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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In this concise motivational monologue, Allison Maslan draws on her 25‑year experience as a trapeze artist to illustrate how CEOs should approach business scaling. She argues that entrepreneurs instinctively grip tighter when challenges arise, a habit that harms health, relationships, and company growth. Using the trapeze metaphor, she explains that you cannot catch the next bar while still holding onto the current one—each leap requires a release. Scaling, therefore, is more about subtracting old habits and identities than adding new tactics. Maslan urges leaders to identify what they are still gripping onto and consciously let go to enable true growth, positioning this insight as a lesson no business school offers.

Chapters

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.