The Ghost That Built an Empire with J Schwan

It takes a particular kind of bravery to walk away from something wildly successful. Not because it failed, but because you realized you were no longer the right person to lead it.In this episode of Fearful Giants, Clay Stelzer sits down with J Schwan - founder of Solstice, former CEO of Kin + Carta (the first publicly traded B Corp on the London Stock Exchange), and current CEO of Gladiator Tennis. J scaled a socially responsible digital engineering firm from a solo venture to over 2,000 employees across four continents. Then he walked away. What he found on the other side, and what drove him there, is what this conversation is really about.This week, instead of a traditional interview, we did something different. We played three games, all centered around fear. We explored questions like:What’s scarier - failing publicly, or succeeding and feeling empty?What part of your success actually hurt you?What are you afraid to admit out loud?We ended up talking about what it actually looks like to walk away from a wildly successful machine, name the thing that drove you there, and choose a second mountain that means something to you personally.In this episode we explore:The "ghost" - the relentless internal force that drove J's success and nearly cost him his happinessWhat the "second mountain" really means and how J chose which one to climb nextWhy J spent the first 25 years of his career putting people on screens and now wants to spend the next 25 getting them offHow tennis literally saved his life in London, and why he's now building a national league around that experienceThe shift from ego-driven success to something far more meaningful: 100,000 people finding their gameThe best second acts aren't really about starting over. They're about going back to what made you come alive in the first place, and doing it with everything you've finally learned about yourself along the way.Connect with J Schwan: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/schwan Website: www.gladiatortennis.comConnect with Clay: Website: https://15sixty.com/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/claystelzer Resources Mentioned:Rockefeller Habits (Verne Harnish)Gladiator Tennis: www.gladiatortennis.com🎵 Music License: CMUVN6N0WHFMBOOL