker 1: 21:09

Go us. Yeah, it's so easy to move on to the next step, though, right Like you finish it and you're like, well, why haven't you sold any? We're like, well, we haven't started that, that step yet, brain, so let's calm down. Oh, my goodness, that this has been wonderful. I love this conversation so far. So tell me, how can we stay in touch with you?

Speaker 2: 21:33

Yes, I'd love to share. So my website is growthwarriorco, not com. You can follow me on Instagram at Lenore Cantor L-E-N-O-R-E-K-A-N-T-O-R, and on YouTube I'm growthwarriorltd, so those are the best ways, and obviously people can connect with me on linkedin as well. So I like to share lots of information and and other resources for folks through those different channels awesome and you mentioned that you had some gifts for the audience that you might have available yeah, so, um, on my website under the book, in the navigation is a number of different elements to support the book process if people are interested in going deeper.

Speaker 2: 22:23

One of the aspects in particular is working with the elements, which is a part, so you know, air, water, fire, earth so that is a resource for people, and I have a tarot spread because there are tarot readings in there as well, and then on my resources page I have other things that can help people a guided visualization and also some traditional career resources about professional branding, resume outreach, things like that.

Speaker 1: 22:55

So oh, that is awesome. Thank you for sharing and I want to know. Final tip what's like that big aha moment that like the favorite tip that you give your clients, that they're like this is what changed my life.

Speaker 2: 23:11

Well, you know, I would say the first step that I recommend to people is they need to be ready for change, and I find that, sadly, many people are not and they're so full of ideas of things they're carrying around we talked about it those unhelpful beliefs, behaviors, attitude, all of those things. So I think if you can create space by clearing, you can do it physically, you can do it emotionally, you can do it in your environment, your space where you're working. But once you create that space, you allow new things to come into your life. But if you don't have space like this cup is full, I can't pour anything else into it. So it's very difficult to create the changes we desire if we're so like stuffed up with things that there's no room. So I think it's really about people recognizing when they want to change something, to do it consciously by creating the space for taking action, to create space in their environment and really to set a clear intention that they're ready to move forward, to change.

Speaker 1: 24:40

That is fantastic phenomenal. I love it. In one of my challenges, one of the first things that I had my you know the participants do was go through your wallet, clean out your purse, but specifically don't go through the whole purse, just grab your wallet. What's in there, um, and that is one way that I learned to find abundance. You might already have a bunch of money in your wallet and you forgot about it Gift cards and change in bills that you just threw in there, um, and so I love that.

Speaker 1: 25:12

I think it resonates exactly with that, like clean stuff out and cleaning. Like when I go to write, if I want to clean my house, I give myself a writing assignment Right, because my brain needs that as part of the process, and I'll go clean something and that's. I feel like that's my brain, kind of sorting things out and, um, you know, getting rid of stuff it doesn't need. So I feel like it's the physical representation of what my brain is doing, kind of going through the filing cabinet. What are we gonna write next, um, and so I love that. I love that, clearing it being the first step, that's great oh well that's you know.

Speaker 2: 25:49

Clearing the wallet is classic feng shui, so that's awesome oh, I love it.

Speaker 1: 25:54

I learned that from somewhere else, but I was like this is so good, um, that I gotta share it. So that's a great activity for you guys that you're listening today. Go see what's in your wallet. Go see how much money you've actually got that you forgot about. Well, this has been absolutely amazing. Lenore, thank you so much for joining us today and thank you guys for being here. We'll catch you guys on the next episode of overcome yourself, the podcast. Bye. Thanks, nicole. Thank you.