Turn Your Fear into Fuel: Real-World Leadership with John Addison

What stops us isn’t always failure—it’s fear. And according to John Addison, fear is not the enemy. In fact, it’s the very thing we need to confront, convert and channel into forward movement.

In this episode of SHIFT, John joins Blake Mallen to talk about the leadership journey that took him from a small Georgia town to the helm of one of the direct selling industry’s most respected companies. He opens up about his own fears, doubts and self-sabotage—and how the courage to keep going is often more important than confidence itself.

If you’ve ever felt like you weren’t enough, or feared failure before you even got started, this episode will reframe everything.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why fear is a sign of growth—not weakness
• How to stop self-sabotage before it starts
• Why perspective is the secret to leading through change
• What healthy fear looks like—and how it sharpens your leadership
• How to move forward even when doubt shows up

The key moments in this episode are:

00:01:20 – From small-town Georgia to global leadership
00:08:12 – College fears and the power of persistence
00:14:55 – Why fear never fully goes away (and that’s OK)
00:21:33 – The dangers of believing your own press
00:24:48 – Confidence vs. cockiness
00:29:16 – Fueling forward: how to turn doubt into drive
00:36:02 – Finding peace and purpose in chaos
00:46:25 – What John values most now

Tune in now at shiftpodcast.com or on Spotify, Apple, Audible, or YouTube.