The Identity Ceiling: Why the Thing That Built Your Business Is Now Holding It Back

Most business owners assume plateaus are strategy problems.

Wrong market. Wrong model. Wrong team. Wrong timing.

But the most common plateau Tom Foxley sees in high-performing business owners has nothing to do with strategy.

It's an identity problem — and it's one of the hardest to see, because the identity causing the ceiling is the same one that built the business in the first place.

In this episode, Tom breaks down a real coaching case — a business owner coming off his best month ever, who kept finding himself drawn back to the work he'd built his identity around, even as the business needed something different from him entirely.

The craftsman who needs to become the CEO. The coach who needs to become the leader. The expert who needs to step back and orchestrate instead of play.

It's not a promotion. It's a death and a rebirth. And most people avoid it. Tom unpacks the three layers underneath the pattern, introduces a research-backed tool for navigating identity-level transitions, and closes with the one question every business owner needs to sit with when growth stalls.

Topics covered:

- Why identity plateaus are more stubborn than strategy plateaus

- The hidden grief underneath every major business transition

- The military 30,000 foot view — leading from elevation, not from the weeds

- Expressive writing — what it is, why it works, and when to use it

- One action this week to start identifying your own ceiling