
What Built Your Company Is Now Its Ceiling: David Heaps on the Hidden Rules Running Founders
What if the habit that built your company is the thing holding it back? In this episode of Winners Find A Way , Coach Trent M. Clark sits down with David Heaps , founder of Leadering, former COO and Vistage Chair, and author of Inner Architecture . David works with founders, owners, and CEOs whose companies now need a different way of leading than the one that built them. He spent more than a decade studying with indigenous teachers in the Amazon, including over 10,000 hours in silence and isolation. What he brought back is a way to see the beliefs formed early in life, and the rules that now run underneath a leader's decisions. Trent and David talk about the classroom moment that shaped David's life, why the voice in your head is really a protection system, and how that system creates the same outcomes again and again. They also cover hard conversations, honest feedback, and why awareness alone is not enough. This episode is a reminder that winners are not people who never face adversity. Winners are the ones who learn, adjust, grow, and keep finding a way. Sometimes the obstacle is us. In This Episode, We Discuss: The moment at age eight that shaped decades of David's choices What an "operating rule" is, and why it feels like common sense How the body's alarm system points to the belief underneath The self-fulfilling prophecy loop, and why leaders keep landing in the same place Why the traits that built a company become its ceiling Why leaders avoid hard conversations, and why honest feedback is rare at the top David's four stages of seeing, from awareness to letting the alarm just be The one question that opens everything: What are you avoiding? Key Takeaways Healthy fear and hidden fear are not the same. You learn once not to touch a hot burner. A wound to your sense of self works differently. It guides your choices and you never see it. The rule feels like good sense. Operating rules show up as a reasonable thought in an ordinary moment. You think you are being smart. You are being protected. Awareness is a start, not the finish. Seeing your pattern after the fact is stage one. The real work happens in the moment of decision, when another choice can appear. Ask what you are avoiding, then check the outcome. David has clients log what their mind predicts, whether they obeyed, and what happened. He says the feared outcome almost never came. Resources Mentioned Leadering: https://www.leadering.com/ Work the Process (free walkthrough, found on leadering.com ) Free 70-minute Inner Architecture Audit: https://www.leadering.com/ Read the introduction to Inner Architecture : https://www.leadering.com/introduction/ Leading Winning Teams by Trent M. Clark: https://leadingwinningteams.trent-clark.com/bookrecording79 The Pain Exchange, Trent's TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UfjOQF6mEg Connect with David Heaps Website: https://www.leadering.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-heaps-leadering Book intro: https://www.leadering.com/introduction/ Connect with Trent M. Clark Trent M. Clark is the CEO of Leadershipity , President of EOS Michigan , a global speaker, former Major League Baseball coach, and author of Leading Winning Teams . Leadershipity: https://www.leadershipity.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@coachtrentclark LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trentmclark/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrentMClark Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trentmclark/ Book: Leading Winning Teams — https://leadingwinningteams.trent-clark.com/bookrecording79 Listen & Subscribe This episode goes live Thursday, November 12 at 10 AM EST on LinkedIn Live, Facebook Live, and YouTube. It drops on all major podcast platforms Friday. Listen to Winners Find A Way every week for conversations with leaders, athletes, entrepreneurs, and high performers who know what it means to overcome adversity and keep finding a way.













