Allison MaslanCEO & Business Scaling Expert | WSJ Bestselling Author

What Trapeze Taught Me About Scaling That Business School Never Could

20 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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1:10

Allison Maslan, a trapeze artist for 25 years, argues that CEOs grip tighter when facing challenges, which kills growth. You cannot catch the next bar while holding the current one. Scaling means letting go of old habits and identities, not adding new tactics.

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Every entrepreneur has the same instinct when things get hard. They wanna grip tighter, they wanna push harder, they wanna outwork the competition. This is the lie that has cost more CEOs their health, their marriage, their companies than anything else. So besides being a CEO, I'm also a trapeze artist, and that's been my passion for 25 years. Here's what trapeze teaches you that you will not get in business school. You cannot catch the next bar while you're still gripping onto the current one. Every leap requires a release. And so it requires you to let go of the version of you who got you here. And scaling is really more about subtracting than it is adding. The CEOs who refuse to let go, they stay swinging on the same bar forever, wondering why that next level never arrives. Yeah. So ask yourself, what am I gripping onto right now that I was supposed to let go a year ago? And then let it go so that you can truly scale your business. Save this and follow me for more CEO scaling strategies.