Lauren Fritsch, Leadership Champion and Ball-Gown Lover  

When Olympic athletes, members of Congress, venture capitalists, and CEOs hit a block, they call Lauren Fritsch.

You may know her as a speaker and strategist, but really she’s a champion for leaders of (mostly) fast-growing companies who want to expand their businesses. Lauren and I co-chair the cheering section for leaders of early-stage companies – and we also share a love of cafés (but not coffee), vintage stores and sunscreen.

An idea generator, she recommends bouts of “doing absolutely nothing time” – time she refers to “staring at the wall.” Lauren is curious about what makes other people tick…so pique her curiosity by contacting her at TCCConsultingGroup.com, and pique your own by checking out her blog at LaurenFritsch.com.

Who are your heroes?
My mom and dad. They raised four kids through trying times and managed to stay married in spite of themselves — and us!

What is your current challenge?
How to grow my business and have a family.

Your greatest achievement?
Recovering from an eating disorder.

What is your motto?
LOVE!

Why are you an entrepreneur?
I don’t know another way to be. It would be too painful not to work the way I do: having ideas and seeing them come to life. And I love to nap at any time of the day, so basically a regular job is out of the question…

What problem are you solving?
How to empower leaders to make better decisions for themselves and their teams – i.e. decisions that are both profitable and purposeful.

What problem would you like solved?
Really good-looking, comfortable shoes in size 11.

Item you wish you had invented?
Tesla [a high-performance electric sports car].

Biggest regret?
Not taking more time to travel when I was younger.

Which talent would you like to have?
Being able to sing well in front of a stadium full of people.

Best pat on the back you’ve ever received?
Being told “You’re up there with Richard Branson and Brian Tracy” (re: my speaking) or “Working with you changed my life.”

Advice you wish you’d had (or had followed)?
Don’t feel like you have to go to every single sorority/fraternity mixer in college. Seek out other people and other forms of entertainment, even though those costumed theme parties seem really enticing at the time…

Your pitch in 140 characters?
Teaching CEOs not to be assholes. Helping companies grow with grace and love. Having fun and looking good while doing #strategy #speaking.

Your bio in 6 words?
“Love and business can work together.”

The Twitter follower you can’t live without?
@kaitewelsh.

Your nails on a chalkboard moment?
When people judge others out loud. (It’s supposed to be an inside voice.)

The J.O.B. you’d actually like?
CEO of J Crew.

Biggest misconception about being an entrepreneur?
That it’s all fun, all the time. You typically have to learn to embrace some elements of work you don’t particularly like or aren’t necessarily good at. Especially when you’re just starting out.

Inc. or Rolling Stone or…..? Which magazine cover?
Vogue — all day long. It gave me a visual lexicon and a way to think about clothing that was commercial/business related. Cover? September 1995: supermodels in silk ball gowns. I want to wear ball gowns on a regular basis. During the daytime.

What are you reading?
Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, My Brilliant Friend (in translation) by Elena Ferrante, The Hard Thing about Hard Things. I read a lot at the same time.

What book is your must read?
SO MANY! I was an English major in college. The Architecture of All Abundance, by Jewel’s mom Lenedra Carroll. It sheds some light on the evolution of a juggernaut music career that didn’t follow the usual protocol. Fascinating peek into a wonderful collaboration between mom/daughter and manager/artist.

What book did you read which would have been put to better use as a doorstop?
I couldn’t get through Lolita. I do like other Nabokov though…

If I wanted to do what you’re doing…what’s your advice?
Start doing it! Nothing beats experience. Hire amazing coaches/mentors.  Intern/shadow someone whose work you really respect. I’m currently stalking Christine Comaford.

What conference would you like to keynote?
SXSW interactive, Aspen Ideas Festival.

Short cut, long route, road less traveled? What’s your roadmap?
Road less traveled. I have never been one to put much stock in degrees/trainings (though I believe education of all kinds is important). For me it’s about experiential learning, making mistakes, even trying (on occasion) to reinvent the wheel just to see what it’s like. My mom has always said that I’ve never operated inside the box.

Podium you’d like to stand on?
Olympic gold medal winner! (I’ve given up that dream though…)

What makes you LOL?
Cat videos. And my husband when he’s being silly (it only happens when we’re alone).

What’s the most important startup/entrepreneurship lesson you’ve learned?
Don’t let today’s bottom line define your self worth.

What would be the title of your biography?
The Shiny Gold Thread that Binds Us All Together.

Your Ferris Bueller moment: if you could goof-off/skip out for a day, what would you do?
Wander the streets of a small town in Tuscany, have a great lunch with my hubs, paint in the afternoon, and then enjoy a cocktail party with all kinds of interesting people under the stars. In a ball gown of course.

One place in time you’d like to visit?
Ancient Greece.

Part of the trick to staying focused?
Pomodoro [ a time management technique], and having an accountability partner.

You take a three hour ocean tour and get stranded…what three items do you have with you?
Sunscreen, a surf board and a UPF 50 rash guard!

Advice to my younger self?
You can’t eff it up!  Maybe that should be the book title…

One last thing (what’s the question I should be asking you)?
What’s next? Learning more about the Enneagram, being a mom in a few days, and working with more startup founders.