Start the New Year Using Your Strengths with Ryan Crittenden

In Episode 304 of The Business Development Podcast, Kelly Kennedy sits down with Ryan Crittenden, a strength-based coach, Army veteran, and founder of XL Coaching and Development, to kick off the new year with a powerful reframe on growth, leadership, and self-belief. Ryan breaks down why coaching is not about fixing what’s wrong, but about drawing out what’s already there, helping people understand and use their natural strengths instead of fighting against them. Through stories from his military service and his transition into leadership coaching, Ryan explains how belonging, clarity, and self-awareness are often the missing pieces for leaders who feel stuck, burned out, or out of control.

This conversation is especially timely for anyone heading into a new year feeling pressure to reinvent themselves or overhaul their entire life or business. Kelly and Ryan explore how real growth starts with one small step, not massive overcorrection, and how understanding your strengths can unlock better decision-making, stronger leadership, healthier relationships, and more sustainable success. Whether you’re a founder, sales leader, entrepreneur, or emerging professional, this episode offers a grounded, practical way to reset your mindset and build the year ahead around who you actually are, not who you think you’re supposed to be.

Key Takeaways:

1. Coaching works best when it draws out what is already inside you instead of trying to fix you.

2. Great leaders create belonging in simple moments and those moments can change everything for someone.

3. When life feels out of control the first move is not a massive overhaul it is one small step toward clarity.

4. You do not need someone to fix you you often need someone to listen so you can think clearly again.

5. Strengths based development starts with what is right with you and turns that into repeatable performance.

6. CliftonStrengths reveals natural talent patterns and your job is to build them into real strengths through awareness and action.

7. Knowing who you are not is just as valuable as knowing what you are good at because it helps you partner build systems or delegate.

8. Most people perform better when they feel part of creating the solution so keep asking better questions instead of forcing answers.

9. Big goals can overwhelm you into doing nothing so shrink the focus to the next step and let momentum do the rest.

10. When teams share a common language for strengths and energy they collaborate faster trust more and stop misreading each other.

2026 Title Sponsor 🔥

The Business Development Podcast is proudly sponsored by Hypervac Technologies and Hyperfab 🚛

Together, Hypervac and Hyperfab represent North America’s leaders in vac truck manufacturing and industrial fabrication. Their continued support helps make this show possible week after week. Learn more at www.hypervac.com

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The Catalyst Club is a private leadership community for founders, business developers, and next generation leaders who want real momentum built through consistency, accountability, and honest conversation. This is a room where leaders support leaders, show up as humans, and keep moving forward together week after week.

Inside The Catalyst Club, listeners get to spend time with Kelly Kennedy and a global group of leaders through 4 to 5 live events every month, plus access to Catalyst GPT 2.0, built from over 300 episodes of The Business Development Podcast and Kelly’s coaching programs. If you are ready to stop restarting and start building momentum that lasts, join now at www.kellykennedyofficial.com

Ryan’s Coaching

XL Coaching and Development – strengths-based leadership coaching, team development, and 1-on-1 coaching with Ryan Crittenden (founder):

👉 https://www.xlcoaching.net/

Ryan’s Book

Becoming the Compass: A Leadership Fable for Emerging Leaders — leadership fable by Ryan Crittenden, Ph.D., blending storytelling with transformational leadership principles:

👉 https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Compass-Leadership-Emerging-follow/dp/B0F9N4L6FH

Mentioned in this episode:

Hyperfab Midroll