My Boss Told Me I'd Never Be Good Enough. Then I Built This. | Ken Sher

At 52, Ken Sher was told by his boss: "You will never live up to my expectations." A few months later, he was out of a job, with two kids in college and one in high school. What he did next built him a thriving executive coaching business — and a leadership framework now used by CEOs across the country.In this episode of MyFinJourney, Mustafa Ladha sits down with Ken Sher — Executive Coach, Keynote Speaker, and creator of the TRUST Success Model. After 25 years at Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ken now coaches everyone from new managers to Fortune 500 CEOs on what most leaders get wrong about trust, communication, and team performance.This conversation is brutally honest about job loss, career transitions, building wealth through multiple income streams, and why the smartest leaders in the world all have one thing in common: a coach.Time Stamps:00:00 — Introduction01:06 — "You will never live up to my expectations" — Ken's career-defining moment03:05 — What coaching actually is (it's not what you think)06:27 — Ken's TRUST framework explained09:00 — Why vulnerability is your unfair advantage as a leader17:15 — The painful lesson Ken's kids learned when he got laid off20:33 — Why every employee needs multiple streams of income25:46 — How to write a resume that gets you hired (the STARS method)29:08 — The #1 mistake busy executives make every single day33:30 — When to recommend therapy to your top performersWhat you'll learn:→ The TRUST framework: Transparency, Results, Understanding, Simplicity, Teams→ Why showing vulnerability ACTUALLY makes you a stronger leader→ The 3 things every executive must do to grow (most ignore them)→ How to position yourself for ANY job using the STARS method→ Why "time to think" is the most overlooked CEO habit→ The painful financial wake-up call that taught Ken's family more than any lecture→ Why authentic ≠ weak — and how to use both as leverageWhether you're a manager, executive, entrepreneur, or someone navigating a career transition — this episode gives you the practical blueprint nobody teaches in MBA school.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🔗 Connect with Ken Sher:Email: [email protected]: ShercCoaching.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kensherFree TRUST Model Guide: Email Ken directly to receive it━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🎙️ Subscribe to MyFinJourney → https://www.youtube.com/@myfinjourneyApple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcastSpotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/5UmpEcn🔗 FOLLOW Mustafa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mustafa-ladha/━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Episode Chapters: 00:00 Intro — leadership, trust & building real wealth01:06 ⭐ "You will never live up to my expectations"02:03 From J&J to building a coaching empire03:05 What coaching actually is (most people get it wrong)04:24 When a coach becomes destructive06:27 The TRUST framework explained09:00 Why leaders refuse to ask for help (and what it costs)11:05 The product launch story — vulnerability that paid off13:03 When transparency is a weapon vs. a weakness14:27 The 3 things every top executive does daily17:15 ⭐ Getting laid off at 52 — the brutal teaching moment20:05 Why your "stable" job is actually not stable20:33 Multiple streams of income — the new survival skill21:39 Why traditional education isn't enough anymore23:09 The hidden ways top performers actually learn24:03 How to stay relevant when AI takes your job25:46 The STARS method — resume writing that gets you hired28:24 The "so what" trick that separates winners29:08 ⭐ Why busy executives never grow30:31 The morning ritual every CEO swears by31:35 How to actually use "thinking time" (it's structured)33:30 When to send your top performer to therapy36:07 Authentic vs. vulnerable — the leadership distinction37:46 How to connect with Ken Sher38:44 Closing thoughts