Live in Austin.
Chris joined host Rosie Newberry on Studio 512 at KXAN in Austin to talk through the message behind You Are Capable of More and what actually keeps capable people where they are.
The message behind the book.
Studio 512 is KXAN's daily lifestyle hour in Austin, and the conversation with host Rosie Newberry stayed where the book does: on the everyday version of being stuck, the kind that does not look dramatic from the outside and rarely gets named out loud.
Chris walked through the woman in his credentialing department who turned down a sales opening because she was sure she would not be good at it, took it once she knew she would be supported, and went on to become one of the company's top performers and win awards for it.
He also covered the survey behind the book, the four barriers people named most often, and the smallest possible first step for someone who wants to change something and has not started.
It is a short segment built for a general audience, which is exactly the audience the book was written for. No management vocabulary, no framework to memorize, just the question of what you would do differently if you stopped waiting to feel ready. It closes on the free assessment at youarecapableofmore.com, which Chris kept free so the price of the book is never the thing standing in someone's way.
Most people are not held back by a lack of opportunity. In Chris's survey the barriers people named most often were self-doubt paired with fear of failure, being too busy to find the time, and simple comfort with where they already are. Comfort is the one nobody worries about. It is the barrier that feels like a reward, which is what makes it so easy to settle into and so hard to notice.
In the Segment
Why He Wrote It
The people he kept meeting who had it in them and did not recognize it.
The Credentialing Story
She said she would not be good at sales. She took the role with support and became a top performer.
The Survey
Over 200 working adults, half leaders and half individual contributors. Ninety-two percent said they were capable of more.
What Leaders Reported
Leaders scored higher than individual contributors on capability and on barriers both.
The Red Solo Cup
The inner voice does not go away. Widen the perspective around it and the cup starts to look like a bucket.
Drive to the Parking Lot
The first step is smaller than people expect. Get to the lot before you worry about the door.
The full segment.
What Rosie asked.
01What was the inspiration behind the book?+
The people. Chris kept meeting people with real potential who could not see it in themselves, and after enough of those conversations it stopped feeling like a coincidence and started feeling like something worth writing down.
The example he gave Rosie was a woman in his credentialing department. She had worked a second job her whole life and had never once been to see her favorite college football team play. When a sales role opened up he told her she should go for it, and she said she would not be good at it. He did not take the no. He told her she would have support, that they would help her through it, and that if it did not work out she could go back to the role she had. She took it, became one of the company's top employees, and won awards for it. What she needed was not ability. She already had that.
02What did the survey of working adults find?+
Chris surveyed more than 200 people for the book, split evenly between people in leadership positions and individual contributors so the two groups could be compared. Regardless of where they worked or what they did, over 92 percent said they were capable of more than what they were doing in their current life.
The follow-up questions asked what was holding them back. Self-doubt came first, paired with fear of failure. After that came being too busy to find the time, and then simple comfort with where they already were.
03Did the leaders report self-doubt too?+
Yes, and more of it. Leaders scored higher than individual contributors on believing they were capable of more, and they also scored higher on the barriers standing in the way.
Whether that means leaders are harder critics of themselves or genuinely further from their ceiling is difficult to say from the data. Either way, the people running things are not exempt from the thing they are trying to help everyone else get past.
04How do you get past self-doubt?+
Everybody has an inner voice telling them this might not work. Chris pictures it as a golf ball sitting in a red Solo cup. The voice fills the whole space and there is no getting around it.
Talking to other people does not remove the voice. It widens what is around it, and the cup starts to look more like a bucket. The voice is still in there, it just no longer takes up the entire container.
05What is the first step for someone who feels stuck?+
Smaller than people expect. If someone wants to start working out, the first step is driving to the parking lot of the gym. If they are not ready after that, the next time is getting to the door. Then inside.
Two things make it stick. Tell someone else this is something you want to do, and find an accountability partner. Then take an action small enough that you will actually take it.
06What do you hope people take from the book?+
If 92 percent of people already know they want to be better, the open question is how they get there. The book is Chris's attempt at an answer, told through his own stories and the things he has learned along the way, and aimed at getting someone to take the first small step.
It is not only about work. Where you spend your time matters just as much outside those four walls, and that includes the people who matter most to you and what you are doing to serve others.
A lot of people have it inside of them. They just don't recognize it.Chris Sund
Studio 512.
Studio 512 is KXAN's local lifestyle program in Austin, hosted by Rosie Newberry, covering the people, places, and ideas moving through Central Texas. It airs weekday mornings and reaches one of the fastest-growing markets in the country.
Chris is comfortable live, works to a tight run time, and can usually take short notice. If you produce a segment in a market where the book is finding readers, he is glad to come to you.
Bring this to your audience.
Chris speaks and writes on potential, leadership, and what moves people from capable to performing. He is a sitting executive, not a consultant reporting from outside.