139 - The Power of Goal Setting: Building Your Path to Leadership with Lara Barnes

Episode notes

Text us your questions and thoughts! We sit down with Lara Barnes, Chief Customer Officer at Crownpeak and a champion of authentic leadership, to unpack the true meaning of goal setting, resilience, and growing your career with purpose. With over 25 years of experience in high-growth, customer-centric tech companies, Lara has led global Customer Success teams at Microsoft, Facebook, Oracle, and Sitecore. She shares her rise from senior director to SVP to CCO, offering insight into the unique challenges women face in corporate settings and the critical roles of perception, sponsorship, and values in career advancement. Lara opens up about navigating corporate politics, embracing vulnerability, and becoming a people-first leader grounded in heart, clarity, and courage. She reveals the mindset shifts that helped her succeed while staying true to herself, and how goal setting became a powerful catalyst for transformation. We also explore her personal mission-turned-passion project in functional neurology, inspired by her journey to help her son overcome learning and behavioral challenges.

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