Grasping Confidence with Tara LaFon Gooch

Episode 218

Welcome to another episode of The Executive Edge, where we explore the practical skills that give you an edge in life and business.

This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Tara LaFon Gooch, a keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and thought-leader who's transforming how we think about building authentic confidence in our professional and personal lives.

When Success Isn't Enough

You know that feeling when everything looks perfect on paper, but something fundamental is missing? Tara knows it intimately. In 2022, she was a corporate sales director with all the trappings of success—company car, paid vacations, the works. To the outside world, she had it all together. But inside, she was struggling.

On the show Tara shares her story and what struck me when talking to her is how she distinguishes between technical competence and genuine confidence. You can be brilliant at your job, respected by your peers, and still feel utterly unfulfilled. As Tara puts it, the question isn't whether you're good enough—it's whether you're living in alignment with your true purpose. And for many of us in leadership positions, that disconnect creates a quiet crisis of confidence that no amount of external validation can fix.

The Seed That Lives Within You

During our discussion, Tara likens confidence to an apple seed. When you look at an apple seed, it's hard to imagine it becoming a full apple tree. Yet the purpose of that tree lives within the seed from the very beginning. The seed's value doesn't change whether it's trampled on pavement or planted in fertile ground. What changes is whether it gets the environment it needs to fulfill its potential.

For those who didn't receive the nurturing we needed early in life—whether from absent parents or unsupportive bosses—that seed of confidence remains small. We may spend our careers looking for others to water it, to validate us, to tell us we're good enough. But during her darkest period, Tara discovered that while we can't always control our external environment immediately, we can absolutely control our internal one. And that's where the transformation begins.

The Power of Gratitude as Your Foundation

I asked Tara where busy executives should start when they're juggling meetings, deadlines, and family responsibilities. Her answer was refreshingly simple: gratitude. Not as some fluffy wellness trend, but as a practical tool for rewiring your brain and taking back control.

Tara calls these "ninja mindset moves"—using gratitude to interrupt the negative thought patterns that most of us replay on loop throughout the day. You don't need an elaborate morning routine or an hour of meditation, according to Tara. Instead, she advocates bookending your day with thankful acknowledgment. When you open your eyes, express gratitude. Before you close them, do the same. By this, she suggests, you're telling yourself that your life matters, and that sense of mattering starts to permeate the hours in between.

The GRASP Method: A Framework for Confident Leadership

The conversation then turns to Tara's GRASP Method, which she developed and later shared on the TEDx stage. Beyond gratitude, the framework encompasses responsibility, action, sight, and purpose. What struck me is that Tara’s GRASP method is not a checklist you complete and move on from—it's a fluid daily practice that deepens over time.

The responsibility part particularly resonated with me because of the work I do with executives. It's about developing an ownership mentality, not just for your decisions and commitments, but for your own state of mind and growth. When you shift from being a passenger in your life to being the owner, everything changes. You stop waiting for circumstances to improve and start creating the conditions for your own success.

Then there's action, which Tara describes with a wonderful quote from Wallace D. Wattles' 1910 book, The Science of Getting Rich: "An ounce of doing is worth more than a pound of theorizing."

For those of us who are naturally analytical, this can be uncomfortable. We want to research, plan, and perfect before we move. But no amount of analysis can replace actual activity, as Tara points out. The people who succeed aren't necessarily the ones with the best plans—they're the ones who take consistent action.

The sight component of Tara’s GRASP Method addresses something crucial that many executives overlook: you can't become what you can't see. If you can't visualize the best version of yourself—the leader you want to be, the life you want to live—how can you possibly move toward it? This isn't about magical thinking; it's about creating a clear mental picture of your destination so you know which daily actions will take you there.

Finally, purpose ties it all together. What makes you feel fulfilled? What are your natural strengths? For Tara, she realized that whether she's speaking, writing, or coaching, she's fundamentally a teacher. As she reveals on the show, that clarity allowed her to stop forcing herself into boxes that didn't fit and start leaning into what actually energizes her.

The Path Forward

What I hope you take from this conversation is that confidence isn't something you either have or don't have. It's not reserved for people who had perfect childhoods or supportive bosses. It's a seed that already lives within you, waiting for the right conditions to grow. And unlike so many aspects of your professional life, this is something you can cultivate yourself.

For the busy executives listening, I know you're thinking about time constraints and competing priorities. But here's the truth: the practices Tara describes don't require you to add hours to your day. They require you to shift how you're already spending your time. Start with gratitude when you wake up. Take one daring action each day. Visualize the leader you want to become. Own your decisions and your growth.

Tara's book How To GRASP Confidence & Own Your Power: Become the most confident version of yourself in 5 simple steps focuses on applying the GRASP method to leadership teams, and I think that's where this work becomes exponentially powerful. When you learn to cultivate confidence in yourself, you can then bring up the people around you. Your environment matters, and as a leader, you have the opportunity to create an environment where others' seeds can flourish too.

If you're interested in learning more about Tara's work, including her TEDx talk, coaching programs, or her book on delivering your own TEDx talk, visit her website. She's also very active on LinkedIn. Through her company, Best Branding Solutions, she helps authors, speakers, and thought leaders build their platforms and make the impact they're meant to make.