Executive leader and transformation strategist Victoria Pelletier joins me to talk about what happens when success stops feeling like success — and why growth requires stepping into discomfort intentionally.
Most career narratives celebrate upward mobility, titles, and financial wins. This episode looks underneath that surface. Victoria and I unpack the transition from chasing validation and status to building a life anchored in meaning, resilience, and conscious choice.
Victoria shares how a traumatic childhood, adoption, and early exposure to scarcity drove her relentless pursuit of achievement. Becoming an executive at 24, climbing the corporate ladder, accumulating status and material markers of success — all of it was within her control. And all of it was tied to external validation.
Then life intervened.
Motherhood shifted priorities. Loss reshaped perspective. Reflection redefined what mattered.
From there, our conversation expands into resilience, self-awareness, and the uncomfortable but necessary process of recalibrating identity. We talk about bankruptcy, layoffs, corporate politics, performative leadership, toxic top performers, and why discomfort — when processed deliberately — becomes a catalyst instead of a crisis.
This isn’t a motivational episode about “pushing through.”
It’s a conversation about processing adversity, choosing discomfort strategically, and designing growth rather than defaulting to reaction.
The lesson isn’t to reject ambition.
It’s to anchor it in alignment rather than approval.
TL;DR
External validation can masquerade as success.
Trauma often fuels achievement — but doesn’t define fulfillment.
Resilience isn’t brute force; it requires reflection and processing.
Discomfort is where growth happens — if approached consciously.
Surround yourself with people who challenge without destabilizing.
Toxic top performers erode culture, even if they hit numbers.
Performative leadership creates long-term organizational decay.
Real reinvention begins when identity shifts, not just strategy.
Memorable Lines
“Everything you’ve ever wanted lives on the other side of fear.”
“Resilience isn’t shouldering everything — it’s processing it.”
“Discomfort is the price of clarity.”
“Validation can look like success — until it doesn’t.”
“If you want growth, step into the room that scares you.”
Guest
Victoria Pelletier — Executive leader and transformation strategist
Specializing in the intersection of human performance, leadership, and technology-driven transformation. Known for candid conversations around resilience, culture, and creating environments where people actually thrive.
🔗 https://victoria-pelletier.com
🔗 LinkedIn: Victoria Pelletier
Why This Matters
Modern leadership isn’t about projecting certainty. It’s about regulating yourself under pressure.
Many high performers live in quiet dissatisfaction — accomplished, visible, compensated — yet misaligned. The cost of staying comfortable becomes stagnation.
Discomfort, when chosen deliberately, becomes leverage. It reveals blind spots, reshapes identity, and forces honest recalibration.
For founders, operators, and executives rebuilding after setbacks or reassessing what success means, this episode reframes discomfort not as danger — but as design.
The future won’t reward those who avoid fear.
It will reward those who step through it deliberately.
