Articles

A library of reflections on leadership, consciousness, and the work of awakening to a more aligned way of being. 

These essays are for leaders navigating the frontier between inner stillness and outer impact.

Categories
Philosophy

The Truth Before Thought

I know that you sometimes hurt yourself with your thinking. You think that this thinking is justified, given whatever you think is happening in your circumstances. And often, you are right. Except, you might be oblivious to the possibility that these circumstances are also a part of your thinking, rather than outside of them. Given this possibility, there are two directions we can take in transformative coaching. We can demonstrate to you how your thinking

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Leadership Philosophy

Spiritual Detachment: A Double-Edged Sword

Most leaders I work with are astute enough to recognize the limitations of a purely material view of life. They are navigating what I call the frontier between inner stillness and outer impact. Leaders who are moving from a fixation on outer results towards inner stillness can experience a sense of detachment - of taking the focus away from the material results in their life and placing it on their identity and self. This can

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Leadership Philosophy

Radical Presence

Presence is like riding a bicycle. No matter how much you read or talk about riding, the feeling of being in balance on a moving vehicle is a feeling, not a concept. This felt sense can be pointed at, and you might understand it theoretically. But until you actually have the experience of being in balance, it does not fully click. And once you experience it, you can always come back to it rather effortlessly.

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Coaching

Beyond Self-Improvement

Most personal growth endeavors are like trying to optimize a mask. By reading the books, hiring the coaches, and optimizing your routine, you might unknowingly treat your personality like a piece of software that needs constant patching. This approach of trying to build a better ‘you’ has a ceiling. Leadership beyond a point is not about adding more skills to your ego. It is about subtracting the interference of the ego. When you are in

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Coaching Philosophy

Love as a Force of Nature in Coaching

The following article was originally published as a guest post for my colleague Clare Norman's blog. Clare, too, is an ICF Master Certified Coach and I'm honored that she invited me to write this piece for her series on love in coaching. While it is originally intended for coaches, I find that what it points to is equally applicable to anyone in a leadership role. I hope you read it with a felt-sense rather than intellectually.

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Leadership Philosophy

Awakening as Leadership Maturity

Early career leaders often fall into habits that feel inauthentic to them, because they want to come across a certain way to their stakeholders - as credible, or as in control, or as trustworthy etc.In developmental psychology, this is known as the socialized mind, where we are defined by the expectations of others, and we shape-shift to meet them.As they mature, the desire to be performative is overcome by the desire to be themselves. People reach

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Leadership

Awakened Executive Presence

The industry standard for executive presence is Gravitas, Communication, and Appearance. To lower our vocal register, stand with an open posture, dress for the role, and speak with decisiveness. Here, presence is simply a substitute word for whatever signals credibility. These can be useful instructions. They approach leadership as a performance, and presence as a series of levers to pull to manipulate how others perceive us. And while this approach can get you promoted, it comes with

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Leadership Philosophy

The Business Case for Awakened Leadership

There are two kinds of people who are usually drawn to my work. In the beginning, they are often trapped in a false duality. They believe they have to choose between the "Material World" of outer impact - strategy, profit, ambition, concrete achievement; and the "Spiritual World" of inner stillness - peace, presence and alignment. When we start working together, it becomes apparent to them that there are no two separate worlds, but one continuous

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Leadership

Burnout: Fatigue vs. Friction

There is a biological reality to burnout. If you work 18 hours a day, skip sleep, and ignore your body’s limits, you will crash. No amount of ‘mindset work’ can override your natural physiology. But I sometimes see leaders who are not working 18-hour days, who are getting 7 hours of sleep, and yet are on the edge of burnout. Conversely, I see leaders navigating high-stakes crises, working intense hours for weeks, who emerge tired but strangely invigorated. This

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