Michael Peres with Gordon Lownds — co-founder and former CEO of Sleep Country Canada, ex-retail consultant and investment banker — on the hidden slope from high performance to addiction, and the hard road back. Gordon opens up about the unlikely origins of his cocaine dependence at 48, the thousand-day spiral that followed, and the recovery journey chronicled in his memoir Cracking Up. A candid conversation about stigma, leadership, and why “it can happen to anyone.”
In this episode, you’ll learn:
• How a “one-time” try became a rapid descent—from smoking to injecting—within a year.
• The double life of a high-functioning executive and what finally broke the secrecy
• Mechanics of addiction: neurochemistry, compulsion windows, and escalation
• Recovery, rebuilding trust, and lessons for founders and executives under pressure
• Practical guardrails: boundaries, accountability, and when to ask for help