Cliff McDonald

Background

Cliff's career spans the financial and technology industries, beginning in corporate sales and business development on Wall Street and in tech before moving into entrepreneurship. He later co-founded Brainheart Growth, a growth advisory firm focused on helping organizations build stronger, more sustainable approaches to revenue and growth.

He holds a BA in Psychology from Dartmouth College and an MBA from DePaul University, along with certificates in Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and Digital Marketing from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Cliff's professional experience has given him a particular interest in what allows individuals, teams, and organizations to grow. That curiosity extends beyond business into his work in recovery, coaching, leadership, and personal development.

Current Work

At Recovery.com, Cliff leads growth with a focus on expanding the company's reach and helping more people find and compare addiction and mental health treatment options. His work centers on growing the business in a way that advances Recovery.com's mission and connects more people with life-changing care.

Cliff approaches growth as more than a sales or marketing function. His work focuses heavily on culture, strategy, coaching, and developing the capabilities of the people behind an organization. He believes high-performing teams are built by helping people understand their strengths, align around shared values, and take ownership of a larger mission.

Author, Podcast Host, & Speaker

Cliff is the author of Don't Sell. Generate Revenue., which challenges traditional ideas about sales and makes the case that sustainable revenue is something an entire organization creates, rather than something a sales team extracts.

He hosts Recovery Reach, where he speaks with leaders and changemakers working to expand the reach and impact of recovery, treatment, and behavioral health services.

Cliff is also a host of Dads in Recovery, a podcast and community centered on the experiences of fathers navigating recovery. Conversations explore recovery alongside fatherhood, relationships, vulnerability, personal growth, and what it means to build a meaningful life without alcohol or drugs.

His speaking and podcast appearances include conversations about his own recovery, leadership, growth, and finding purpose.

Featured Conversations & Media

• Finding Purpose in Recovery with Cliff McDonald
• Cliff McDonald: Addiction Recovery, Leadership, and Growth
• Recovery Reach
• Dads in Recovery

Coaching & Leadership

Coaching has been a recurring theme throughout Cliff's life, both athletically and professionally. His approach centers on helping people recognize what they are capable of, develop confidence in their strengths, and connect their day-to-day actions with larger goals and values.

In business, that perspective shapes how he develops teams and leaders. Outside of work, it connects with his interests in sports, recovery, fatherhood, and personal growth. Across each setting, Cliff is interested in the same fundamental question: What helps people become better versions of themselves while staying grounded in who they are?

Topics & Interests

Cliff enjoys conversations that connect professional growth with the more personal parts of life. Topics he frequently speaks about and explores include:

• Addiction and recovery
• Business and organizational growth
• Strategy
• Sales and marketing
• Leadership
• Coaching
• Spirituality
• Fatherhood
• Core values
• Masculinity and vulnerability
• Behavioral health and Recovery.com
• Sports and football

Personal Life & Recovery

Cliff lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife, Shanna, and their three sons. He is a person in long-term recovery from alcohol use disorder and counts his family and recovery among the greatest gifts in his life.

Recovery has become an important part of both Cliff's personal life and professional purpose. Through his work at Recovery.com, his podcasts, coaching, and conversations with others in recovery, he hopes to help more people see that recovery can be about much more than giving something up. It can create space for deeper relationships, greater purpose, vulnerability, growth, and a life that once may not have seemed possible.