In a raw podcast episode, Gabriel Basque shares how he traded performance for purpose—and why love, not success, is the real path to leadership.

Most men don’t fall apart in one blow.
They erode—quietly, completely—inside the life they were told to want.

Chris Goguen had the stable government job. A pensioned path. A marriage. A community.
On paper, he was set.

Have you ever felt like you’re running on a treadmill—working hard, achieving goals, but still feeling empty inside? That’s been me for most of my life. I’d push myself to succeed, check off the boxes, and meet expectations, but no matter how much I accomplished, there was always this lingering sense of disconnection and self-doubt. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was missing something essential.

In a recent conversation I had with Phabien Doiron on the podcast, we dove deep into the topic of labels—specifically, the labels society and even we, ourselves, place on our identity.