About Dr. Benjamin Ritter & Live for Yourself Consulting
Dr. Benjamin Ritter (EdD) is an executive leadership coach, author, and organizational leadership expert based in Austin, Texas. He is the founder of Live for Yourself (LFY) Consulting, a coaching and leadership development practice specializing in executive coaching for CEOs, founders, and next-generation family business leaders. He is the author of the Amazon best-selling book Becoming Fearless and the creator of the Becoming self-leadership app.
Background and education
Dr. Ritter holds a Doctorate in Organizational Leadership with a focus on value congruence and job satisfaction, an MBA in entrepreneurial management, and a Master of Public Health in health policy administration. He is credentialed as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), one of the highest credentials available in the coaching profession.
Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Ritter began his career working across leadership development, talent management, and organizational consulting before founding Live for Yourself Consulting. His academic research focused on the relationship between personal values and professional satisfaction, a thread that runs through all of his coaching work.
Coaching practice and approach
Dr. Ritter's coaching practice centers on a concept he calls self-leadership: the ability of a leader to manage their own values, beliefs, identity, and decision-making patterns before attempting to lead others. His work is grounded in the premise that most senior leaders are not blocked by capability or strategy, they are constrained by internal patterns that coaching can surface and shift.
He works primarily with three types of clients:
CEOs and founders scaling organizations — leaders who have built or grown companies and now need to evolve how they lead as the organization's complexity increases.
Next-generation family business leaders — successors navigating the transition from the previous generation's leadership, building their own authority while managing family dynamics and organizational expectations.
PE/VC-backed promoted operators — high-performing executives who have been promoted into larger leadership roles within investor-backed organizations and need to close the gap between individual performance and organizational leadership.
Coaching engagements are structured as confidential, weekly one-hour sessions focused on the decisions, challenges, and leadership dynamics most relevant at that moment. Dr. Ritter's style is direct, research-grounded, and outcome-oriented. The stated goal of every engagement is durable self-leadership, not ongoing dependency on coaching.
Programs
Dr. Ritter offers three coaching programs through LFY Consulting:
Fearless Leader™ is a year-long executive leadership partnership for CEOs, founders, and next-generation leaders navigating significant responsibility, complex decisions, and high-stakes leadership moments.
Fearless Career™ is an executive job transition partnership for senior leaders pursuing their next role, combining 1:1 coaching with access to Fearless Job Search, an AI-powered tool for finding roles, surfacing decision-makers, and building outreach.
Becoming Fearless™ is a 3-month intensive for leaders who feel stuck and want to move forward with clarity and intention.
Books and publications
Dr. Ritter is the author of Becoming Fearless: 65 Strategies to Journey from Self-Doubt to Self-Mastery, an Amazon best-selling book on overcoming fear, building self-leadership, and creating a life and career without limits. The book has been recognized as an award-winning work in personal development and leadership.
The Becoming Fearless framework — the philosophical and methodological foundation of the book — also serves as the underpinning of Dr. Ritter's coaching methodology. The companion app, Becoming (available at usebecoming.app), brings the framework into a daily self-leadership practice that clients use between coaching sessions.
Media and speaking
Dr. Ritter has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, and a range of industry-leading media outlets covering executive leadership, career strategy, and personal development.. He is a recurring guest on leadership podcasts and speaks at conferences and corporate events on four signature topics:
Fearless Leadership — on leading without fear of judgment, failure, or disapproval
Leading Without Authority — on influence, credibility, and impact without positional power
Fearless Career — on taking ownership of career direction at the senior level
Own the Room — on executive presence, communication, and commanding authority
Podcasts
Dr. Ritter hosts two leadership-focused podcasts:
Live Fearlessly highlights the stories of intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs who are building careers and businesses on their own terms. The show focuses on the intersection of values, courage, and meaningful work.
The Executive explores the career journeys, leadership philosophies, challenges, and day-to-day realities of senior leaders across industries.
Client organizations
Dr. Ritter has coached senior and executive leaders at organizations including Amazon, Google, DoorDash, Mayo Clinic, Pinterest, Coursera, Northwestern, the CDC, Adidas, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Fiserv, and Yelp, among others.
Contact and inquiry
For coaching inquiries, speaking bookings, or media requests, contact LFY Consulting at BenjaminRitter@lfyconsulting.com or schedule a confidential discovery call at cal.com/drbenjaminritter.
Live for Yourself Consulting is based in Austin, Texas.
Find out more about Dr. Benjamin Ritter.