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Overcoming fear starts with facing what holds you back and naming the strengths that move you forward. In this episode of Reignite Resilience, hosts Natalie Davis and Pamela Cass sit down with Chris Woods, certified professional coach, author of Balls and Brains, and former four time global C-suite executive and Google sales leader, to unpack how fear shapes careers, relationships and self worth, and how to trade fear for strength.

Chris grew up the youngest of five in a tough blue collar Boston neighborhood near Tufts University. His father died at 40, and this fact planted a fear in Chris that stayed with him for decades. He spent his twenties, thirties and part of his forties working to pay off student loans and build a career, driven less by ambition and more by a ticking clock he believed he could not escape. At 40, Chris contracted cardiac Lyme disease. His heart stopped in the hospital. Doctors brought him back, installed a pacemaker, and told him he had another 40 or 50 years to live. This moment forced Chris to ask a new question: what happens after you survive the fear you spent your life running from?

The answer became Balls and Brains, Chris Woods's framework for helping people, especially men, name their fears and own their strengths instead of hiding from both. Chris walks Natalie and Pamela through the Enneagram and the Clifton StrengthsFinder, two tools he uses with coaching clients to map where fear shows up and where natural strength already lives. He shares the life changing question he borrowed from coach Peter Crone: who would you be in the absence of your concerns? And he explains why he coaches clients toward evolution, not revolution, when they are ready to change direction.

In This Episode:

• Why Chris Woods named his coaching framework Balls and Brains
• How growing up in a tough Boston neighborhood shaped his relationship with resilience
• What happened when his heart stopped from cardiac Lyme disease at age 40
• The most common fears holding high achieving men back from playing bigger
• How the Enneagram and Clifton StrengthsFinder work together to map fear and talent

Chris Woods now runs a CEO consulting business, helping leaders align who they are with what they do so success feels energizing instead of exhausting. His story proves fear does not disappear. You learn to work with it instead of running from it.

The Quiet Gift: A Journey of Self Worth and Resilience is now available for download as an audible. Check it out!

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Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The co-hosts of this podcast are not medical professionals. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on this podcast. Reliance on any information provided by the podcast hosts or guests is solely at your own risk.

Pamela Cass is a licensed broker with Kentwood Real Estate
Natalie Davis is a licensed broker with Keller Williams Realty Downtown, LLC