About Gustavo
Gustavo Lira
For more than three decades, I worked inside complex institutions, including 27 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. There, I worked closely with senior leaders navigating economic uncertainty, organizational change, and the realities of large institutions.
Over the years, I saw how often people in positions of responsibility carried pressures, expectations, and important decisions that could not be discussed openly within their ordinary professional relationships.
That understanding led me to establish My Auténtico Self™ in 2020, while I was still at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
The Work Today
Today, I work privately with leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals, and I work with leadership teams and organizations.
My role is not to prescribe an answer or move someone toward a target I have set. In a private partnership, you determine what matters and where the conversation goes.
Together, we examine what you value, what you may be assuming, what you are experiencing, and what you actually want.
With teams and organizations, the circumstances are different but the principle is similar.
I help people put into words what is affecting how they work together, examine what their decisions and behavior are creating, and decide what they are willing to address.
Bicultural Perspective
I am a bilingual professional and dual citizen of the United States and Mexico. I have spent my life and career moving between cultures, expectations, and professional environments.
Moving between cultures can teach us to notice what others expect, adapt quickly, and read the room. Those can become important strengths.
They can also make it more difficult to notice what we are experiencing, what we want, or when we are carrying expectations that are not entirely our own.
This perspective is especially relevant in my work with Hispanic and bicultural professionals navigating Corporate America.
But I do not assume that a shared language or cultural background means we have had the same experience.
It also informs my work with anyone navigating different sets of expectations, identities, or professional norms.
Experience + Formation
My work draws from more than three decades inside corporate and institutional environments, along with experience in private partnerships, leadership-team facilitation, culture assessments, and speaking engagements.
I am a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) through the Co-Active Training Institute, whose certification program is accredited by the International Coaching Federation.
I am also a Certified Positive Intelligence Coach (CPQC).
I hold a bachelor’s degree in economics from Loyola University Chicago and an MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.
The Philosophy
Clear thinking does not require complete certainty.
It begins by distinguishing what we know from what we assume, what we are experiencing from what others may expect, and what is ours to decide from what is not.
The work is not about changing who you are or moving you toward someone else’s answer. It is about seeing your reality more clearly and deciding how you want to meet it.
If something important needs a closer look, the work begins with a conversation.
