Chris coaches founders who are proficient problem solvers. That, he’s found, is exactly the issue.
Most leadership experts bring solutions — Chris brings a reframe.
Chris Clearfield
Author of The High-Altitude Entrepreneur and Co-Author of Meltdown | Harvard-Trained Scientist & Leadership Strategist | Founder-CEO Coach
Leadership at High Altitude
Chris Clearfield works with founders who are good at everything — solving problems, making decisions, and generally getting stuff done. That capability, he’s found, is often the thing quietly holding their business back.
His work starts with a simple reframe: most of what keeps founders stuck isn’t a problem to solve — it’s a tension to map. Control vs. trust. Vision vs. execution. Speed vs. depth. You can’t solve these tensions, but once you can see them, you can work with them purposefully.
Best for: Founder/owner, leadership & scaling shows serving $1M–$10M businesses where the team is capable but not taking ownership.
Episode Angles
Three Conversations Your Listeners Are Ready to Have
The Proficient Problem Solver Trap
The instinct that built your business is the same one keeping you in the weeds.
- Why do the most capable founders so often become the ceiling of their own company?
- What does it look like when problem-solving becomes the problem?
- What’s the first thing a founder can do this week to start breaking the pattern?
The Low-Altitude Cycle
Every time you step in to fix it, the team learns to wait.
- What is the Low-Altitude Cycle and how does a founder know they’re in it?
- How do you stop being the default fixer without the wheels coming off?
- How do you get your team to take ownership instead of solving every problem that comes across your desk?
Stop Solving. Start Mapping.
Most founders keep applying better tools, resources or solutions to the same problem — and end up back where they started.
- What’s the difference between a problem and a tension — and why does it matter?
- Can you walk through mapping a real tension a founder is facing?
- What becomes possible when a founder stops fighting the pattern and starts working with it?
What Hosts Can Expect
A guest who reframes the question before he answers it. Chris arrives prepared with real founder case studies, a framework that changes how listeners see their own business, and genuine curiosity that generates new possibilities for the way founders move forward.