Fred Auzenne

I help high achievers with the one performance variable almost no one names or measures: alcohol. Not as a drinking problem — as a performance ceiling. Not recovery, not willpower — design.

My path to this work was unusual. I got sober at 22 after ending up homeless, spent a decade in Army counterintelligence learning to read why people do what they actually do, then 25 years facilitating executive development. Along the way I kept seeing the same thing: brilliant, disciplined people optimize everything — sleep, training, nutrition — except the one input quietly taxing all of it.

One couple I worked with, successful contractors, quit drinking and added up what the lifestyle was costing them — about $120,000 a year. They turned it into a fleet of exotic cars and a business built on their old “beer budget.” They weren’t alcoholics. They just removed a variable.

I bring real stories, hard-won research, and a contrarian take on why willpower fails — no fluff, no clichés. Great for shows on leadership, performance, and human behavior.