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Owning Your Whole Self: Leadership Through Self-Acceptance

  • Writer: Kim Meninger
    Kim Meninger
  • Jul 1
  • 25 min read
Owning Your Whole Self: Leadership Through Self-Acceptance

In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about embracing your authentic self. Are you constantly trying to prove yourself at work? Do you feel like you're playing a role, hoping no one notices you're unsure beneath the surface?


This week, I’m joined by Aaron Helton, executive coach, leadership consultant, and self-proclaimed “cartographer of the soul.” In this powerful conversation, Aaron opens up about his personal journey with impostor syndrome, his late-in-life autism diagnosis, and the deep belief systems that shape how we show up in the world.


Together, we explore the hidden stories we tell ourselves, how they’re formed, and how we can learn to rewrite them from a place of self-compassion and strength. Aaron shares how he helps clients—from young professionals to senior leaders—reconnect with their authentic selves, challenge outdated beliefs, and lead with intention.


This episode is a must-listen if:

  • You’ve ever felt like you’re hiding parts of yourself to fit in

  • You struggle to feel confident in spaces where you feel different

  • You’re ready to challenge the perfectionism and pressure that fuel impostor syndrome


Key Themes We Explore:

  • How high expectations and cultural narratives can shape impostor beliefs

  • Why “doing it right” isn’t the same as being true to yourself

  • The power of naming all parts of your identity to feel whole

  • How Aaron’s autism diagnosis gave him permission to release shame and lead with love

  • The difference between coaching and therapy—and why coaching isn’t just for people who are struggling

  • Why love is a leadership skill, not a liability

  • How to make the business case for heart-centered leadership

  • Aaron’s mission to “gather weirdos to change the world”


About My Guest

Aaron works as an executive coach and leadership consultant for Integrated Leadership Systems, guiding individuals toward authenticity and self-improvement, and transforming businesses through heart-first processes. With an M.S. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Aaron applies a Cognitive-Behavioral Psychology framework to facilitate smooth collaboration and inclusion among all members of a team, leading to better individual lives and a better overall organization.


In pursuit of self-improvement, Aaron’s hobbies include all things fitness; having trained in martial arts, bodybuilding, armored combat, and obstacle course racing, as well as team-oriented activities such as escape rooms and online gaming.


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Transcript

Kim Meninger

Welcome Aaron. It's so great to have you here today, and thank you so much for, for your time. I'd love to start by inviting you to tell us a little bit about yourself.


Aaron Helton

Absolutely, first and foremost, thank you so much, Kim, for having me on the show. I'm really excited to talk about imposter syndrome, so definitely something I deal with a lot, not only in myself but also in my coaching. So it's a good little segue. I am an executive coach and leadership consultant. I'm also part owner of integrated leadership systems. That is our company. What we do is professional development, and we do it through a heart-focused lens, which means we focus on the holistic side of things. We want to focus on the human side of things. You know, we apply a cognitive behavioral psychology lens, which is basically, not to get too technical. Basically, we look at the beliefs that you formed through your life, and some of those, many of those, are serving you, and they've got you this far, many of them probably are not serving you. For an extreme instance, let's say you are a manager because I work primarily with businesses, but I work with individuals as well. So let's say you're a manager who has realized the best way to get to your employees is to yell at them every day, right? And obviously, people don't enjoy that, right? But they say, Well, look, we're getting such amazing results. I just push them and push them and push them. You know, it's the stick, not the carrot, right? And so I'll come in and I'll talk with this individual about, why do you think that is? And they're, they're getting reinforced through not only the present but also the past. There's probably something in the past that led them down that path. And so we talk about, what if you tried it this way? What if you yelled at them less? What do you think that would create empowerment, maybe creativity, maybe innovation? What? What opportunities are there? And, you know, however, we need to have this discussion. We find out ways of is this still serving me? And a lot of times, with that specific example, yelling at people never get you what you want, not in the long term. And so we reframe things, and then they try out different habits. And I create a safe space to do that. We do that for entire businesses. And so we'll transform cultures that way, you know, we'll change them in the businesses that work better, that have more engaged employees, that are more creative, innovative and overall, more authentic. So that's why I'm so happy to chat today about imposter syndrome. Is, is authenticity, is what I do. You know, I lead with love. That's my business, you know. So as far as my past. Let me tell you a little bit about my qualifications and all that. Since that is your original question, I tend to go off on tangents. You already know how fun of a conversation. So scholastically, I have a master's degree in industrial organizational psychology for those curious at home, industrial is the survey and assessment side, and the organization is the cultural side of things, the psychology is the people side of things. So I work in statistics, assessment, organizational change, individual growth, you name it. I do it. So I got that degree, I think, yeah, 2021, so coming up on four years now, actually, with my job as a coach as well. So I was really lucky when it came to my masters in my schooling and my professional career. I always say lucky, but anybody that knows me always swats that down immediately and says, you create your own luck. So a little bit of half and half, I like to, you know, thank fate, and then also thank my own sort of efforts, you know, because I am a grinder. So I originally got to my master's degree with the purpose of being a statistician. I was going to turn everything in the world into numbers, even the things that you wouldn't think would be numbers, like employee motivation, happiness level, engagement level. And thankfully, I do a little bit of that in my job, but I did that from a dysfunctional belief of fear, and that came from my childhood. So two things you need to know about me personally in order to know who I am outside of my qualifications, is, first off, I was homeschooled. Now, I was homeschooled with what is referred to as a tiger mom, which is the Asian mother stereotype of, oh, you can't have dinner until you finish this piano ballad. However, it wasn't, you know, there's no abuse in my home. No, you know, screaming, yelling, anything like that. There's a lot of love. But there were very high scholastic requirements. So my mom got out of the Philippines by being a scholastic achievement, like scholastic achievement got her out being good in school, got her to an American high school, got her out essentially. And so that belief she passed on to her children, including me, which is, it's from a place of love, but it's also a lot of pressure. You know we're talking about imposter syndrome today. Well, you know when you believe when my, my grading system growing up was a, b, f, so anything less than 80% was a failure. And so when you apply that to a human being, we are never 80% or higher, like we're always growing, we're always changing. You're always trying something. And when you sit and just make sure every hair is in place, physically, as I look at my camera now and see that my hair is out right. Be like, that's exactly what it's all about. Is that is the imposter syndrome. It came from a place of love, but that was a dysfunctional belief, which is, I have to get it right. I have to be perfect. I have to get the right answer because that was instilled in me. So now, thankfully, I was able to meet my boss when I was shotgunning for jobs after college, I knew from my Bachelor's, I had such a struggle finding jobs, especially with a bachelor's in psychology, people just want to put you in sales jobs. I was not going to be a salesman. Of course, life takes you where it needs to go, and as a coach, that's part of my job, right? Is growing my own client base. But I met my boss, and we had a conversation, and he took a chance on me, and I took a chance on him. What he saw in me I didn't see until later, and what it was, was I was diagnosably autistic, and I found out two years ago, actually about two years and one month ago is when I was officially diagnosed with autism. And what that allowed me to do was I could gather up so much information in my mind all at once, but at the same time, I became very overwhelmed in battles of quick wits I always lose, because I like to sit and stew on things and really be intentional. That's what makes me the researcher. However, that's also what makes me powerful in coaching, because I can talk about my social deficits, talk about the struggles that I have. And even just right now, speaking in this, what am I tapping into? And as we talk about imposter syndrome later, as that's the title of this, the show, you know, we'll all talk about, what does it mean to be an imposter in different spaces? Am I being an imposter because I'm not having a breakdown right now? Maybe, maybe not. We'll, we'll dive into that. My boss saw that took a chance on me, and I moved up here to Columbus, Ohio, had $200 to my name, and made it work, right? And so that's the second thing you need to know about me, is my diagnosably autistic. I'm diagnosed, and I use that in my coaching to say, Listen, sometimes I might go on tangents, just like I did here. I just talked about my personal and my professional and my scholastic all wrapped in one. Went down a couple tangents, but came back to the same point, which is, this is who I am, and so follow me down a little path. I get a little worthy, but that also allows me to paint a large picture for my clients and help them find out the things that they're looking for. So for instance, if somebody says, Actually, I'll tell you a story to cap all this off and I'll pass the baton back to you, Kim, but a story to cap all this off and kind of show what happens when I can apply my strengths is I had this client once, a young doctor, and they kept talking about their age. They're like, Oh, it'll get easier when I get older. I'm gonna learn myself. I'm like, that is true. But you keep talking to me about age and how you feel like an imposter, you keep telling me about how you, you're just too young, and it's this and this that you don't have the experience. I sat and I looked her right in the eyes. Our very first session was 45 minutes after we met, and I said, You are a young female, black doctor. Do you understand what that means? And she just starts crying. She says, nobody's just like, put it all out there like that. And I said, Well, that's who you are. That's all of you, and it's amazing. But we also need to acknowledge that there's all these different layers to who you are. It's not just the age, it's how you see yourself, it's your confidence, and you can tie it to anything, but it's your whole self is necessary, because just by existing, you're creating a role model for so many people. And six months later, she was promoted, she gained confidence, found who she was, because we'll dive into it in specifics, but that's what I do, and I'm able to do it because I can hold so much information in my mind all at once, and I can paint these pictures for my clients. And that's how I tackle imposter syndrome in people. You just name it. You have to name all the sides of yourself and find your authentic self and say, You know what? Here's who I am, and at my core, I am lovable. Let's do this thing right.


Kim Meninger

I love there's like so many things that you said that I want to latch on to, and I'm trying to figure out which bite to take first. But I think if I zoom out a bit, what's really striking me is when you talk about the way in which, whatever it is that makes us feel different, right? Right? Creates that sense of, I'm not good enough. I'm an imposter. So I'd be curious to hear, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I can imagine. I've talked with a number of people who were diagnosed with autism as adults, who have almost felt a sense of relief that, Oh, okay. Now it all makes sense, right? Whereas in the past, they may be aware that they think differently, or, you know, process information differently, whatever it is, and instead of recognizing that as a unique attribute, as a is a strength, a differentiator, it's always a What's wrong with me? Why am I not more like? The people around me, right? And I think similarly with age, age is something none of us can control, right? But when we feel like we're the youngest person in the room, or even if we feel like we're an older person in a room full of young people, there's that feeling of, I'm not like these other people around me. So there must be something wrong with me.


Aaron Helton

Absolutely. So let me say, what is your question for me?


Kim Meninger

So the question there is, when you were going through your own experiences before you were diagnosed with autism, were you feeling like you were, you know, I guess, did you have that sense of relief when you got the diagnosis, did it all suddenly click for you? Did you find that imposter syndrome changed at all once you knew more about how your brain worked?


Aaron Helton

Sure the answer, absolutely. For me personally, it was the right path. For others, they may not be, you know, I had the finances, and I was in a job that was really introspective, and so finding out this aspect, to me, was incredibly important, not only to my growth as a human being, but also just my personal motivation and desire and curiosity. Because that was really is I was curious about myself, and that's what leads anybody into psychology. It usually starts with, yeah, what's wrong with me? I'm weird, right? That's any psychology practitioner. It's not just, you know, those that have diagnosis. But I really sat there, I said, you know, I'm really curious about people. I want to know everything I can. But I also knew that, you know, I grew up in a small town, you know, Corbin, Kentucky, and all the kids wanted to go out playing sports and mudding, getting dirty and being in the sunlight. And I was like, I really like my video games and my crossword puzzles and like, you know, all these little introspective kits that I have, and I just didn't fit in however. You know, it's normal, and it's easy to say fish out of water. But what it really was, was I was hiding pieces of myself that I was scared of, you know, as they say, Let your freak flag fly, right? And so I was scared, you know, I was a very sheltered child, and I grew up with the belief of you have to do it, right? So what did I do? I studied human beings. Because I said I was 16-17 years old, and I was getting ready for my first job after I finally got my car and their truck at that point, you know, small, small Kentucky town, right? So the big red truck, but I was getting ready, and my dad was like, Oh, come work with me, and I'll help you. And I'm like, I gotta get out in the world. It has to be like, I need to get beaten up socially to learn who I am like. I have to create this contrast. I have to get the essence of my soul and smack it against other people's souls and see what happens. I have to because regardless, you're either going to change the color of your soul as you grow because that's the teenage years, that's who, who you become in your 20s as well, or you're going to realize, ooh, I don't like that. I don't like the way that person talks, I don't like how they dress. It's, it's not me, so I'm not going to absorb that aspect of them, right? Because we are, you know, compilations of our friends. And so I said, very quickly, I said, I am really socially awkward. I have to figure out what's going on. So I started working restaurants. I worked in restaurants for five years, you know, and when that all ultimately came to my diagnosis, I always knew in my heart that the things that people say to do did not click with me, things like, Oh yeah, just look them right in the eye. Look them right in the look at their nose and, and I'm like, that feels in genuine also. It's like it feels very fake. People know what I'm staring at their nose, but I can connect with people. I stare right in their pupils. I say, Well, I see you, you know, and that's part of my coaching as well. That's how I connect. However, I also do that for three seconds and look away, because when I'm thinking, I don't want to look at your face, because now I'm I'm absorbing the information of how you're seeing things. So I know, for me personally, I don't want to look at you when I'm thinking, so I'll turn away and I'll get in a thoughtful position. I said, Okay, well, I still need to signal to somebody that I'm thinking. So I do the little like beard rub and little chin scratch thing, okay, what's, what's going on? And they can see that I'm thinking, and I turn back to them say, Okay, I'm engaged. Here's my thought. And so I found behaviors that matched who I was. But in order to do that, I had to understand that, you know, I had to get rid of the shame, essentially, that came from it. That's really what came down to. My diagnosis gave me permission to not feel shameful. I no longer felt like I was an actor trying to play a role with people, I now felt like I now felt like a genuine theater kid who wanted to be an actor. As that sounds, my behaviors were very similar. I still practice facial feature or facial expressions in the mirror and double-check and say, Okay, but then now I do that for speeches. Now I do that for podcasts. I do it because it's a strength of mine, but I don't feel shame about it because it's no longer it's no longer a need to belong. It's now a this is my skill set, and I don't feel shame because I'm not doing it from a place of ego or fear. I'm doing it from a place of passion. That's what came from my diagnosis. For others, you may know in your heart that you're not neurotypical and you might not need the validation from somebody else you, you are allowed in spaces that give you the tools to be who you are, regardless of what that looks like. You know, I'm a very for those who don't have visual because this is audio only. From what I understand, I am a dark Filipino man, so I have tan skin, that dark beard. I'm actually pretty muscular. I have a tattoo sleeve. So sometimes I walk into corporate spaces and they're not feeling it. Sometimes I walk into a construction corporate spaces and they're real. They like it, right? Sometimes I walk into LGBTQ plus spaces and I feel like, Oh, I'm a big masculine like man. Am I allowed here? But I go to poetry and it's full of individuals that identify in non-traditional ways, whether it be relationship statuses, like polyamory versus regular monogamy, or, if it's, you know, gender identity, male, female, transgender, non-binary, it's like I'm still allowed in the space because I'm not taking away from the space. That's the thing is, if you go into a space with honor and you focus on making it a better place, not from your perspective, but from the understanding that you are going to take perspectives of others and help to grow as a person, then you honor the space. So all that to say, if you are not diagnosed autistic, but you love hanging out with the weirdos. Do it because we welcome you, right? That's the whole that's the whole point of it.


Kim Meninger

That's a great message. I love it and, and I'm curious too, because you mentioned early on that you talk to people about beliefs that may no longer serve them, right? And I think what's interesting about those beliefs is we typically do not recognize that they're not serving us until something happens, right? Someone brings it to, to our attention, something it doesn't work for some reason, right? And we are put into a position where we have to rethink our approach. And I wonder, when you're working with people, especially because you said you work with companies primarily, are you brought in to support people who are struggling? Are these people who recognize within themselves an opportunity to improve?


Aaron Helton

So ultimately, it depends, that's the answer. Is. It depends because I can apply a systematic structure that works 99% of the time. If I run to the 1% person, and that's the only person I'm coaching for a business, that whole business is going to say, well, it's not working, right? And so I can't really say, but I like in executive coaching, and I use that term, but really it's professional development. It's, it can be life coaching. It can be, you know, I'm legally not a therapist, so don't call it therapy. But a lot of people hear that word executive, and they go, Oh, that's not for me. It's no, it's professional development. So you're right. Anybody that's struggling with stress management, for instance, June 25 I don't know when this episode's coming out, but June 25 either I have or I will be having a stress workshop, a webinar on stress, thriving under stress and pressure, pressure and stress and reducing anxiety and making it work for you. You know, like when it comes to creating change, it depends on the individual, because I like in professional development to personal coaching, no personal training. Rather so anytime you hear coaching, you think training, or are you talking, oh, my God, my, my brain's going all over. Anytime you hear coaching, usually try and liken it to therapy, because it's, oh, here's a one-on-one space where we're going to talk about, you know what your hurdles are, and try and move towards a certain goal. Well, in therapy, I liken that to physical therapy. You have a broken bone. For instance, your, your wrist is broken. You gotta wear a cast for a little bit, or you twisted your ankle, okay? Physical therapy, let's walk on a little bit. Gets where you need but it's going to take as long as it takes. Right? With coaching, I liken that to personal training, which is, hey, we signed an agreement that you do not have, at least to the best of your knowledge, you don't have anything diagnosable. You don't have a broken ankle or anything like that. So if you're tired from running, I might say, alright, run one more lap, and then we're done. And you say, are you serious? Yeah, because you, you are paying me the. Push you. So for instance, there's, I'm forgetting the exact study, but there was a study on college students, and it was goal setting and accountability. And so the students that set a goal, they checked in one year later, this was the control group. All they did was say, this is a goal that I have 16% of them reach that goal. But when they paired somebody with an, a coach or an accountability partner, which is the role that I take as a coach, that jumped up to 86% or higher. In some cases, I think there's a study out there with 95% and so it depends what you see. But ultimately, when you have somebody on your side, if you have a friend, even that you meet every couple weeks and they say, how, Hey, how are you doing on that, that book chapter you were writing? It's like, oh, right, they're going to ask me about that. I should probably make sure I get it done so that alone leads to more change. However, at the end of the day, if you want to pay me every single day to do a personal training workout, sure, it's going to get really expensive. But if that's what you need for accountability, sure, or you can meet me once a month and we'll do a fun little workout, and I'll help you through any hurdles, but you still have to go to the gym every day of the month. So it comes down to you get out of coaching, what you put in. So whether I see people have breakthroughs or not, depends on them, but I can absolutely call things out, give them all the tools and push them when they're, they're trying to coast because I don't allow that. It's you paid me to get you to a certain state. I'm going to get you there, but I'm not going to do it for you. You know, we have to do it together. I'll point you in the right direction. I'll give you the, the running shoes, but you've got to hit the time that you're wanting to hit. But I'll stay here out in the sun with you all day, you know, we'll train it's exactly what it is.


Kim Meninger

Yeah, I really like that way of describing coaching. I, I coach people as well, and I, I feel like that's the partnership that I strive for as well and, and I think it's important now because you mentioned the natural link that we make with therapy, I think sometimes people think of coaching as a, almost a remedial type of support resource, right? I'm, I'm doing something wrong and I need to be fixed, as opposed to, I'm, I'm good enough, but I want to get better, right? Like, I'm not broken. I just want to be better.


Aaron Helton

Absolutely, that is the that's actually the narrative. I think it's Jim Collins had the book, Good to Great for those business field, Good to Great. And so that's why the phrasing was coach because we use those sports metaphors. Well, you don't need to be bad to have a coach. It's not a punishment. And I always tell my clients, I sit down and I say, Listen, I have two pieces of my job. This is all that I care about when you and I are in this space. First, I want you to feel heard and seen. I want you to feel seen as your whole self, and I want you feel heard in the troubles that you bring to me. Second, I want you to leave feeling empowered. That's it. So you come to me with whatever you want to come to me with, and I'm going to give you space to listen, and then we're going to do something about it, and you're going to leave feeling empowered. If you come to me next month and say, I didn't do anything with it. Okay, now I'm going to call you out because you've given me something, and I'm going to see you, right? You don't get to hide in a good way. I'm going to see you, and that's what happened with that doctor that said, Well, it's all about my age. You know? It's just about my age. I said, No, here's who all of you is, and all of these pieces of you play a factor because you are hiding love from something in this pile of you. So what is it that you're not loving because you're inherently lovable, and I'm going to tell you as my as your coach, I've met you for 40 minutes. I love you like, I throw that out like crazy, because people now I'm going on tangents, people all the time are like, they'll tell me, Aaron, why don't you tell people that you love them so often? I'm like, because it's not a finite resource. Like, I'm in the business of love. That's what I do. Is once you feel seen and heard as a human being, you spread love. That's it. It doesn't have to be romantic. It doesn't have to mean anything. Then that you don't have to make it weird. It's just hey, like you're a human being, and I see your struggle, and I've been there. So when I say, I love you, I love the person that I was, that was in your shoes, I love the person that you could be, and that's what I'm gifting you when we work together, it's you and I are going to help you to find who you want to be, and when you become that, you're going to be amazing, and you're probably already amazing, but you're going to be even more amazing. You're going to feel it, you're going to believe it, and you're going to spread that message, and overall, we're going to make the world a better place. So whenever you work with me, you're going to feel heard and seen, and then you're going to feel empowered, and that is not a guarantee, but that's what I strive for every single time, every single time.


Kim Meninger

And I love that philosophy and that approach, and I think it's important right now, especially in a really hostile world that we live in where there's a lot of negativity. A lot of toxicity. Do you find that people, I mean, this is a general question, but are there, are there people who are resistant to that language because of defensiveness or fear? Do you find that it's harder to get companies' attention, and when you're talking about the heart and the humanity side of things when everybody seems to be so focused on the bottom line?


Aaron Helton

Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And so that's where some of that, that strength of mine, right? The theater kid, comes out. I'm like, Okay, what language are you speaking? Because I would love to just sit and put up a scholastic article and look through statistics together and say, Oh, look at how this indicates this. And they say, Whoa, what's the bottom line? I'm like, just, just, man, just get in the mud and play with me for a bit. Okay, fine, you know. And I'll say, we'll put our fun little fancy suits and all that, not say they're, you know, there's no negative connotation, but just to create that contrast, right? And I'll, I'll send, I'll say, Well, you know, if you're interested in the bottom line, there are multiple studies. I believe there's one by, I think was Gallup. It might not be. It might have an M in it. I'll need to pull that study back out, but it has coachings. Return on Investment at 500%, 559% specific. Specifically. And then you look at talent, tlnt, and they came out with the cost of onboarding a mid-level employee, you know, an upper-level management for instance, it could be up to 150% of their salary to catch up a new person, if they and for a senior level employee, it could be 400% of their salary that you are spending to replace them. So coaching, even at its most base satisfactory, which means if I am 0% effective, and all I'm doing is keeping you at a neutral state. I'm still preventing that person from leaving in the sense of they see that I'm engaged with them, they have an accountability partner for even if they make zero progress on their goals, which is highly unlikely because I've never had that happen. Well, maybe there's probably one or two, but you know, you got to dig for them. Yeah, the thought is, I never want to say absolutes, you know, it's just not appropriate, in my opinion. But you know, even if it is a low effective coaching, you're still going to keep that person around for the duration, theoretically, unless they realize through coaching, and this does happen, sometimes I work with somebody and they realize, Wow, I do not stand for what this company stands for. I want to go somewhere else, like, Okay, go talk to your boss, have a conversation, and I probably need to end coaching with you, but I'll, I'll still coach you personally, but the reason I do that is there is no path here that leads to a lack of the win. In my perspective, you win or you, you win or you learn. That's it. There's no losing in this field for me because you're getting from good to great. So even if we maintain goodness, hey, if you're on the PIP, all right, let's get you off the PIP. That's what our goal is. We get there. Awesome. There's the effectiveness of coaching that person is now more aware. Let's say that it's a person that I coach, and they realize they don't want to be at your business. Awesome. Do you really want a person that's 30% engaged versus a person that's 100% no, because they're probably going to leave already, but they were going to coast as long as they could, and that's not an employee you want in your business, not long term. And then lastly, if it becomes a person that really leans into it, which is ideally, who you would invest in because coaching is an investment. You would invest in this person. And you would save, first off, that you know, 150 to 400% of the onboarding costs, because you're keeping them here, first and foremost. And second, when they become a more effective leader. You can see again that 559% return on investment. It's soft skills. It's they communicate better. They hold people accountable and they hold themselves accountable. They inspire the people around them. They become coaches inside your organization. You create a culture of coaching. And through that 70% and this was actually a Gallup survey I ran across from 2021 70% of people leave managers, not jobs. And so we already know that, like people don't leave jobs, they leave people. So when you invest in people and you create a better people-focused, heart-focused culture, your return on investment skyrockets. And it's hard to it's hard to pin down. It absolutely is, but, you know, we've just started putting out an engagement survey. We're going to start gathering more of that data, but the data is out there. As far as coaching as a whole, the difference is, do you have a good coach or not? And ultimately, that comes down to, how well can you how well do you resonate? Right? You know, there are some coaches out there that follow, for instance, traction, which is a lot more cognitive, lot more logistical, okay, do that if that's what you want for your business. Do that if you want to feel fulfilled in your life and know for a fact that you're living on the path that is your values, you know who you are and who you want to be, then work with me, because I call myself a trademark pending, right? But I call myself the cartographer of the soul, because all I do is I put I put down all your pieces. I draw a road map. Here's who you are, and here's who you said that you want to be. Are we going to go there or not? And that's it. So if you want to live your values and know for a fact that you're living your values, work with me. I talk about in my upcoming book, The Path to Permission, that's all I really do, is I give you permission to create breakthroughs for yourself and become the person you want to be.


Kim Meninger

That's so powerful. I love that, and I do think everybody has to choose a coach that naturally fits their style. And absolutely, I think you also have to be mindful of what you're resisting. And it may be that you're coming from a place of fear, not right, that it's not, not a fit. It more. It maybe makes you a little bit uncomfortable, because it's actually are meant to do absolutely. Yeah, oh gosh, Aaron, there's so much here, and I feel like we could talk all day. But in the interest of time, I would love, since you've given us a really great overview of what you do, where can people find you if they're interested in learning more?


Aaron Helton

Absolutely, find me on LinkedIn. That's Aaron Helton, A-A-R-O-N-H-E-L-T-O-N. Find me on LinkedIn. I am always, always open to a conversation. You just have to have the courage to follow me. Send me a message and say, Hey, I found you on this podcast. Let's chat. Absolutely. I will send you my booking, link, link, and we will just sit and talk about life, talk about who you are and who do you want to be, and you will come out feeling heard. You will come out feeling empowered because that's not just exclusive to my clients. Every person that I meet that is my mission in life. I am the cartographer of the soul, and I want you to see yourself, feel heard, feel seen. I want you to feel empowered. So if you want to work together, let's chat. You just want to chat, let's jump on a connection call, and if you just want to follow me, I try and post at least once a week.


Kim Meninger

Excellent. Well, those links will be in the show notes. Thank you so much, Aaron, for being here. It's been great to have this conversation with you, and thanks for what you're doing. Absolutely.


Aaron Helton

Thank you for having me on this to highlight the message, again, I'm trying to change the world by gathering weirdos. That's what we see in my business, is we're gathering weirdos to change the world. So if you're feeling impostor syndrome, you deserve to feel confident in yourself. You deserve to feel powerful in the person that you are. If you want to do that, let's work together, and let's make this happen. Thank you. Kim.

Kim Meninger

Coach, TEDx speaker, and podcast host committed to making it easier to be human at work.

Groton, MA

508.740.9158

Kim@KimMeninger.com

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