About Laura
Bestselling Author, ‘Wonderhell’ and ‘Limitless’
Author, Catalyst, and Executive Coach Laura Gassner Otting inspires people to push past the doubt and indecision that keep great ideas in limbo by helping audiences think bigger and accept greater challenges that reach beyond their current, limited scope of belief.
She delivers strategic thinking, well-honed wisdom, and perspective generated by decades of navigating change across the start-up, corporate, nonprofit, political, as well as philanthropic landscapes. Laura dares audiences to find their voice and generate the confidence needed to tackle larger-than-life challenges by helping them to seek new ways of leading, managing, and mentoring others.
Laura’s rebellious and entrepreneurial edge has been well-honed over a 25-year career that started when she dropped out of law school to join an unknown southern governor’s presidential campaign and ended up as a Presidential Appointee in Bill Clinton’s White House, where she helped shape AmeriCorps.
She left a leadership role as the youngest Vice President at a nationally respected search firm when she realized that her boss’s definition of success didn’t align with hers and, instead, founded and ran one of the fastest-growing search firms in the country, partnering with the full gamut of mission-driven executives, from start-up dreamers to scaling social entrepreneurs to global philanthropists. In 2015, Laura sold that firm to the team who helped her build it, both because she was hungry for the next chapter and because she held an audacious dream of electing our nation’s first female president. (Whomp whomp.)
Since that time, Laura has appeared regularly on Good Morning America and the TODAY Show, and her writing has been seen in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, HR Magazine. She is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of three books, including Wonderhell: Why Success Doesn’t Feel Like It Should… and What to Do About It, Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life, and Mission-Drive: Moving from Profit to Purpose. Her books have been translated into five languages.
Through her own commitment to give back, Laura has helped build a local Montessori school, co-founded a women’s philanthropic initiative, advised a start-up national women’s PAC, grew a citizen-leadership development program, and completed five charity-inspired marathons, projects emblematic of her passions and values. She’s turned on by the audacity of The Big Idea and that larger-than-life goal you just can’t seem to shake. She’s an instigator, a motivator, and a provocateur, and she’s never met a revolution she didn’t like, just ask her enduringly patient husband, two almost-grown sons, and troublesome puppy with whom she lives outside of Boston, MA.
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Laura in Action
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Working with Laura and her team was awesome. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a speaker as organized and flexible as Laura. As far as her presentation, Laura spent the extra time to understand our audience and she incorporated those learnings into her presentation, which made a huge difference. She had our people on their feet with a standing ovation before she could even get her last words out! After her presentation, she spoke to attendees and took the time to make real connections with them. I would absolutely recommend Laura to anyone who is looking for a dynamic speaker who will invest in their audience and go beyond a “rinse and repeat” presentation.
She is a class act.”
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Laura is a dynamic and powerful presence on and off the stage. She is a consummate REAL professional (on time, embodies her work, delivers, inspires, transforms). Laura has ‘staying power – stickiness’. I just read, yet another, testimonial from an attendee at our event which included approximately 2,000 women, and how it is changing her life. She had Robin Roberts commenting on air about her thought leadership without solicitation after she read her book on the flight home from our event. If you want to give your attendees the opportunity to experience someone who will get them to think about why they’ve been allowing other people to let them hold themselves back… HIRE LAURA NOW!!
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Laura energized, inspired and empowered our community of women leaders in sports! Laura was dynamic and engaging – she connected with the audience through her humor, content and magnetic presence. Laura was the perfect combination of motivation and application – giving attendees a dose of inspiration along with action items to make immediate changes in their life. Attendees walked away feeling energized, inspired, and ready to kick glass and pursue their limitless potential in work and life.
